limitations to # of receptacles?

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iwirehouses

Senior Member
Is there anywhere in a dwelling unit where you are restricted to the number of receptacles you put in? This would be considering that the receptacles are on the appropriate circuit (laundary, kitchen, bathroom). Also, you are not restricted at all in an attached or dettached garage?
 
iwirehouses said:
Is there anywhere in a dwelling unit where you are restricted to the number of receptacles you put in? This would be considering that the receptacles are on the appropriate circuit (laundary, kitchen, bathroom). Also, you are not restricted at all in an attached or dettached garage?

icon_faq.gif
 
iwire said:

Bob's answer is correct only with respect to the electrical codes.

Various other building codes clearly set limits on the number of receptacles which you may put in. For example, fenestration requirements dictate that at least some portion of the wall area be used for windows, similarly egress requirements dictate space dedicated for doors. (Though I suppose that you could mount receptacles upon the doors.)

The effect of device boxes on any required thermal insulation would need to be considered, and large numbers of device boxes on firewalls will require special design.

-Jon
 
tallgirl said:

If we strictly adhered to a "Read The Faq" response, this site would be pointless ;)

But I do commend you on your "no words" post ....a challange to the "10 or less" crowd??? LOL
 
winnie said:
....For example, fenestration requirements dictate that at least some portion of the wall area be used for windows, similarly egress requirements dictate space dedicated for doors. (Though I suppose that you could mount receptacles upon the doors.)....

I hereby nominate Jon's post for inclusion in the FAQ entry. :) :)
 
celtic said:
If we strictly adhered to a "Read The Faq" response, this site would be pointless ;)

But I do commend you on your "no words" post ....a challange to the "10 or less" crowd??? LOL

Yeah, but then George would never catch up with Bob :)

Every time someone asked this question Bob would say "No", I'd say
icon_faq.gif
and that would be it. 'Course, I still think the webmaster needs to add :faq: as an emoticon.

There is a poster here, who shall remain nameless unless he choses to name himself, who has photos of his entertainment center's receptacle setup on the web. I think it comes close to meeting Jon's limit due to "fenestration requirements" or whatever.

(Had to save so I could wander around, check the FAQ and do a few other things ...)

I'll note that there is another minority opinion, held by myself and Allen Wayne (I think) and maybe a few others who are afraid to disagree with Bob, that the number of receptacles, as they are placed, is limited by the 3VA per square foot load calculation and the requirement that the general lighting load be evenly distributed, such that while one may have thousands of receptacles on a single 20A branch circuit within a single room, if one is required to have 4 20A circuits for "general lighting", one cannot place all of the receptacles on a single 20A branch circuit and the 8 or 10 60W lighting fixtures on the remaining three as this would, in my opinion, violate the requirement that the load be evenly distributed.

I'd also like to nominate that paragraph for the longest sentence ever written on this website.
 
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I originally had the Taboo Three on the top, but I thought it was kind of a turn-off to see the "If you bring this up we will shoot you" as soon as the page loads.

Edit:

Celtic, do you think this should be one of the "instant death" topics? It seems sometimes, it turns into something worthwhile, doesn't it?
 
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tallgirl said:
I'll note that there is another minority opinion, held by myself and Allen Wayne (I think) and maybe a few others who are afraid to disagree with Bob, that the number of receptacles, as they are placed, is limited by the 3VA per square foot load calculation

Julie, truthfully I don't know where I stand on the watts per sq ft issue, I have seen compelling arguments for both sides of that. I generally chose to ignore that issue when it comes up here. :grin:

Either way we think of that issue there still is no limit to the number of outlets on the circuit. There may be a limit to how many sq ft a circuit can cover.

I could make an entire bedroom wall out of duplex outlets (not sure about the building code ;) and feed them all with one circuit. :cool:
 
tallgirl said:
I'll note that there is another minority opinion, held by myself and Allen Wayne (I think) and maybe a few others who are afraid to disagree with Bob, that the number of receptacles, as they are placed, is limited by the 3VA per square foot load calculation and the requirement that the general lighting load be evenly distributed, such that while one may have thousands of receptacles on a single 20A branch circuit within a single room, if one is required to have 4 20A circuits for "general lighting", one cannot place all of the receptacles on a single 20A branch circuit and the 8 or 10 60W lighting fixtures on the remaining three as this would, in my opinion, violate the requirement that the load be evenly distributed.

I'd also like to nominate that paragraph for the longest sentence ever written on this website.
Julie
I guess one sentence can be a paragraph, so you may want to nominate it for the longest sentence ever written also.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
Julie
I guess one sentence can be a paragraph, so you may want to nominate it for the longest sentence ever written also.

LMAO, Dennis I had a hard time figuring out where to stop when I quoted her.:grin:
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I guess one sentence can be a paragraph, so you may want to nominate it for the longest sentence ever written also.

Not even close. There's a sentence in James Joyce's Ulysses that has well over 4000 words. Still, we can give her credit for trying. :)
 
Max Number of Receps per Circuit

Max Number of Receps per Circuit

It seems to me that the 180VA in dwelling is implied as a rule in that Example D1a in Annex D calculates the number of 15 or 20 amp circuits "required" for the general lighting load. This has nothing to do with the calculation, so I have to assume that the 10 or 13 recepts per circuit mattered in the NEC set example.
 
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