electrical question

[farmerpsv]

Hey all, and in particular, electricians:
Am selling a 75 year old house and recently the buyer had an inspector do an inspection. he stated that there were some wires on 20 amp breakers that should be 15 amp (i didn't talk with him, just got the report from my agent). not sure what he is referring to, there is some old cotton wire in the house, 95% has been replaced with romex, except lighting. i put some new outlets in in 3 rooms that had only 1, and upgraded the wire from cotton to romex with grounding. does code dictate certain types of circuits be 15amp?
thanks
paul

 

[bgott]

Code requires 15 amp breakers on 14 gauge wire and 20 amp on 12. More than likely you have a few 14 gauge conductors being serviced by 20 amp breakers, change the breakers to 15 amp and you should be OK if nothing else is amiss.

 

[farmerpsv]

bgott,
thank you, that's it.
paul

 

[_RaT_]

Paul, typically there are 2 different 120V circuit's that are run in a home. A 15 amp and a 20 amp. There are some exceptions where a 30 amp 120V is used, but it's quite rare. With a 15 amp breaker, you must run at least #14 cu (copper) wire. With a 20 amp, you must run at least #12 cu wire. The smaller the number, the larger the wire. Electricians like to use a 15 amp circuit for the lighting because the smaller #14 wire is very easy to work with. Lighting circuits tend to be a fixed load so it is easy to determine the max load the circuit will ever be. On the otherhand, conveniance outlets will have loads that can be all over the place. This is particularly true in kitchens where a waffle iron or toaster may be used drawing 1500 watts or a portable hand mixer drawing as little as 150 watts. The same can apply to bathrooms. I like having 20 amp circuits for situations like that and in fact, the litchens require at least 2 20 amp convenince circuits today.

Anyway, to answer your question, you simply need to have the breaker for the #14 wire replaced with a 15 amp breaker. If they are standard breakers like Square D, ITE, GE etc, that is cheap to do, if it is the old Zinsco or Sylvania style, it is kind of pricey.

Of course, by the time I finish answerering this, there will already be an answer from someone else. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[notamustang]

They all got it. Its not huge unless there is a fire than reguardless they will blame the electrical. For the record when in any doubt electricity is always the cause.
Its not huge you can take one of the old breakers into any hardware store more than likely they can help you. There are many types of breakers some odd ball stuff you may have to search for but for the most part its a hardware store item. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Steven