Dedicated circuits

That's incorrect. A 15A outlet shouldn't used on a 20A circuit.

@immatthewj   A 15A receptacle on a 20A breaker is not an issue as any 15A appliance will never exceed the wiring in the circut.  The reverse of a 20A outlet on a 15A circut is where the potential of fire comes into play.  We assume the breaker will trip and protect us from harm, but what it it doesn't?  That's why we don't push our luck.  Cheers.

You can plug numerous items into a 15A receptacle that exceed 15 amps, portable heaters come to mind. My Skilsaw. The outlet is undersized for the circuit, and the potential load(s).

@immatthewj A 15A receptacle on a 20A breaker is not an issue as any 15A appliance will never exceed the wiring in the circut. The reverse of a 20A outlet on a 15A circut is where the potential of fire comes into play. We assume the breaker will trip and protect us from harm, but what it it doesn’t? That’s why we don’t push our luck. Cheers.

@bigtwin , thank you for bearing with me on this; I know that I have a tendency to be kind of dense on this stuff. What I have is essentially three circuits that consist of 20A outlets connected to the box by 12-2 Romex and I put 15A breakers in those slots as I felt the 15A breaker was actually added protection. I can easily rectify this by putting 20A breakers in it. I just felt that as long as the circuit breaker’s amperage capacity did not exceed the capacity of the rest of the circuit, I was good. I guess I felt that by taking the breaker down to 15A I was being extra good.

You can plug numerous items into a 15A receptacle that exceed 15 amps, portable heaters come to mind. My Skilsaw. The outlet is undersized for the circuit, and the potential load(s).

@builder3 wouldn’t one be better off if the outlet was oversized for the circuit and the potential load(s)?