because most appliances are 15 amp or less.
if one goes haywire and smokes itself the 15 amp breaker
will trip before the 20


"Andy Hill" wrote in message
...
"Dr. Hardcrab" wrote:
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
news:vAMSd.32750$s16.8322@trndny02...

"Dr. Hardcrab" wrote in message

So do I need a 20A circuit for a refrigerator? The fridge will be in
a finished basement.

Why don't you just up the breaker to a 20 AMP?

OK if you up the wire along with it. There are codes for wire size and
breaker size and it was developed to prevent fires.


Ooops!

My house has mostly 12-2 wire so going from a 15 to 20 amp breaker would
work. Probably not to code to have a 20 amp on 14-2 wire......

Color me curious, but why would you be running a 15A breaker on a circuit
wired
with 12GA in the first place? Might as well let the circuit work up to
its
capacity.