Electrical – Are there restrictions on having all the lights on one floor on a single circuit breaker

code-complianceelectrical

I'm rewiring my house to eliminate knob and tube wiring on my second story. The panel only has 20 spaces, so I'm trying to be economical.

My upstairs floor plan is a 70 sqft bathroom and 3 bedrooms, total area of the bedrooms is 500 sqft. Each has a wall sconce and a single outlet per room. Bathroom already has a ceiling light/vent/heater on its own 20A circuit, professionally installed.

As far as I can tell, NEC 2017 allows all recepticles and light fixtures in the bathroom other than the light/vent/heater to be on one 20A circuit, which in my case is a single recepticle and a vanity light.

I plan to put all 3 bedrooms and the hall light on two 15A circuits, one for all the light fixtures and one for all the recepticles. That will come out to 4 light fixtures on one 15A circuit and 6 outlets on the other 15A circuit.

Both bedroom breakers will be AFCI and the bathroom breaker will be dual function AFCI/GFCI.

I can't find anything saying otherwise, is it code compliant to wire my upstairs this way, such that all lights except the bathroom light are on one circuit?

Best Answer

That will come out to 4 light fixtures on one 15A circuit and 6 outlets on the other 15A circuit.

I would highly recommend going to 20A on the 6 outlets. It means going from 14 to 12, but you'll be able to run more things off those outlets. You can still install 15A outlets, as they can be used on a 20A circuit. Speaking from experience, you'll regret staying at 15A if you start maxing the circuit out (and it doesn't take much these days)

The lights can all stay on the same circuit at 15A, which will make wiring your switches up cheaper (don't forget to add a neutral in your switches!). Most lights do not draw that much (especially if you go LED).