Jeff Wisnia wrote:
Doug Miller wrote:


snipped


No, he *is* an idiot. Putting 20A receptacles on a 15A circuit is a
fire hazard, because it enables plugging in a device that may draw
more current than the circuit conductors can safely carry.

I certainly agree with you that putting a 20 amp receptical on a 15A
circuit is NOT a smart thing to do because the shape of the receptical
slots makes it APPEAR that it's a 20 amp circuit.

But, if it IS a 15 amp circuit I'd expect the breaker (or fuse) to
open if the load exceeded 15 amps, so where does the fire hazard come
from?

The breaker could be defective.


You could create an overload just by plugging two 10 amp loads into a
duplex 15 amp receptical on a 15 amp circuit, couldn't you?


The breaker would flip.