Advice for buying first welder

don't know why the 14-2 wire would have a 20amp service on it. However, distance and wire material (al or cu) also makes a difference as well as construction date. Also, a previous owner could have changed the breakers/fuses out incorrectly, etc.
 
Rich said:
They may have done the 14ga because 15amp GFCI outlets are cheaper than 20's.

your 20 amp breakers should all have 12-2 wiring on them (typically yellow jacketed), not 14.
Click to expand...
x2

Your lucky to not have had a fire before. Might want to get it looked ant and changed. I've been a fire man for ten years and have seen this very thing cause people to lose everything. Good catch.
 
Well it turns out I was mistaken. Our house is new (Nationwide modular built in 2007) all of the wiring that came preinstalled from the factory is correct 12-2 wire with 20 amp breakers. I pulled a outlet cover off tonight to check it out. All of that wiring runs up out of the breaker box and into the attic. From the crawlspace underneath the house (9ft tall at one end of the house and 4ft tall at the other) all I could see was white-jacketed 14-2 wire. For some reason, I'm guessing because it was cheaper, the builder on site added 1 15 amp breaker to power 3 outside outlets on 14-2 wiring. It looks like my best option will be to just add a dedicated 20 amp breaker and run 12-2 wire to a new outlet at the welding site. Thanks again for the help...I was getting worried there for a minute!
 
Back
Top