12AWG to 15A breaker... Allowed?

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lunalilo

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I was watching a rerun Holmes on Homes, and his electrician was redoing a panel and made a big deal out of the fact that the panel was holding all 15A breakers and there were 12AWG romex coming out of it. "Where are these connecting to?" He says afterwards.

1)Is it not allowed for 12AWG romex to connect to a 15A breaker?

2)If not, what would you do if you needed larger gauge wire for voltage drop?
 
Unless Canadian rules are different and don't allow circuits to compensate for VD, the electrician is out to lunch. :roll:

Roger
 
It's exactly as you've stated; for voltage drop compensation you would run larger conductors.
 
I wonder why they would air something like that... to make themselves look smarter by saying such things? Sad if so...
 
chris kennedy said:
I was just watching 'Construction Intervention' and the electrician didn't know what LED stands for???:confused:
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thats my new favorite show.

Except I call it "Italians on Dilapidated Structures"

'Ok what these people have here is a dilapidated structure. With alot of arm waving and yelling I am going to turn this mess into a respectable establishmeent in five short days.'
?2010 wireguru all rights reserved
 
Phooie on holmes

Phooie on holmes

lunalilo
I bet you that the panel was also mounted horizontal , Every time i see that show i also
catch a peek at the panel in the background mount sideways,

And Yes fully loaded with breakers!!! for all you 404.7 people
 
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Of course with the lack of HD broadcasting that I have, I could not verify if what he was saying was indeed true, but he did say, "there aren't any 20A breakers anywhere in here..." and he sounded pretty sure of himself.
 
lunalilo said:
I was watching a rerun Holmes on Homes, and his electrician was redoing a panel and made a big deal out of the fact that the panel was holding all 15A breakers and there were 12AWG romex coming out of it. "Where are these connecting to?" He says afterwards.

1)Is it not allowed for 12AWG romex to connect to a 15A breaker?

2)If not, what would you do if you needed larger gauge wire for voltage drop?
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Maybe he was saying that because there are rooms in a dwelling that require 20 amp circuts like the kitchen, dining rm., bathrooms, laundry, etc.
 
Ken9876 said:
I watch that show often, his electrician says a lot of things that don't make sense
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I love that show, and Frank is one of my favorate members of Mike Holmes' team. But I have to agree that somethings he says would not be correct, under US rules. I don't know if they are valid, under Canadian rules.
 
Ken9876 said:
I watch that show often, his electrician says a lot of things that don't make sense
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I have seen that episode and what I remember him saying was that the original electricial ran the 12 gage wire and he did not need to for the load, so it was wasted money. That was all I think he was trying to say, not that it was against code or wrong.
They ran that little bit of tape twice, once just before a comercial break, and then again later in the show itself. The bit in the show was shorter than the pre break segment, and that is where you can hear him say it was a waste of money.
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
Hmmmm why would it only have 15 amp breakers ? If residential how did they get the SA circuits and if commercial its rare to see a 15
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So let's say I needed to account for voltage drop, ambient temperatures and other hardships on an SABC and the only way to do it was to run #10 to the kitchen receptacles. How do I get the wire into those holes in the back of the GFI receptacle?
 
jaylectricity said:
So let's say I needed to account for voltage drop, ambient temperatures and other hardships on an SABC and the only way to do it was to run #10 to the kitchen receptacles. How do I get the wire into those holes in the back of the GFI receptacle?
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You can't backstab with a 12 anyway. 10 for sure ain't gonna fit.

But the pressure plates on P&S are probably rated for 10s.
 
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