@perazzi28 your information is wrong, you can use 10awg wire with a 20 amp breaker, the breaker is what makes it safe not the oversized wire. I have 10awg wire on 20 amp breakers with 20 amp outlets and this passed inspection.
Outlets and Wire Gauge? - Please help!
I finally contracted an electrician to run two dedicated lines - a week from today! I have been reading thread after thread and the consensus appears to be going with 10awg wire for the 20amp run. My problem is two-fold:
- I'm stuck selecting an outlet because the electrician says that no 20amp outlet can take 10awg, that "10awg is for 30amp outlets".
- I'm stuck selecting an outlet because of what it might do to my sound.
I simply want to install something good that's going to feed a Puritan Audio PSM156. I am now running ADG Gran Vivace monos. I prefer a rich midrange.
Additionally, I asked for both a 15 and 20 amp run. People suggested I do this so my sources can be run off the 15A with amps / subs off of the 20A, but someone here mentioned ground loops? I am not well-versed in things electrical. Ideally I would like to know if I should stick with the two runs, and what would be a few good choices for each outlet if I do. @jea48 @erik_squires ... I have seen solid advice from you on the topic of outlets, but they lack things specific to awg and outlet type.
Thank you in advance!
PS I estimate the length of the run to be approximately 50', max.
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- 85 posts total
Absolutely true and my dedicated outlets also passed inspection. One definite advantage to derating the wire (such a s 10AWG on 20A line) is it reduces voltage drop. That’s especially useful if it’s a long run between panel and receptacle. |
cleeds, et al., Mia culpa, you certainly may run 10awg wire from a 20 amp breaker to a special 20 amp outlet that will accommodate that wire size. You will not gain any more amperage as the circuit breaker will only allow roughly 20 amps. If your wire run is really long, you will have less voltage loss with 10awg. A 50-foot run of 12awg will lose 3.95V, while the same length of 10awg will lose 2.49V. I overstated/misstated the safety issue. Cheers
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I am running all audio equipment on a regular 12awg/20 amp circuit with the following: 2 mono blocks with power output specs of 350W @ 8ohms/540W @ 4ohms. They each can swing 40 amps symmetrical & 52.6V RMS @8ohms. These are plugged in to the same duplex outlet. A subwoofer via a class D amp, Preamplifier, HDA PC, Turntable, etc. All on the same circuit. You can do this! |
@perazzi28 just because you aren't tripping the breaker with all that equipment on one circuit doesn't mean you are getting top performance. A 20 amp circuit can handle a lot more than 20 amps for short durations of time, which is why 10awg wire works better especially for high powered amplifiers that can cause the voltage to drop considerably. |
- 85 posts total