ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Double Pole 30, or 20?

I have to do an install for a friend of mine who's a printer. He works out of his garage and recently bought a plate maker. The specs on the appliance calls for 220 volts and it draws 16 amps. I'm not sure if I should run 10 AWG or 12 AWG being that it's maximum amperage is right at 80% rule for a 20 amp circuit.

Thanks for your help.

Shockme77, #12 and a 20 amp breaker would be fine unless there is a considerable distance involved, then a #10 may need to be considered.

The 80% load on the OCPD would only come to play if you were talking about more than 16 amps for longer than 179.99 minutes at a time. (continuous)

Roger