One can measure the diameter of the wire to determine gauge http://www.daycounter.com/Calculators/AWG.phtml
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone-------- Original message --------From: Rick Beebe via EV <[email protected]> Date: 1/20/2016 11:16 AM (GMT-06:00) To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [EVDL] Where 20 amp receptacles are required On 01/20/2016 11:33 AM, Bill Dube via EV wrote: > Keep in mind that there is nothing to prevent someone from replacing the > 15 amp receptacle on a 15 amp circuit with a 20 amp receptacle. You can > still only draw 12 amps. The circuit capacity is what you care about, > not so much the style of receptacle. > > The only method I am aware of to determine the ampacity of the circuit > is to identify the breaker. There are all sorts of nifty electronic > devices to aid you in doing this, but that is the bottom line. Actually the only sure way is to examine the gauge of the wire attached to said receptacle and breaker. 14 gauge is 15amp, 12 gauge is 20amp (subject to distance limitations). I've seen panels where someone put a 30amp breaker on a 14gauge wire. Since Katrina I've done a lot of volunteer work rewiring houses in Biloxi, Mississippi. After the hurricane they made a code change requiring all the circuits to be wired with 12 gauge wire. It's a pain to work with but really does remove the question asked here. The easiest way to identify a breaker is to plug something into the outlet and flip breakers until it goes out. A loud radio works if you can hear that far. If not, a second person on a cell phone is ideal. If you're alone, turn off all the 120v breakers on one side of the box then run and check the outlet. That helps cut the search time to one side of the box or the other. --Rick _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20160120/237a81e0/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
