90°C Wire for Recessed Light?

[KJ]

Hello,

I am installing a recessed light in the kitchen.

The box says the wire must be rated to 90=B0 C (as opposed to 60=B0 C).

The kitchen lights are wired with standard NMB 12/3.

Is this acceptable? I don't see the temp rating on the wire.

Also, would 14/3 NMB be acceptable?

Thanks in advance.

-KJ

[SQLit]

I am installing a recessed light in the kitchen.

The box says the wire must be rated to 90° C (as opposed to 60° C).

The kitchen lights are wired with standard NMB 12/3.

Is this acceptable? I don't see the temp rating on the wire.

Also, would 14/3 NMB be acceptable?

Thanks in advance.

-KJ

Most NM today is 90c. Unless your home is >12 years old or there abouts.

[RobertM]

I am installing a recessed light in the kitchen.

The box says the wire must be rated to 90° C (as opposed to 60° C).

The kitchen lights are wired with standard NMB 12/3.

Is this acceptable? I don't see the temp rating on the wire.

Also, would 14/3 NMB be acceptable?

Thanks in advance.

-KJ

Should be a wire type printed on there. I checked the type number when I was wiring mine and the spec was 85 degrees C on NMB. One light I have says it should be rated 100 degrees C but none of the stores around here sell NMB rated at 100 degrees C. I did buy some special 200 degrees C wire from a mail order house in New York State when I wired by baseboard heaters.

Bob

[RBM]

If it has a "B" it's rated for 90, if it's just NM, it's not

I am installing a recessed light in the kitchen.

The box says the wire must be rated to 90° C (as opposed to 60° C).

The kitchen lights are wired with standard NMB 12/3.

Is this acceptable? I don't see the temp rating on the wire.

Also, would 14/3 NMB be acceptable?

Thanks in advance.

-KJ

[KJ]

House was built in 1991. I checked the wire, it does say NM-B. Although I was wrong, it is 14 gauge, not 12.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Lights at my house are couple feet of leader wire which is spiral metal jacketed going to a junktion box where it is joined to 14/3 NMB.

[KJ]

Recessed lights?

[Tom]

Purely for informational purposes.

I asked why do most fixtures require 90C wires? I found out many manufactures use very thin fixture wire(18awg) which will heat up beyond 60C wire specs with their amperage. This means anything coming in contact with the fixture wire, under the wire nut, needs to be protected to 90C.

In this case, NM-B contains 90C conductors (some even list themselves as 105C conductors). So I wouldn't have to do anything different to wire in your type of fictures.

IMHO: If you feel in anyway you cannot perform the work safely, then you need to get a qualified person.

hth,

tom @

[Tom]

18awg came to my mind, because I just converted over my single switch ceiling fan and lights, to seperate switches. The wiring for the fan and lights were 18awg stranded. That is sticking in my head.

later,

tom @

[Bud--]

Not likely. #18 fixture wire is rated 6 amps which is 720W at 120V. Larger wattage fixtures use larger wire. Incandescent light fixtures get hot because the bulb gets hot. If the wires can be isolated from that heat lower temp supply wires can be used. Flourescent tubes also produce heat, but far worse is the ballast. Among the worst were the old circline fixtures.

bud--

[Don Klipstein]

18 AWG does not heat much at the .6 to 1.25 amps drawn by the fixture. The main problem is that heat builds up in the fixture.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[Tom The Great]

Rather than ask around why, I went looking online, and found out the thermal protective device on recessed lights is set to 194F (90C).

The PDF file I read:

tom

[KJ]

That's helpful. Thanks.