I recently got a circuit added to my spare room to grow some tomatos, the lighting I am going to be using is 8amp on each plug, I noticed the electrician didnt install a 20A rated receptacle with the side blade but installed a 15amp instead. I am wondering if this is safe, it is the only receptacle on the line. Pretty simple fix to swap it out if need be
Electrical – Are 15A receptacles safe on 20A circuits?
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A 15A outlet is rated for 15A, with a 20A pass through. That is to say that the 20A circuit is in continuance throughout the circuit, however the receptacle itself (the contacts) are rated for 15A continuosly. Any single appliance with a 15A plug will not normally draw more than 80% of 15A, or 12A. The total circuit draw (multiple appliances - same circuit) can be 20A before the breaker trips.
A 20A breaker used with 12awg wire can feed multiple 15A outlets, one example is the kitchen. The reasoning is so that today's demanding appliances, which draw more current, can be used with a 20A breaker without the worry of nuisance tripping. If more than a total of 20A were to be drawn from the circuit, the breaker will trip.
It should be noted that any circuit that is intended to be 20A must use a 20A recepticle.
If the appliance were using 15A, it will be safe with the 20A breaker ( @ 80% = 16A). If it were to short, it will trip the 20A breaker just as it would a 15A breaker. A 15A receptacle can take 20A for a short time with no problem. The receptacle is overrated, otherwise it would blow up upon a short. A short circuit in actuality can be hundreds of amps in a very short duration. The breaker and receptacle are rated as "Time overcurrent" meaning it can take a lot of current for extremely short durations, and will trip on lesser currents that occur for a longer time.
An example one can relate to (refer to chart): Joe plugs in two electric heaters in his family room. Everything works fine until 20-100 seconds later the breaker trips! Joe overloaded his 20A circuit, by drawing 40A! The breaker will allow this overload for a short time. If the overload were bigger, say 60A the breaker would trip faster from 10-35 seconds. If the trip was due to a direct short, the breaker will trip Immediately. Breakers actually have a "Load characteristic curve" that you can tell when it will trip in time vs current.
Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupter (AFCI) receptacles are similar to Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) receptacles, in that they both operate on the Line / Load idea. When connecting an AFCI receptacle, downstream devices are only protected if they are connected to the Load side of the device. If devices are connected in parallel using pigtails on the Line side, they will not be protected by the AFCI device.
Since connection-wise, AFCI and GFCI receptacles are similar. The answers to these questions can be useful in this situation as well.
- How can I add a GFCI breaker on two circuits with a shared neutral without rewiring?
- How do I install a GFCI receptacle with two hot wires and common neutral?
Basically, these devices only monitor the wires on the Load side of the device. Which means, anything upstream on the Line side doesn't really matter. Sharing a neutral should not be a problem, as long as it's done properly (e.g. don't share a Load side neutral, only share the Line side neutral before the device).
Related Topic
- Electrical – Breaker and Wire Size for Exterior GFCI Receptacles and Flood Light
- Wiring – Is a #14 pigtail to a receptacle on a 20A circuit actually an issue
- Electrical – Power a 20A device from 15A circuits
- Wiring – Adding a 3/4-wire 220v receptacle
- Electrical – Using NEMA 14-50 with 60A breaker
- Electrical – 20 Amp single receptacle on two 15 amp breakers
- Electrical Safety – Can a 30A Dryer Socket Be Swapped with a 40A Range Socket?
Best Answer
That is fine. If there was only a single receptacle then it would have to match the 20A circuit. With a duplex, 15A is fine on 20A circuit. It matches your usage perfectly as each receptacle will use less than 15a and together more than 15 but less than 20.