Is there a rule that commercial lighting and receptacle circuits can only be 20A?

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jaylectricity

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
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licensed journeyman electrician
I'm working on the old Snap-On factory in Natick, MA and there are a bunch of NM cables feeding the lights and receptacles for the front office area.

It's a mix of threaded NM and slightly newer NM (but before yellow 12). But one cable is 14 gauge. Of course it was on a 20A breaker.

Even so, is there a rule that says you can't have a 15A receptacle or lighting circuit in a commercial environment?
 
In some jurisdictions, like NYC where #14 conductors are prohibited for branch circuits, you would see 20 amp circuits for everything.
 
jaylectricity said:
I'm working on the old Snap-On factory in Natick, MA and there are a bunch of NM cables feeding the lights and receptacles for the front office area.

It's a mix of threaded NM and slightly newer NM (but before yellow 12). But one cable is 14 gauge. Of course it was on a 20A breaker.

Even so, is there a rule that says you can't have a 15A receptacle or lighting circuit in a commercial environment?
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Guess I'll ask. What is threaded NM?
 
Sorry, I meant the old cloth jacket with the undersized ground. "Threaded" made sense in my head when I typed it.

Thanks iwire for the local response.
 
"Threaded" is the old type R or RW tinned copper which had fine threads around the rubber insulation.
 
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