can i use size 14 wire in a kitchen for hot plate and fridge?

Question

i had #14 wire in already. should i pull it out and replace it with #12 wire? also how many amps should my breaker be? 20 amps?
i have a hot plate, a fridge, and maybe a can opener.

Answer 1

I am surprised that all of the other electricians got this answer wrong. The NEC requires all kitchen circuits to be 20 ampere minimum and 2 small appliance circuits minimum. This requires # 12 AWG wire or cable. All kitchen receptacles need to be GFCI protected.

The fridge is an exception and this may be placed on a dedicated 15 amp circuit requiring # 14 AWG wire or cable. I recommend placing this on a dedicated circuit. Typically, the motor in the refridgerator will cause the GFCI receptacles to nuissance trip.

If you need further assistance, please visit:
http://electricalblog.gilchrist-electric.com

Answer 2

Is this a dedicated circuit? Anything with a motor draws more amps. You can check how many amps the fridge draws and the hot plate, see if they are close to what the total amp load of the items are, what you don't know is what else is tied into this circuit. So you can try it and if it trips the breaker you know you have to much. Another thing the larger the Gauge of wire the more heat and amps it can handle. I would use the #12 because of the amount of possible amps the appliances may draw.

Answer 3

wow i cant get over how many wrong answers people throw around here like they have any idea of what they are talking about. that would be like me( electrician ) giving someone advice on doing their taxes. I blame the stupid point system that they have here. But anyway lets get to your question. The first thing you need to figure out is what is the wattage or amperage rating of the unit itself and you should find this somewhere on the unit it self. If this is a standard nu tone or similar brand unit than i am willing to bet that the heater is rated for 1200 watts and the fan and light are maybe 200 watts max, together giving you a total of maybe 1400 watts. And the maximum allowable watts on a 14 gauge wire or 15 amp circut is 1440. (yes, all you know it alls 1440, I know some of you are screaming 1800 watts but as per the NEC you must never load a residential branch circut more than 80 percent.) with that being said and given the fact that i dont know the exact wattage of your unit you would be better off using 12 gauge wire and dedicating this just for the unit. meaning it should be a home run from the panel. with 12 gauge wire you are allowed a max of 1920 watts and i would be shocked if your unit used more than that. I know what your thinking right now, damn i need a home run i dont want to do all that i just want to tap off something thats close and make it easy, but i can almost garanuntee you will have a problem later on or you will be creating a bad situation if you have the heater/fan/ light on all at once and there are other things on the circut. Sure go ahead take a chance, and your chances of creating a fire hazzard just went up. How do you thinkd most fires start in homes? And contrary to what someone stated all bathrooms do not need to be wire in 12 gauge. only the gfci has to be. There are more rules to this but IM me if you are interested in knowing. Trust me I am all for the gung ho home owner but when it comes to electrcity just make sure you have a good idea of what your getting into before you start. I have personally seem alot of crappy half *** wiring that people do to their homes and when they call me to fix their problems sometimes i dont even want to get involved because i dont want the resposibility god knows what else they did and if something went wrong i would be the one to blame. any way good luck and be safe PS i dont think i have ever seen a bath fan/heater rated for 30 amps(10 gauge wire ) in my whole time as an electrician. Please be carefull of what advice you take from this site

Answer 4

Any heat source draws a lot of amps. I would recommend 12 gage wire with a 20 amp circuit breaker.

Answer 5

i agree with gil for the most part, you can leave the wire in there if it is good, if you have to replace it - do it with 12 gauge,and a 20 amp breaker--- i do not know where you are but in florida, the electrical code is, a fridge must be on its own dedicated circuit, so you should have nothign else running on it, especially a hot plate,

Answer 6

Backyard sounds on target.

Safety, cost, and convenience are decisions you're looking at (ended it with a preposition, didn't I.)

#14 on a 15 amp breaker is safe. The total wattage for the breaker would be abt 120x15 = 1800 watts. (Keep in mind that at startup both your hot plate/and or your refrigerator draw more current than after they're running.)
So... add up your wattage from refrig and hotplate to judge how close to the limit you're running; consider the cost of having another circuit installed, and consider how much inconvenience it is to live with an occasional tripping of your circuit breaker if both appliances are trying to run at once; and go from there.

Answer 7

Use a 20 amp breaker and 12 ga. or a 30 amp with 10 ga..wire If you replace a circuit like that, yourself, you will still need a permit and an inspection or you could void your homeowners insurance if there is an electrical fire..

Answer 8

chances are your stuff will run fine on 14..until it all kicks on at once...can opener is a non factor..if u are cooking on the hot plate and the fridge kicks on at the same time, you will probably throw a breaker or blow a fuse. leave fridge on existing circuit, and add a circuit (with #12) for the hot plate. dedicated 20 amp breaker...

Answer 9

If it is an easy job to re-pull the circuit with #12, that's what I'd do - and instal a 20-amp breaker.

Answer 10

yes pull out the #14 wire and replace it with a #12 wire, which can carry more amps.