# Home electrical wiring question: Breaker tripping too often **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781 "2014-07-22T22:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781/21 "2014-07-23T23:27:18Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > I’ve never seen bolted breakers in homes, but I’m sure they exist somewhere. Even the dreaded FPE breakers are the usual push-on style. They sure do, and when we had to replace some, we shut off the power on the outside of the house, and changed by flashlight (big-ass flashlight), plus, we had daylight where the breaker box was. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781/22 "2014-07-24T02:07:51Z")
I just wanted to chime in that I don’t agree that the only reason to have a 20A circuit is for a dedicated (or nearly dedicated to) device. When I was a kid and air conditioners were expensive, we had one in my parents room (we kids could just suck it up). Now that they are $100 for a unit that can cool a bedroom, I have been browbeaten into one for each room, three in total. Given that these are small units, they run happily on 15A circuits, but they are using a substantial portion of the available amps, and just try to get a 15 year old girl to spread the load. Good luck with that. All the circuits I have added over the years have been 20A circuits, using #12 wire and 20A receptacles. Other than the excess frustration of making #12 wire bend to my will (jamming the excess into the box is always the worst) the downside is negligible. Just my thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781/23 "2014-07-24T02:47:16Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > [rant mode on] > This is a bit of a personal rant for me, but I **HATE** back-stab connectors. I refuse to use them and if I had any in my house I would replace them. I personally don’t think they should be allowed. > [rant mode off] If you’re talking about wire-to-wire connectors then I can see your point but I’ve seen push in connectors that tightened with a screw and they’re probably better than wrapping a wire around a screw. I’ve used the wire-to-wire connectors in my garage because wire nuts took up too much space and they seem to work OK but I’m not crazy about them. I’d like to see someone come up with a multi-connector consisting of two flat plates with a series of entry points and screws to force the plates together. But I digress. If the house has a central conduit from the basement to the attic then I’d run a line to each room. They can all be pulled up together and then run through the attic to each room. Do it right and be done with it. Also, while the electrician is there have your bathrooms and kitchen retro-fitted with GFI’s if you don’t have them. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781/24 "2014-07-24T03:27:15Z")
some high priced and higher amp devices will have a screw down clamp to connect a straight wire. the hated back-stab connectors are on cheap 15A devices, where a spring sharp jaw digs into a tiny area of a wire, this leaves an eventually loose connection on a tiny point on a nicked wire. all around is a failure point and safety hazard. ---
**Author:** ![Terry\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@Terry\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terry_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781/25 "2014-07-24T04:31:22Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > You’ll be hard pressed to find 20 amp outlets in many home in the US (I can’t state about other counties) and many of those circuits have your normal, run of the mill 15 amp outlets with a 20 amp breaker. Most claim that the parts of the 20 and 15 amp outlets are all the same in any case. > > And National Electrical Code does not require a 20 amp outlet with a 20 amp circuit breaker. Excluding the comments above about single receptacles and some other cases, this is true. However, New York City has (had? I’m retired) a bee in their bonnet about 20A circuits - the normal 20A T-blade receptacles were not permitted. It is written into the local code. I think Canada is the same, though I’ve never worked there. As best as I was able to determine, they were concerned that devices with thin power cords (18 gauge lamp cord, 22 gauge decorative lights, etc.) could be plugged into a 20A receptacle that accepted normal parallel blade plugs and that the breaker might not trip. Since this can happen with decorative lights even on a 15A circuit, I’m not sure why they did this. But there’s no point in arguing. NYC also doesn’t like Schedule 40 conduit. Chicago wants (wanted? see above) everything in rigid conduit, not even EMT. We used to joke that they were still nervous from the Chicago Fire. In a more useful vein, the easiest thing to do would be to have the electrician install a dedicated circuit for the air conditioner. While he’s there, have him inspect your panel to make sure it isn’t one of the brands with known safety issues (though the normal problem with them is failing to trip, not nuisance trips) and that it is in good condition, regardless of brand. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781/26 "2014-07-24T11:39:20Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Hang onto your wirenuts, it gets a bit weird, but yes, there is a requirement for 20 amp receptacles on 20 amp circuits. That is correct of course. I didn’t go down that path because it’s very unusual and confusing to your average handy man. Didn’t think it was worth being technical correct and yet confusing to most. > [@](#): > > My preference is on the side of 20 amp receptacles on 20 amp breakers. Grampa’s old 15 amp circuits don’t cut it any more for a lot of common household appliances. Concur about the 20 amp circuits and that’s a great point you made. The wire is more expensive (a tad harder to run) but worth it. Many homeowners don’t want 20 amp additions because the don’t want to run out of “amp space” in their box but that’s another myth to bust for another day. The outlets? I don’t see an actual difference in the 15 and 20 amp outlets - other than the price. And most people that I talk to are convinced they are identically made with the same materials, except for the cover. I’ve never seen a new construction with them either. Bottom line on the 20 amp outlet, (virtually) never required by code and electricians don’t use them when they have the option. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781/27 "2014-07-24T21:09:52Z")
[QUOTE=Terry Kennedy] Chicago wants (wanted? see above) everything in rigid conduit, not even EMT. We used to joke that they were still nervous from the Chicago Fire. [/QUOTE] It took computers to drag Chicago’s code into the 20th century. Big corporations were threatening to move to the suburbs where computer cables didn’t need to be run through steel pipe. IIRC, it was about 25-30 years ago that they finally relented and allowed Class 2 wiring to be run “naked” rather than inside conduit. Even the _doorbell_ wire at my mother’s house is in conduit. OTOH, having most of the regular wiring in conduit and 4x4 boxes is a luxury not often found today. When she wanted to add a circuit in the kitchen about 20 years ago, it was easy to finagle a wire through the existing conduit and boxes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/home-electrical-wiring-question-breaker-tripping-too-often/693781.md?page=1)