Number of Receptacles on a circuit?

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Strife said:
Why?
I'm installing 5-6 receptacles in a bedroom, even 7. I mean how many TV's will the owner place in a bedroom?
Would the vacuum qualify as the "regular use of a 10A"?
So I should have a dedicated outlet every 15-20 feet along the walls?
As far as commercial, I always thought was 180VA per yoke(I know someone put a picture already...)
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I was not thinking vacuum as it is usually limited to a few minutes of use at a time. For bedrooms or living rooms I was thinking more of portable heaters or air conditioners as a good reason to limit the number of rooms on a circuit more so than the number of outlets.

People have been buying the stupid electric heaters in a oak cabinet like crazy around these areas thinking they will save a lot on heating bills. Even people that have heat pumps or electric heating systems are buying them.:dunce: Their marketing claims they can't start a fire, but they don't say anything about overloaded circuits in the house or tell you if you don't have a heavy duty receptacle it will melt down the plug and the receptacle:happysad:
 
mdh said:
but there is in Tennessee,they made an amendment to that,10 on #14 and 12 on #12 in bed rooms only.
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Is that 10 and 12 duplex receptacles or 5 and 6 duplex receptacles?
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Number of Receptacles on a circuit

Number of Receptacles on a circuit

DPM said:
I could have sworn there used to be a limit of 9 receptacles on a 15 A, 120V circuit, and a limit of 13 on a 20 A, 120V AC circuit. But, I can't find it anywhere in the 2011 code.
Any help out there for the NEC's limit on this question?
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Many years ago when I was an apprentice (and I mean many years ago) I was taught the same thing, we always used 1.5va per outlet.

As already mentioned that does not apply anymore. Calculate the branch circuit at 3va per sq. foot and add as many outlets as you want. Adding receptacle outlets does not add a load only convenience.
 
mdh said:
but there is in Tennessee,they made an admiminment to that,10 on #14 and 12 on #12 in bed rooms only.
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Don't know if you're from Tn or not, but that's not quite right.

infinity said:
Is that 10 and 12 duplex receptacles or 5 and 6 duplex receptacles? :D
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:happyno:

iwire said:
And why bedrooms only? :?
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What mdh got partially right was the numbers 10 & 12, the rest was wrong. The rule only applies to AFCI circuits. What it actually says is:"There shall be a maximum of ten (10) outlets on a 15A circuit or no more than twelve (12) outlets on a 20A circuit". Well he was also partially right about only bedrooms, because bedrooms are the only rooms here required to be AFCI protected. Notice it says "outlets" and not "receptacles". So lighting oulets count toward the max allowed, they will however let a ceiling fan w/light kit count as only one.
 
Edit: to add to my previous post. I think the reason they limit the number of outlets on an AFCI circuit is to keep you from putting all, or more than one, of the bedrooms on only one AFCI. I suppose since only bedrooms are required, that's a pretty good trade-off not having to buy for the entire house. Might have been some lobbying going on too.:blink:
 
By limiting the number of outlets, smokes that draw next to nothing count against you far more than they should. A two bedroom house with a basement could have six or seven smokes - there goes a circuit. :roll:
 
George Stolz said:
By limiting the number of outlets, smokes that draw next to nothing count against you far more than they should. A two bedroom house with a basement could have six or seven smokes - there goes a circuit. :roll:
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I suppose so, but if you split the lights and receps. you could possibly have all the lights and smokes on 1 circuit. Say you had 3 bedrooms and 7 smokes, you could have the lights from all 3 bedrooms and all the smokes on one 15A circuit. Adding one more AFCI is still better than having to do the whole house. (less the kitchen and baths)
 
2011 Workbook shows maximum number of outpitted on a 15 and 20 ampere branch circuits, as 10 on 15 and 13 on 20. This base on the load assigned for each outlet by 220.14(I).
 
guschash said:
2011 Workbook shows maximum number of outpitted on a 15 and 20 ampere branch circuits, as 10 on 15 and 13 on 20. This base on the load assigned for each outlet by 220.14(I).
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Which is correct and is shown in Rob's post #6, but as pointed out, 220.14(I) is for Non-Dwelling Occupancies.

Roger
 
guschash said:
2011 Workbook shows maximum number of outpitted on a 15 and 20 ampere branch circuits, as 10 on 15 and 13 on 20. This base on the load assigned for each outlet by 220.14(I).
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Don't know what workbook you are talking about, but like the handbook any explanatory material is the authors interpretation and not an official statement of NFPA.
 
kwired said:
Don't know what workbook you are talking about, but like the handbook any explanatory material is the authors interpretation and not an official statement of NFPA.
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He's probably talking about the handbook. But what he saw was correct, but it's for non dwelling units.
 
From the second page of the 2011 NEC Handbook:

The commentary and supplementary materials in this handbook are not a part of the NFPA Document and donot constitute Formal Interpretations of the NFPA (which can be obtained only through requests processed by theresponsible technical committees in accordance with the published procedures of the NFPA). The commentary andsupplementary materials, therefore, solely reflect the personal opinions of the editor or other contributors and do not​
necessarily represent the official position of the NFPA or its technical committees.
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And yes the section mentioned does not apply to dwellings anyway.
 
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