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| I am changing some two wire non grounded wiring for some up to date wiring. I have to wire for a television, fridge, washer, over the range microwave, and a computer. I think that this 14/2 wire would work, but am not sure. Any help, would be a help. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by electomechanical (My Page) on Mon, Mar 29, 10 at 20:37
| There are a lot of question that need to be answered: Where do you live? These are things that need to be answered before it can be determined what size wire you need. |
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| 14/2 will definately not work. The washer needs to be on a dedicated 20amp laundry circuit, and 12awg wire is required for that. I generally use 12 for everything (20A or 15A) but sometimes to save a few cents, or to save a little space, I will use 14 for lighting circuits - but more often when I need 3 or 4 way switches I will use 14/3 cable |
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| bride2b- What is your level of knowledge on doing wiring? You've asked a pretty basic question (which is good), but it causes me concern that you are going to tackle a wiring job that you may not have sufficient knowledge about to complete safely. I'm not trying to be elitist -- we all started from scratch with this subject -- but this is one do-it-yourself area that you don't want to learn about from your mistakes. If you're a newbie in this area, do you have a knowledgeable friend who can help? |
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| Just the basics - 14/2 wire is only rated for 15amps, so it should not be used with a 20 amp breaker. Pretty much every large appliance should be on a 20amp circuit which would require 12/2 wire. These requirements are for safety, not just to make you jump through hoops. All metal heats up when you pass a current through it. The larger the current, the greater the heat. However, the larger the wire, the less it heats up for a given current. Putting too much current through too small a wire with cause the wire to get very hot. If that wire is enclosed in a wall, there is no place for the heat to go and you can get a dangerous buildup of heat that could cause a fire. |
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