I want to change my house outlets that are 15A-125V with 20A-125V?

Question

Will there be a negative effect on my house if I switch my outlets to 20A 125V ...I'm changing them because they are old and they have been painted on I don't know how many times and I am moving in some new roommates... pretty much the room is getting a face lift....new carpet... new paint.. new outlets/switch. and also my house is not grounded yet but I'm planning on doing it later on it was built in 1975.

Answer 1

You cannot arbitrarily increase your wall outlet amperage without completely replacing your #14 AWG wire with #12 all the way back to your main circuit panel and replacing that 15 amp circuit breaker with a 20 amp breaker.

With that being said, there's a loophole in the law.

In order to accomodate the problem that you have, God has created the 15 and the 20 Amp Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter Outlets. They are quite similar in that they do not depend on a GROUND wire connection, and they're perfectly legal.

The 15 amp outlet accomodates 3 prongs in each of its two duplex outlets, a short one (hot) a taller one (neutral) and the smallest one (ground).

The 20 amp outlet can be used with two different styles of plugs, they are standard plug which can fit into the 15 amp outlet, and the 20 amp plug who's neutral prong is perpendicular to the hot prong (the face of the neutral is a T slot).

Ask the guy at the home store to show you the differences between all of them.

DO NOT REPLACE YOUR 15 AMP OUTLETS WITH 20 AMP OUTLETS--THEY ARE ILLEGAL,AND WILL VOID YOUR FIRE INSURANCE!

Answer 2

If you are installing 20 AMP outlets on a 15 AMP circuit you will be risking and overload. A 15 Amp outlet will not accept a 20 amp plug so it cannot be overloaded.

You cannot simply replace the breaker with a 20 breaker either this would create a fire hazard. The only safe thing would be to replace the wire with 12 AWG wire.

Here is an article I found that explains it better than I can.

http://www.handymanwire.com/articles/outlets.html

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
I want to change my house outlets that are 15A-125V with 20A-125V?
Will there be a negative effect on my house if I switch my outlets to 20A 125V ...I'm changing them because they are old and they have been painted on I don't know how many times and I am moving in some new roommates... pretty much the room is getting a face lift....new carpet... new...

Answer 4

15a Outlet

Answer 5

But why????
You do know there's no increase in capacity
unless you change wiring and breakers right?

Dirty little trade secret:
Except for the difference in the slots on the face,
15 and 20 A. receptacles are identical internally.
(It's cheaper to make just one set of internal parts.)

Just buy good quality new NEMA 5-15 receptacles.

Answer 6

THE 20 AMP OUTLETS ARE FAR MORE COST THAN THE CHEAPER 15 AMP . BUT BEFORE YOU UPGRADE CHECK YOUR WIRING . IT HAS TO BE 12 GAGE WIRE TO HANDLE 20 AMPS ( ALSO TO BE UP TO CODE ) . A LOT OF HOUSES IN THE 70'S HAD COPPER CLAD ALUMINUM WIRE IN THEM ( NO GOOD ) ALSO SOME CONTRACTORS USE 14 GAGE WIRE AND THAT ONLY CARRIES A 15 AMP RATING . IN OTHER WORDS DO NOT PUT IN WITHOUT 12 GAGE COPPER WIRE , IF YOU REPLACE WITH 20'S AND ARE NOT UP TO CODE YOUR INSURANCE MIGHT NOT COVER A FIRE .

Answer 7

The wiring is probably 14 gage rated for 15 amp. So 20 amp and 15 amp recepts have identical faces, so changing to the higher amp is ok. It won't help at all and they will cost more then 15 amp recepts. You can (and should) install GFI recepts up stream from the other recepts and it won't be necessary to rewire for the ground.

Answer 8

No negitive effect as long as you replace the wiring as it was on the old plug. White wire goes to silver screw and black wire goes to gold screw. IMPORANT: If you have 2-wire plugs (no ground) you must replace it with a 2-wire plug. Or, you can replace them with a GFCI receptacle (grounded)