House Wiring Question Regarding AWG Gage ?

If you are planning to do some wiring, after you pull the permit it would be a good idea to have a brief meeting with the electrical inspector and get the facts from the person who has the power to pass or fail your project. Every jurisdiction can have different requirements regardless of what the NEC states.

On Feb 8, 2:24=EF=BF=BDpm, "John Grabowski" wrote:=

in the new

if in doubt run 12 gauge, true its harder to work with, and costs more, but you only install it once, but use it for a lifetime.

I have a lights only circuit rain 12 gauge, but put it on 15 amp breaker, larger breaker had no advantages

No, it wasn't "always 14 gage in the past". The NEC has required 12ga wire on

The 2005 Code has no such provision. Don't know about the 2008 Code.

The 08 NEC does not require #12 as a minimum size conductor in dwellings

I'm not trying to be quarrelsome when I say that is only true in local option States. Some states do not permit local option. Virginia, for example, is a minimum / maximum state. That means that the code as adopted by the state code approval body is both the minimum and the maximum that the local government can require of contractors in the state. Such states have a lower cost per built square foot of housing then the ones that allow local option. That is because contractors do not have to spend time keeping up with the requirements of dozens of local amendments. A building in one county can be framed, plumbed, wired and so on exactly the same in another county. Some min max states have a professional qualifications board for inspectors. If an inspector is overturned on appeal he or she may be required to attend remedial training. If a local government has an issue that has already been decided by the state board appealed in their jurisdiction they run the risk of the state decertifying that local inspection authority and requiring that the local government use state or qualified contract inspectors.