Why are there 15- and 20-amp receptacles?

[krw]

No, Proteus, you're confusing me with your best friend, DimBulb. You're confused a *lot*.

[Robert Green]

Indeed I do, and in this case it appears to coincide with one of the prinicipal purposes of having a NEC in the first place - preventing people from designing/installing potentially dangerous wiring.

Well, for one thing, the specifics of what I think are a hypothetical case ask is it safe to put a 20A receptacle on a 15A circuit? If it was using

12AWG, it wouldn't really be a 15A circuit. My pre-WWII house is lousy with 15A circuits and 14AWG wiring. I don't believe that wiring carries more current as it ages and oxidizes, but that the reverse is true. Drawing 20A through a 15A circuit seems antithetical to the whole purpose of the NEC. Yes we have fuses and circuit breakers, but they are meant to deal with accidents, emergencies and product failures, not wiring that's purposefully done incorrectly. It *may* protect against that, but it's clearly not its primary purpose.

-- Bobby G.

[Proteus]

e:

MOVE OUT OF THERE IMMEDIATELY

PATECUMSEH

[bud--]

Roy Quijano is well known on alt.engineering.electrical for giving bad advice. This is an example.

Proteus is well known on alt.engineering.electrical for being a particularly stupid troll.

They are the same entity. In agreement with krw - ignore them.

[Gary H]

Even without being overloaded?