Quote:
Originally Posted by cabmando
The 20a will be fine on a 15a. circuit. If you have an overload situation the breaker will trip before things meltdown. As long as the wiring and breaker is sized appropriately for the circuit I wouldn't hesitate to put the 20a. receptacles in.
"Worst case as far as I can see is maybe someone will plug in something big and trip the breaker."
You hit the nail on the head. It's the breaker that matters. You don't want a 20a breaker on wire that's only good for 15 amps. The wire could potentially meltdown before the breaker would trip.
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you are right but also wrong as is someone else above.
its the WIRE size AND breaker size that matter.
the breaker goes with the wire size. you can have a 15a brkr on 12ga wire.
you can NOT have a 20a brkr on 14ga wire
you CAN NOT (or should not) put a 20a OUTLET on 14ga wire with a 15 or 20a brkr
this case the outlet matches the wire size.
just remember, the breaker is there to protect the wiring, nothing else. the outlet limits you from connecting a single load that pulls more current than the WIRE can deliver.
I prefer to run 12g with 20a outlets as the outlets are a bit beefier.
not an electrician btw.