Mr. Serious
Senior Member
- Location
- Oklahoma, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I may take apart some GFCI receptacles and verify this.It's a common misconception, but 20a receptacles don't carry 20a any better than 15a receptacles do.
I started using the 20A ones for two reasons:
First, sometimes I'm installing them where it really should be a 20A receptacle by code, so I can carry only the 20A ones and I don't have to stock both types.
Second, several years ago I had the same thing happen to me multiple times: A 15A GFCI would trip with the load shorted, then when resetting the GFCI with the shorted load still connected, the GFCI would blow up and the 20A breaker would trip. We've already discussed this on the forum and everyone assured me that GFCI receptacles aren't even supposed to trip with an overcurrent condition, only with an imbalance.
So, I don't know, maybe the 20A ones really aren't any better.