canadian
DIY
Hi everyone - new forum member here, looking for some guidance / advice before I try this myself or hire a certified electrician
From Quebec, Canada. House was built in 2009, with everything seemingly 'up to code' -- previous homeowner spared little expense. The microwave in the kitchen has a normal (15A?) receptacle on it (see picture 01.jpg attached). Just purchased a Frigidaire FPMO3077TF microwave / convection oven combo unit that apparently requires a dedicated 20A circuit - it even has a special (20A?) plug (see picture 02.jpg attached). The microwave is on its own circuit in the fuse box. I took out the receptacle to look at the wiring, trying to figure out if I can simply swap out the current 15A receptacle for a 20A one (see example in picture 03.jpg attached), but from what I've read, the wiring behind it needs to be 12AWG instead of 14AWG. Is this true? I removed the receptacle to have a look at the wiring behind it - I can't seem to find my caliper anywhere, but from what I can (roughly) measure, it's around 3mm in diameter, which from what understand is ~8-10AWG? Can anyone tell me from the picture of the wiring (see picture 04.jpg attached) what gauge this is? I see no marking on the wires themselves.
More importantly, do I have this all pretty well understood?
From Quebec, Canada. House was built in 2009, with everything seemingly 'up to code' -- previous homeowner spared little expense. The microwave in the kitchen has a normal (15A?) receptacle on it (see picture 01.jpg attached). Just purchased a Frigidaire FPMO3077TF microwave / convection oven combo unit that apparently requires a dedicated 20A circuit - it even has a special (20A?) plug (see picture 02.jpg attached). The microwave is on its own circuit in the fuse box. I took out the receptacle to look at the wiring, trying to figure out if I can simply swap out the current 15A receptacle for a 20A one (see example in picture 03.jpg attached), but from what I've read, the wiring behind it needs to be 12AWG instead of 14AWG. Is this true? I removed the receptacle to have a look at the wiring behind it - I can't seem to find my caliper anywhere, but from what I can (roughly) measure, it's around 3mm in diameter, which from what understand is ~8-10AWG? Can anyone tell me from the picture of the wiring (see picture 04.jpg attached) what gauge this is? I see no marking on the wires themselves.
More importantly, do I have this all pretty well understood?
Attachments
![[ElectriciansForums.net] Microwave - 20A Circuit Required](https://electricians.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data/attachments/63/63383-378472c7013428f0128759e074e0f208.jpg)
![[ElectriciansForums.net] Microwave - 20A Circuit Required](https://electricians.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data/attachments/63/63384-9cd288b8a8fa96083e8efda36120c3f1.jpg)
![[ElectriciansForums.net] Microwave - 20A Circuit Required](https://electricians.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data/attachments/63/63385-612b7cfab9742dcbbffff0dd2e4954de.jpg)
![[ElectriciansForums.net] Microwave - 20A Circuit Required](https://electricians.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/data/attachments/63/63387-61bf4ae7ac6cf472de05f841d5b73cc9.jpg)
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