Lights and Receptacles on same circuit
- Thread starter Kemp5353
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allenwayne
Senior Member
I`ll assume this is residential.The answer would be no on general purpose circuits and yes if on a one bath only circuit then no other bath receptacles other than in that bath are allowed.To me it is a matter of preference.Cost effective is to put them on the same circuit.
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
- Occupation
- Electrician
I have been thinking out this quite a bit lately. My old way was to run #12 for the plugs and #14 for lights keeping them separate. My belief was that this would result in a higher quality installation for the following reasons:
1) Lights would not dim as much under high recep loads (vacuum, etc)
2) Provides for the electric heater scenario
I have been seriously second guessing this philosophy however after recently helping another electrican rough a new house. He did everything he could in #14 and did not separate lights and plugs, so I did the same and it sure made things easier! Also I realized that a new house will most likely have a well designed modern heating system thus making the use of auxillary electric heat far less likely. In addition, I think #12 puts a lot more stress and strain on devices resulting in less reliablity and more call backs, especially since devices seem to get flimsier and flimsier by the week!
1) Lights would not dim as much under high recep loads (vacuum, etc)
2) Provides for the electric heater scenario
I have been seriously second guessing this philosophy however after recently helping another electrican rough a new house. He did everything he could in #14 and did not separate lights and plugs, so I did the same and it sure made things easier! Also I realized that a new house will most likely have a well designed modern heating system thus making the use of auxillary electric heat far less likely. In addition, I think #12 puts a lot more stress and strain on devices resulting in less reliablity and more call backs, especially since devices seem to get flimsier and flimsier by the week!
tryinghard
Senior Member
- Location
- California
electrofelon said:
We can notice 220.3(A) & (10), summarized 3 VA per square foot of livable space, this is for lights and receptacles. You?re right; with a correctly wired house all specialty equipment is on its own circuit so a correctly wired house will not have neutral overload or any overload problems.
I think this is clearly an area that the clich? "a little is good a lot?s better" is a waste of money and certainly not necessary. What I often see with all #12 circuitry is a much greater potential for fire; wire fill issues.
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
- Occupation
- Electrician
tryinghard,
Just to be clear, the electric heater scenario I was referring to was for a portable plug in type, which could exceed the 12 amp continuous capacity of a 15 amp circuit. 1500 watt sticks out as a common size, which would be 12.5 amps, + other stuff on the circuit technically overloading it. Still I dont see this as a risk since 15 and 20 amp branch circuits are already derated so much - the risk of fire from someone throwing a t-shirt on the electric heater, now that is a thousand times more likely to cause a fire.
Just to be clear, the electric heater scenario I was referring to was for a portable plug in type, which could exceed the 12 amp continuous capacity of a 15 amp circuit. 1500 watt sticks out as a common size, which would be 12.5 amps, + other stuff on the circuit technically overloading it. Still I dont see this as a risk since 15 and 20 amp branch circuits are already derated so much - the risk of fire from someone throwing a t-shirt on the electric heater, now that is a thousand times more likely to cause a fire.
wyatt2
Member
- Location
- North Carolina
I would add that if you mix lights and recpt. to watch your lite load. I have had to go back and fix were I had a 4gang light box with 1 recptical under it on 1 circuit. Had @1000w's of light. the one rect was the one the HO used the vac on new vac are bumping 12 amp. I now still use 14 but sperate light and recpt outside of bedrooms.
pierre
Senior Member
- Location
- Westchester County, New York
Properly installed devices with 12 AWG should not pose any real issues. If the concern is pushing the device back in the box, use pigtails. One very large benefit of using 12 AWG is the savings it will offer the customer over the life of the house. Go to Copper Development website, and they have some info on how much money can ultimately be saved by upsizing conductors.
Otherwise 14 AWG is fine.
Otherwise 14 AWG is fine.
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
- Occupation
- Electrician
pierre,
That topic of up sized conductors being more efficient was adressed recently, and I thought the concensus was that for lighting load, smaller wire would result in less electricty usage (Assuming the HO doesnt notice the slight decrease in brightness and but a larger bulb in). I could see the refrigerator benefiting from #12.
That topic of up sized conductors being more efficient was adressed recently, and I thought the concensus was that for lighting load, smaller wire would result in less electricty usage (Assuming the HO doesnt notice the slight decrease in brightness and but a larger bulb in). I could see the refrigerator benefiting from #12.
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