Shall I Use 15A or 20A Receptacles on a 20A circuit per 2023 NEC 210.21(B) ?

Leviton T5833-W 20-Amp Type-C USB Charger/Tamper Resistant Receptacle, White: Amazon:

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[sjpropertyservices]

I am a DIYer and went to commercial only grade receptacles several years ago. After seeing the difference in quality the price difference made it an easy decision to go with commercial grade.

[garydudgeon]

Sparky, you are making good decisions. Kitchens are a likely area that may have a heavier load. Good explanation as usual.

[GailUrge-vqqn]

Thank you for presenting clarity on the outlet applications Backyard Sparky.

[glasshalffull]

My brother’s house in Florida had issues with the 20 amp GFCIs in the bathroom. I was impressed that the contractor had bothered to upgrade the circuits during a remodel. That is until I went to the panel to turn off the breaker and found it was a 15 amp breaker and the wire was 14 gauge also. 😬 Changed them out to 15 amp spec grade and only the first receptacle is now a GFCI.

[kenbrown]

for those interested in further detail: duplex receptacles carry two ratings: a feed through rating and a face rating. the 15 amp receptacles he showed are a 15 amp face rating, but still have a 20 amp feed through rating. there are receptacles that only have a 15 amp feed through rating and those are not approved for use on a 20 amp circuit.

personally, I'm completely comfortable using the residential grade receptacles for normal residential use. I installed them in my own house. where I would use a commercial grade receptacle would be if there was a location that was constantly having things plugged in and unplugged, or where there was a high amperage appliance that got used a lot.

if you're only installing a few receptacles, the step up in price is negligible, so it's really a case of preference. but note that tamperproof receptacles ARE mandatory in residences or places where children will be (I.E. schools, daycares, etc)

[wingman]

Yes yes. 20amp comm spec receptacle for high use 20A areas. Kitchen, workshop, garages etc. Grab better. Last longer. Great video. Thank you.

[pjjp]

Thank you sparky! In charging my new generator it said use at least a 16A outport. Not knowing anything about that, this video taught me everything, I needed to know. Because of you! Thx!!

[James-bvnu]

Very clear and informative!
btw, the way I read the code, if you use a 20 amp outlet (with the T prong), then you must use dedicated 12 gauge wiring to that outlet.
In other words, you cannot daisy chain 20 amp outlets.

[CLEVDALE]

I hope you have apprentices with you as you are the kind of teacher that is needed to keep the field growing and moving in the right direction, you explain with good clarity. Also you are not saying I know this and listen you are pulling from the code and showing exactly why it is what it is. I have watched many of your videos and I am happy to see you are getting better and better at the teaching.

[timdyer]

Thanks, Bill! You provided some very helpful information - as always!

[Commut]

Thanks for posting the references! NEC being paid for by our tax dollars should not have paywalled downloads. If that issue gets air time on Youtube perhaps that will change, but currently it's absurd for a public law CRITICAL TO SAFETY to have its dissemination so restricted. (Reading it online without a search function is a deliberately awkward imposition.)

[rjlinnovations]

Nice video tutorials. Greetings from your supporters

[sophiegrisom]

Only need one 20 A receptacle in the kitchen and maybe one in the garage, just in case you ever have an appliance w/ 20 A plug. Very rare, just something like an air compressor or monster toaster. In a kitchen remodel, I installed one receptacle with USB charge ports as shown, just to appear modern, though may soon be outdated. At least it includes a USB-C plug. It was $35 and fairly bulky since has all the electronics of a USB adapter.

[nominalvelocity]

Makes sense, you'd want heavy duty appliances on their own circuit; A/C units, refrigerators and clothes washers can have pretty high peak amperages when the motor starts. Some dishwashers have pretty high draw. Outside of bigger appliances, though, I don't see a benefit to using the 120v 20A outlets. I can't think of a single one I've seen or used outside of a garage (air compressor or small welder) in all of my years.

[cryangallegos]

This is great content. I had no idea that you could put 15a duplexes on a 20a circuit. We've got some "experts" where I work claiming that you can't do that, however the hilarious part is that we actually *are* using 20a receptacles on a circuit lol

[RJ-ejnr]

On resi vs commercial grade, nearby price per rcpt of big box store Eaton when bought in units of 10 (15A only as 20A resi isn't much of a thing) - resi $.80, comm $2.15, TR comm, $4.00. For a homeowner, it's a obvious choice once you know it exists. For a contractor, when resi is demanded, you know the customer's price/quality sensitivity now and go in with your eyes open, especially if your ethos is to solid quality work at a fair but appropriately higher cost.

[arnozhang]

First sf all, it depends on the thickness of the incoming wire of the socket. The maximum load of 4 square millimeter copper wire is 8KW. A=KW/110V, Add up the power of all the electrical appliancesthat will be used on this socket, and use the previous formula to calculate. you can get the maximum ampere usage of your socket, and multiply the mumber youcalculated by 1.5 times, which is the safe current you neeed to buy amperrage.

[HamiltonMechanical]

So I teach a a local state run trade school, we had a new campus built in another location, and we had to go there the other day to help them wire up a trainer, and they were like hey, these receptacles were leftovers, you want em? They are all 15a 3 prong locking LOL. So I told my coworker, lets change all our receptacles to these, and all our power tools and extension cords to em. That'll keep the welding shop from running off with our stuff!!! LOL!

[RJ-ejnr]

On 15A vs 20A, the default/obvious choice is match the receptacle to the circuit amperage. Reasons to put 15A rcpt on 20A circuit could be matching an existing look, some people/businesses feel the 20A ones look too industrial so don't like that styling, or saving a small amount of cost. An actual NEMA 5-20 plugged device is extremely rare in residential settings, though. I've seen on higher end houses now, many like having the 20A rcpt throughout feeling it shows that it was built well / heavy duty.

[edgarherrera]

Great clarification Mr. Bill!
Memphis, Tennessee say hi 👋🏻 to you!
God bless you!