Wiring question

[Daniel Dudley]

I recently had a Panasonic bathroom fan with light and heat installed in a bathroom. It is on a 20 amp circuit, that drives the light, the heat and the fan from a single switch with three toggles. There is a twelve gauge wire to the switch, and each of the three switches on the switch are rated at 15 amps by Panasonic. Does the wire that drives the light circuit need to be twelve gauge ?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

If its a 20a breaker then yes it needs to be 12ga!

 

[chickenhauler]

It's just easier to run 12/3 romex... But yeah, if you're on a 20 amp breaker, you need 12 gauge.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I'm not a licenced electrician, But on a 20A circuit, all wiring should be 20A. The breaker is to protect the wiring. If the OEM wiring that comes out of the fixture to the 20A wiring is tied to is smaller, that's OK as long as it's inside the fixture. An example is the running 12 gauge wire to a T-8 fixture, the 20A, 12 gauge wire enters the T-8 fixture, but the wiring from the T-8 fixture is 16-18 gauge. You terminate inside the fixture and you're legal. The thing I'd take a close look at is the amp draw on the entire circuit and the amp draw of the heating device and make sure the switch is at 80% or less of the amp draw for the heater. 1800W would be running the 15A switch at 100% rated. 1200W would be at 80%.

 

[malibu101]

I don't know, but......
You can run a 20A circuit for outlets and then plug something in (like a lamp) that is only wired with 18AWG zip cord.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I don't know, but......
You can run a 20A circuit for outlets and then plug something in (like a lamp) that is only wired with 18AWG zip cord.

Code is for protecting the unseen wiring in the walls...