Re:Ford’s electric pickup can power a house for days
by Kirby64 on Tuesday May 31, 2022 @04:25PM
(#31574488)
Most recent houses I've seen are using 12 gauge for outlets and 14 gauge for lighting. 12 gauge is mandatory in many locations, since 20 amp circuits are the minimum by code. Either way, 12 gauge is always safe obviously.
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Re:Ford’s electric pickup can power a house for days
by dreamcompiler on Tuesday May 31, 2022 @07:32PM
(#31576209)
That's exactly what I did; lighting got less power hungry as we moved away from incandescent so there was no reason to continue to use fatter copper there. But it would have been legal to use 14 gauge/15A for every circuit in my house in New Mexico; I chose to use 12 gauge/20A for outlets instead.
Re:Ford’s electric pickup can power a house for days
by Kirby64 on Wednesday June 01, 2022 @11:28AM
(#31583286)
Not actually true, to be clear, for outlets. Yes, the majority are allowed to be 15 amp circuits, however there are a few circuits (notably, ones in the kitchen) that by code (any recent code, NEC 2007 or beyond I think) that mandate that they be 20 amp circuits.
Notably:
* Kitchens must have at least two separate 20 amp circuits (for use for small appliances on countertops, traditionally) for general use
* Fridges need a dedicated 20 amp circuit
* Microwaves need a dedicated 20 amp circuit
Beyond that, yeah, absolute minimum is 15 amp throughout the house.
Re:Ford’s electric pickup can power a house for days
by dreamcompiler on Thursday June 02, 2022 @06:09PM
(#31601159)
I built my first house in 1997 so my memory of NEC is mostly from then. It seemed ludicrous to run 15A circuits especially to kitchens and bathrooms, so I didn't. It did require GFCIs in the usual places back then. I built another house in 2007 and by that time AFCIs were required in bedrooms.
The code does seem to get a bit better over time.