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Panel schedule says 20A, breaker says 15A, and the label on the door says something else
Went back to a house in Dayton last Thursday to add a circuit for a garage heater and found three different answers to the same question. The panel schedule taped inside the door listed that slot as a 20A kitchen circuit, the breaker itself was a 15A, and the wire was 14 gauge. I spent 45 minutes ringing out circuits with the homeowner watching me before I gave up and just ran a new home run from an open slot, which added about $180 to the job and a day of rework. My gut says you always trust the wire size and the meter, never the paperwork. But I have a buddy who swears you should trust the panel schedule first because it means somebody did the math at some point. So which one wins when the label, the breaker, and the copper all disagree? Do you rip it all out or do you document it and move on?
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jamesc798h ago
Your buddy has it backwards. Paperwork is the first thing to lie in a house that's been flipped or DIY'd, and a taped-in panel schedule is just a note somebody scribbled years ago. The copper doesn't lie, and neither does a clamp meter. If the wire is 14 gauge, that's a 15A circuit no matter what the label or the breaker says, because the breaker only protects the wire. What gets people hurt is trusting a label and stuffing a 20A breaker on 14 gauge wire, and now the wire is the fuse. I would've done the same thing you did, new home run from an open slot, and then written the true wire size and amp rating on a fresh label so the next guy isn't standing there scratching his head. Document the mismatch in your invoice too, so it's on record. A schedule is a hint at best, the meter and the gauge are the truth.
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