DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:
Ray wrote:

Can 15 amp receptacles be used in a 20 Amp circuit ??

No. Doing so would mean that you could plug in a device that overloads
the receptacle.

Does this also apply to light switches ???

Yes.

Sorry Larry but you are wrong.

Fifteen ampere receptacles that are listed by Underwriters Laboratories
have been tested to pass through twenty amperes. What is fifteen ampere
about the receptacles is the blade pattern that they are built with.
Since no UL listed portable device that draws more than fifteen amperes
is built with a fifteen ampere cord set your concern is unfounded. The
US NEC specifically permits multiple fifteen ampere receptacles on a
twenty ampere circuit.

There are switches available at most venders that are only rated at ten
amperes. The smallest commonly available breaker is fifteen amperes.
Switches need only be rated for the load they control. The US NEC does
not require them to be able to open the entire ampacity of the branch
circuit that supplies them.
--
Tom Horne

Well we aren't no thin blue heroes and yet we aren't no blackguards to.
We're just working men and woman most remarkable like you.