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House wiring question

R

redly

Golden Member
I'm retrofitting my circa 1929 house with some new wiring. I've never read anything that tells you how many bedroom outlets per breaker.

I'm running at 2 12AWG cables up to the four second floor bedrooms, where the will be split off to 4 outlets per bedroom and four in the hallway (16 total). will those two cables be adequate for that many outlets?? Or do I need to pull 2 more 12AWG cables?

each 12AWG cable will go to it's own breaker (15A I assume)

Thanks

 
I would think that would be plenty for basic alarm clocks and lights.

PhasmatisNox, it's 2 bedrooms/circuit.
 
Ooo...actually, one of the bedrooms is in the new addition, so it has newer wiring that doesn't need replaced. But I guess I do need outlets in the hallway
 
No more than 15 amps per breaker max. You can have as many as you want, as long as the circuit does not exceed 15 amps; but for practical purposes I would not have more than 2 outlets (4 sockets total) on any single circuit. Also if you have a computer anywhere I would recomend if
possible to put it on its own dedicated circuit I.E. One outlet and one breaker.
 
To begin with, do not rewire your home based on ANYTHING you are told on ATOT.

I am in the process of fixing up my 1900's house and nothing is written in stone.

The first thing you want to do is check the NEC, then go to your local city hall and find out what local codes are. In some places you are not allowed to do ANY rewiring yourself unless you are a licenced electrician and in other places you can do SPECIFIED rewiring as long as you are doing it for yourself and you plan on staying in the house, ie. you are not refurbing the house for resale.

Another thing to consider before beginning is how much amperage do you plan on drawing from each circuit? Lamps, TV's, stereos, hair dryers, humidifiers in each room each add to the draw.

Once again, don't take ANY advice you get on these forums as far as electrical wiring goes. Your life and the lives of your loved ones could be lost.

 
Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
To begin with, do not rewire your home based on ANYTHING you are told on ATOT.

I am in the process of fixing up my 1900's house and nothing is written in stone.

The first thing you want to do is check the NEC, then go to your local city hall and find out what local codes are. In some places you are not allowed to do ANY rewiring yourself unless you are a licenced electrician and in other places you can do SPECIFIED rewiring as long as you are doing it for yourself and you plan on staying in the house, ie. you are not refurbing the house for resale.

Another thing to consider before beginning is how much amperage do you plan on drawing from each circuit? Lamps, TV's, stereos, hair dryers, humidifiers in each room each add to the draw.

Once again, don't take ANY advice you get on these forums as far as electrical wiring goes. Your life and the lives of your loved ones could be lost.
Click to expand...


Thank you for that great advice.

I was getting ready to address some of the more bone-headed replies, but it's better to let it go.


:thumbsup:
 
Buy this book: Wiring Simplified, 2005 NEC. You can either wait for the 2005 to come out in another month, or, get teh current 2002 edition. I picked up my 2002 copy at home depot for about $6 (it was cheapest here versus book stores, go figure). I planon getting the 2005 one when it becomes availible. The NEC updates code every 3 years.

There is also a full featured edition, much much more in-dpth and detailed than the 'simplified' version. But the simplified version will explain a lot of things to you.

The actual 2005 NEC code book runs about $55-$85 depending on where you buy it.

But to more directly answer your question, one circuit per bedroom. The average bedroom has what, about 4 outlets, plus an overhead switch operated light? So that'd be one 12/2 pull per room, plus another 12/2 pull for the hallway. 5 total. Of course you can put two bedrooms on one circuit, however, it makes it much easier to selectively service a single room without interupting service to other outlets/rooms on the same circuit.

2002 NEC required AFCI breakers for bedrooms and living rooms, dining rooms, basically everything but garage, and bath and kitchen. Garage, bath and kitchen (and outside outlets) require GFCI, either GFCI breakers or GFCI outlets.

Oh, and I suggest SquareD, but thats just a presonal preference.
 
Oh wanted to add that, with 12/2 wire (nomex as it is now commonly reffered to), you can run 20amp circuit breakers. With 14/2 wire, you can run 15amp breakers max. 12/2 is not that much more expensive than 14/2; it make logical sense to spend a few more for added capcity. Not only that, but 12/2 can carry current farther with less voltage dropoff than 14/2 wire.
 
Everyone's local building codes are different. You'll need to call your local building inspector (call city hall) and ask them what your local requirements are.
 
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