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  • Wire size

    I am located in Canada. My friend has a small cottage and has one 120 volt circuit from the electrical entrance with only two outlets on it. (one in each bedroom) The circuit is fused at 20 amps and the wire is copper #12AWG.
    He has two small 120 volt, portable space heaters (1000 watt each) that he wants to use to heat the rooms. Each heater has about 12 feet of #14 AWG rubber covered exterior grade extension cord which are configured to plug in to the wall outlets.
    He wants to replace the #14 wire extension cords with #12 wire. I told him that the #14 was completely adequate and safe, but that he should dedicate the two outlets for the heaters only and would probably start tripping the fuse blocks if he did not. He is not convinced. I asked him to hold off....what say you?
    Thank you

  • #2
    1000 watts divided by 120 volts gives you 8.33 amps. #14 is adequate for the appliance. even two heaters on the same outlet is ok. the extension cord is ok too! insulation designation is probably type SO although type SJO would be better.

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    • #3
      If these are the cords that came on the units there is absolutely no reason to change them.

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