14/2 15 amp for lighting and 12/2 20 amp

markh_2008

15 years ago

I am restoring my house in Texas. I was planning on wiring my light circuits with 14/2 on 15amp breakers, using 14/3 for 3 ways. Then using 12/2 20 amp for the outlet circuits. I was told I can not do this because all rooms either have to be run with 14/2 or 12/2 and I can not mix them like this according to NEC. Is this true? It sure seems like a waste to run lights on 12/2.

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Comments (6)

terribletom
15 years ago
Huh? I can't speak for your area of Texas, but what you describe--#14 for lighting and #12 for receptacles--is very common and does not violate the NEC.

Could it be that whoever gave you this advice was thinking that you might have both #14 and #12 on the same circuit?

It's preposterous to suggest that all wiring in a particular room has to be of the same wire size and/or ampacity.
petey_racer
15 years ago
I agree with Tom.

Either you heard wrong, or this is yet another case of the dreaded "I was told...." syndrome.
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texasredhead
15 years ago
Further, not all receptacles need to be 12/2. Receptacles in kitchens and dining rooms are required to be 12/2 on 20 amp circuits. We also wire GFCIs in bathrooms and garages on 12/2 20 amp. Most other receptacles can be run on 14/2 15 amp circuits.NEC does not require that all receptacles be run on 12/2. We run all light and fan circuits on 14/2-14/3 15 amp. You can do what you want but 20 amp circuits must use 12/2 whereas 14/2 and 14/3 are 15 amp circuits.
sailor86
15 years ago
Yet another arm-chair electrician? There's not a darn thing wrong with your plan, fella. Good thing you went for a second opinion. Believe me, you're going to find it easier to run that #14 to your lights. #12 is overkill.
matt_m
15 years ago
On our addition, I did everything with 12/2 and 12/3, but only because my step brother is in management for a huge Vegas construction company, and got me about 2,000 feet of 12 gauge wire for free, hahaha. I will admit, though, that it sucks trying to accordian that stuff into a box.
davidandkasie
15 years ago
all the lights in my house are on 12/2, heck there ain't a 15 amp breaker anywhere in teh panel. but i promise you i WISH there was at times! week before last i decided to put up secutiry lights since we were going out of town and the lady house sitting for us did not like how dark it was around the house(plus my wife has been asking me to do it for 3+ years). anyway i decide to put the switch right next to the back porch light switch and use that circuit to feed the lights. well, turns out that the reason they used 12/2 is that 1/3 of the lights are on 1 20A ciruit, 1/3 on another, and roughly 1/3 on another. only the bathrooms have dedicated lights! the way teh panel is in the wall will require that i rip open the sheetrock to pull new feeds, so that will be saved for later this summer when we redo the cabinets in there anyway.

back to my point, 12/2 is great in that you can have more load per circuit, but i really sucks when you are trying to stuff three 12/2 feeds back in a box behind 2 switches! and yes, i use the largest box i can for ease of use and wirefill.

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14/2 15 amp for lighting and 12/2 20 amp

Comments (6)

terribletom

petey_racer

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