20amp wire on 15amp breaker

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Dexie123 said:
I know you can have 12 wire on a 15 amp breaker. I was told today (without a code reference) that you can NOT run 12 wire out of a panel switch over to 14 wire (not that you would want to, just hypethetical) and have that 12 wire on a 15 amp breaker. Any truth to that? Reason being that someone who comes into the panel could see the 12 wire coming out of the panel, assume it's a 20circuit, and take the 15 amp breaker out and install a 20 amp.

What say you (or you's)?
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I think that's why thy just did away with #14 here.

210.19 (A)(4) is hereby amended: Delete the number "14" and insert the number "12".
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The only time we use #14 is for industrial controls. Sure cuts down on the confusion.
 
480sparky said:
I've never had a problem. Undertand, however, when I do a resi upgrade, I'm required by local codes to do things like the 2 kitchen circuits, bath circuit, furnace on it's own, as well as the sump, separate the range,dryer & AC, etc. And I usually put in separate circuits in for the fridge, DW, disposal & nuke machine.

So a lot of the load that was on the old, existing wiring is removed and placed on the new circuits.
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That is an interesting requirement. Here in the SFO Bay area we are only required to add smoke detectors if the job value is over $1,000.00 and they only need be battery type smokes.
 
480sparky said:
I totally understand you situation. But what do you do when you find a penny under that old Edison fuse (despite the fact that a penny does have a stated ampacity!)?
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What is the ampacity of a penny? Also since the alloy changed in 1982 (I believe that was the year) did that alter its rating? :D

c2500
 
Minuteman said:
I think that's why thy just did away with #14 here.
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Well, let's change the scenario to #10 on a 20 amp breaker then changing over to #12 downstream


Roger
 
c2500 said:
What is the ampacity of a penny? Also since the alloy changed in 1982 (I believe that was the year) did that alter its rating? :D

c2500
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It's stamped onto every penny. Let me know when you find it. :)
 
Minuteman said:
If that were the case, I would probably figure it was a #10, 'cause of Voltage Drop and leave it on a 20-amp.
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But why would it be different in either scenario if you didn't know what was on the end of the circuit?

Roger
 
Didn't say it would be different, just that 14 was done away with here through amendments. However, I see your point. If a conductor is rated larger than it's OC, I would assume it was done that way on purpose and leave it be.
 
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