My company primarily wire spec. homes and we traditionally have always put each bedroom on an individual 20 amp branch circuit. We are starting a 4 bedroom house tomorrow that has bedrooms no larger then 12' x 12' I am now questioning if I should just put each bedroom receptacle circuit on a 15 amp circuit. Basically what i will have is 5 - 6 receptacles per room on a dedicated 15 amp. I think 20 amp may be overkill. Lighting is on another circuit. What are others doing? I never want to sacrifice quality / safety for $$$ but these days bedroom items are lower current draw.
15 or 20 amp branch circuit bedrooms
- Thread starter moresi
- Start date
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Charlie Bob
Senior Member
- Location
- West Tennessee
15 amp would be ok.
But remember that the lights are consider outlets, and as such they need to be part of the bedroom receptacle, which it will have to be AFCI.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Bedrooms probably have the lightest loads in the entire house, putting all of them on one 15 amp circuit would not be overloading it. In the old days people would sometimes have electric heaters or electric blankets in there due to poorly designed HVAC systems, The biggest load in there nowadays is maybe a flat screen TV, or a PC, both would draw less than a couple amps a piece.
TOOL_5150
Senior Member
- Location
- bay area, ca
I am in the middle of doing a whole housw re-wire and I planned dedicated 15A circuits for each bedroom, lighting on its own. Since its a big house 4600SqFt, I am thinking about #12 home runs to the first box of each circuit on the 2nd level [panel will be in the basement]
~Matt
~Matt
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
I usually run 20 amp circuits for receptacles to multiple bedrooms (usually 2 sometimes maybe 3 rooms) lights I run on 15 amp circuits, taking into consideration what type of lights are installed to determine how many lights are on one circuit.
receptacle cables are kept relatively short by keeping them run low with the receptacles and catching both sides of adjacent wall.
lighting circuits are all run in ceiling with drops to switches, keeping lighting circuits on 14 ga wire helps with box fill and ease of installation of switches when using 3 and 4 way switches and other schemes that fill the boxes easily.
another reason for this is the receptacle load is not very defined at all in a bedroom or living room and 20 amp circuit allows for heavier loading for short term loads, if someone starts to use something with a heavy load permantly they may have overloads and eventually need a dedicated circuit.
lights only on a circuit and your load is usually pretty defined and you can calculate how much to put on the circuit.
receptacle cables are kept relatively short by keeping them run low with the receptacles and catching both sides of adjacent wall.
lighting circuits are all run in ceiling with drops to switches, keeping lighting circuits on 14 ga wire helps with box fill and ease of installation of switches when using 3 and 4 way switches and other schemes that fill the boxes easily.
another reason for this is the receptacle load is not very defined at all in a bedroom or living room and 20 amp circuit allows for heavier loading for short term loads, if someone starts to use something with a heavy load permantly they may have overloads and eventually need a dedicated circuit.
lights only on a circuit and your load is usually pretty defined and you can calculate how much to put on the circuit.
TOOL_5150
Senior Member
- Location
- bay area, ca
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
yes I usually do that also
jxofaltrds
Inspector Mike®
- Location
- Mike P. Columbus Ohio
- Occupation
- ESI, PI, RBO
I always put each bedroom recpts. on there own 15 AMP circuit.
The lights for those bedrooms and the smokes on another 15 AMP circuit.
Why? So you can always have a source of light (power) in a room.
Now to your last line!
Only YOU can decide quality. Safety is another issue!
brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
two bedrooms per 15A circuit, and lighting for bedrooms on a separate 15A circuit along w/ smokes.
e57
Senior Member
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
To be clear - you could put a 350,000sq' homes recepts all on one single 15a circuit - well outside of the SA circ's - it's all a matter of prefferance.
Me: it all depends - I look at each differently...
Me: it all depends - I look at each differently...
Volta
Senior Member
- Location
- Columbus, Ohio
Buck Parrish
Senior Member
- Location
- NC & IN
To the OP - Fifteen Amp breakers trip faster, there for in Resi. 15 is considered safer. Most lamp and cord appliance's. Thier cords are only rated for 7 amps. So a 15 amp circuit breaker would be safer then a 20.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
#12 homeruns on 15 amp breaker is totally legal, but I have heard of some AHJ's not allowing it because their afraid someone will come back and change it to a 20. I personally like to put the master bdrm on a dedicated circuit with the next two bedrooms on another circuit. Until Arc faults came along, I used to run a seperate circuit for the lights. Usually catch the smokes off of one of the bedroom circuits.
quinn77
Senior Member
- Location
- Lake Jackson, TX USA
dont know about where you are at, but here 12/2 is cheaper than 14/2, and single pole 20's are the same price as single pole 15's. 14 awg romex is illegal in most jurisdictions around here also. i personally dont find anything wrong with 15a lighting and smoke circuits, but i guess there is more profit involved for the supplier/manufacturers with the 20a racket. 
Buck Parrish
Senior Member
- Location
- NC & IN
dont know about where you are at, but here 12/2 is cheaper than 14/2, and single pole 20's are the same price as single pole 15's. 14 awg romex is illegal in most jurisdictions around here also. i personally dont find anything wrong with 15a lighting and smoke circuits, but i guess there is more profit involved for the supplier/manufacturers with the 20a racket.
You should start selling it at a profit. You could get $20 profit on a roll of 250 pretty easy.
brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
Is that really true? Never heard it before.
I've never seen a lamp that draws over 7A either, so I'm not sure of the argument that a 15A circuit is "safer".
I think he means the trip curve of a 15a breaker, compared to a 20. If you've got, say, 50 amps on the circuit, the 15 will trip sooner than a 20.
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