Question about power, not so much supply...

[TemjinGold]

I've been curious about something since I could potentially be upgrading houses (current and new would be custom built). My current house has 15amp wiring though I've heard of 20amp wiring and have wondered about asking for that in the new house. The thing is, I don't know if 20amp is straight up better or if there are pros and cons (other than cost, of course). Is house wiring like power supplies where if you have too much, you lose efficiency? Is there something else I haven't even considered? Or is 20amp straight up better than 15?

 

[Conroe]

The difference is you'll have to buy 12 gauge wire. It could add up to a lot over 14. New houses here are all 12 AWG for outlets and 14 for lights.

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks. The builders would be the ones putting it in, not me. How much are we talking? House would be ~4000 sq ft.

 

[Charlie98]

It's pretty significant, probably +30-40% in raw material cost. It might or might not make a difference.... it just depends.

As far as outlets and such, isolation is better... for example, when I installed my HTPC and TV, I ran a separate 12GA line from the breaker box for just those components. I have two turtle aquariums with 2 pumps each, plus more hardware, I didn't want the potential of either noise (from the magnetic pumps) or circuit overload to jack with my HTPC (they would have been on the same circuit.) If you know where you are going to have energy hungry appliances (think media center, kitchen, game room) I would try to drop extra or dedicated lines in.

Some contractors won't entertain upgrades like you are talking about, some will. Make sure you get it spelled out... and I would check their work before they wall it in.

One other thing... if you are having the house built. If you ever intend to build a pool, I would have the 220v lines dropped or at least run it to a J-box where they can tap into it later. Personally, I like a separate breaker box on the side of the house, but it won't do you a whole lot of good if the equipment is positioned on the other side of the house from the box.

 

[TemjinGold]

Great stuff, thanks for the tips!

 

[MrTeal]

A 20 amp circuit and 12 ga wire will be slightly more efficient since you'll have lower I²R losses in the wire and slightly higher voltage at the PSU, but it will probably be pretty negligible unless you're really loading down the system.

I would just get 20 amp lines all around since it's going to cost you 1/10th the cost to do your whole house now than to upgrade a single line if you need it later. Other factors to consider is as Charlie said to partition the lines logically, and don't put too much on a single breaker. Given the chance a builder will max out the number of outlets on a branch circuit, so if you don't get on them you will end up with several rooms on one breaker.

 

[TemjinGold]

Good to know!

 

[philipma1957]

I live in New Jersey and as a home owner you are allowed to wire your home
without an electrican. Just pull a permit and when finished have it inspected.

That said my home was built in 1972 we suffered a copper shortage in the USA at the time and my home was all aluminum wiring . except for the air conditioning.

In the nineties I fully wired the house in copper.

20 amp is 12 gauge copper
I have no 15 amp which would be 14 gauge

I do not have any 14 gauge since I suffered from a case of might as well.

I was an audio freak and I put in 3 10 gauge lines for dedicated subwoofers
I also like to do woodworking so I put in 5 power lines to my garage.

All was retrofit snake lines and really hard slow work.

I did all the work except the new 200 amp circuit box.

Try to get the builder to put in a 200 amp 40 circuit box.

Try for all lines to be 12 awg.

do a sub panel.

lastly do at least one or 2 10 awg lines wired for 240 volts.

inspect his work.

now in 2016 i run many btc miners.

and i have power to do it easily.

good luck with your new home.

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks for the advice!