Outlets and lights on 15 amp breaker.

[arizonajak]

I live in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. I bought a house. I'm mapping the electric circuits. When I got to the living room outlets I had one 20 amp breaker remaining. I turned it off, the living room outlets stayed live. Replaced the breaker, just in case, no change.

I turned off each breaker, one by one, even the 15 amp breakers and found that the living room outlets were on the same 15 amp circuit as some of the house lights.

I'm not going to rewire the house just to fix that so the question is: When outlets and lights are on the same circuit is it OK to leave the circuit on the 15 amp breaker or should I change it to a 20 amp breaker? It's probably been that way since the house was built in 1986.

Keeping in mind that the living room outlets are for a TV and video players.

 

[Megawatt]

I live in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. I bought a house. I'm mapping the electric circuits. When I got to the living room outlets I had one 20 amp breaker remaining. I turned it off, the living room outlets stayed live. Replaced the breaker, just in case, no change.

I turned off each breaker, one by one, even the 15 amp breakers and found that the living room outlets were on the same 15 amp circuit as some of the house lights.

I'm not going to rewire the house just to fix that so the question is: When outlets and lights are on the same circuit is it OK to leave the circuit on the 15 amp breaker or should I change it to a 20 amp breaker? It's probably been that way since the house was built in 1986.

Keeping in mind that the living room outlets are for a TV and video players.

Arizonajack welcome to the forum and it is normal for houses to be wired that way and please don’t change the breaker because 15 amp has smaller wire than 20 amp. Good luck

 

[arizonajak]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Megawatt]

Thanks for the help.

You are quite welcome and if you have any more problems let us know