Why don't they make a 20 amp recept - without the extra slot, like a 15 amp. Guess its legal to use the 15 amp for kitchen recepts.
20 amp for individual recepts circuits.

Are you asking why they don't make 110V/20 amp receptacles so you cannot plug in a 110V/15 amp plug?

I believe that's the case in Canada, where the 20 amp receptacles are made so they will not take a 15 amp plug.

As for the logic behind that, I don't know. Maybe to prevent over-fusing?

It's because receptacles are rated according to the plugs they reject. 20-amp 125v and 250v receptacles will accept 15-amp plugs of the same voltage. Why should they not?

maybe i can show the picture between both 15 and 20 amp at 125 volt verison

here is 15 amp verison [ both usa and cananda]
http://www.passandseymour.com/products/product.html?s=78&mkt=3

will someone please help me with this link above , thanks

[This message has been edited by frenchelectrican (edited 05-25-2005).]

Aldav53,
Your basic 15 amp duplex receptacles are rated for 20 amp when used as feed thru with more than one receptacle. So you can use them in the kitchen. I think this answers your question.

It's pretty simple. If a home owner buys an A/C and it has a 20 amp 125v 2p 3w male cord and they try and plug it into a 15 amp receptacle, they see it doesn't fit. Next logical step is to call an electrican who tells them you need a 20 amp circuit for that apliance and explains that you can't just change the receptacle because the circuit won't hold.

Correct, but the opposite doesn't hold true:

If you replace a 20-amp AC with a 15-amp one, nothing need be changed.

HLCbuild,
Yes thats what I was wondering. It doesn't make sense though, whats the difference between a 20 amp feed thru and a 20 amp single recept circuit.

The bits inside are rated to pass 20A. The prong configuration is made to accept either a 15A only or a 15 or 20 A plug.

aldav53,
I believe the thought is a 15/20 amp feed-thru rated at 20 amps won't have an appliance plugged into it that has more than 15 amps. If is it rated higher than that it would have a 20 anm male cord end and require a 20 amp receptacle. Yet the circuit will still be #12 good for 20 amps...if that makes any sense. It's starting to not make sense to me!

There are two issues here.
The first is whether you can use 15a receptacles on a 20a circuit and they are designed such that you can.
The second is if the manufacturer wants to require a 20a circuit for his equipment he can install a 20a plug and force the user to have 20a receptacle, presumably on a 20a circuit.

I just noticed that the 20-amp receptacle in the pic on the site in French's post does not have a t-slot, meaning that it will not accept a 15-amp plug. That's unusual, from my experience.

Also, you cannot plug a #12 into the push in type 15a recepts.

Yeah, that's my issue with wanting to know the reason behind that.

Some 110-volt 20-amp receptacles don't have the T slot.

They won't accept standard 15 amp plugs.

Sorry, I guess I didn't make that clear in my response to the initial poster. XD


120 volt/20-amp receptacle (marked as Non-NEMA in the P&S website)




[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 05-27-2005).]