Circuit Breakers: What Size Wire Do You Need?

The more you know about wires, the better off your circuit breakers. This is fact in many situations, as you never want to play guessing games with electricity. Outside of safety issues, there are plenty of hard optimization reasons to consider the right wire size.

Plenty of Choices

You can dive head first into a superior square d 50 amp breaker purchase without doing any research. It’s a quality part, but that purchase loses its value if the piece is incompatible. That is the reality of going after circuit breaker parts with a wallet first mentality. There are a ton of projects that went over budget with random miscellaneous purchases. You can avoid that fate by strategically looking at wire size instead of going with a gut feeling.

The Average Consumer

Walking into a hardware store and asking an expert for the wire size is the go-to for most consumers. The problem with this approach is that the consumer doesn’t provide all of the necessary information to ask that question. No matter how well trained the expert, you’re going to run into trouble if the original question omits important details. Buying the part online gives you plenty of time to do research about what’s necessary for your unique situation. The wire size needed is only a small part of the puzzle to repairing your circuit breaker.

What You Actually Need

What size amp is the wire for? This question should be prioritized above all others. Amp sizes range from 20 to 60, with choices for aluminum and copper. You’ll find more people in favor of copper due to its electrical resistance and higher ampacity. There are a few other select features that make copper the best, but going with aluminum is not a bad choice. With the amp size and wire type in mind, you can now match it up with the service or feeder ratings. It’s pretty standard information, yet can be a helpful reminder when matching up the right pair of products. There are plenty of resources online that keep the basics in mind.

Tips

Stay away from assumptions, and don’t let the myriad of choices become stressful.  And purchase a new wire stripper! There have been a lot of improvements with modern wire strippers that will make your life a lot easier. This goes double for new circuit testers that provide necessary information to root out problems. Other than these two items, the only thing you will need is a standard flathead screwdriver. Nothing fancy, but for obvious reasons make sure it has a rubber grip.

But the biggest tip of all is also the most obvious – turn off the breaker box. After it is off, test a hot and ground wire with a voltage tester. You can never be too safe when it comes to dealing with electricity!

Finding the Right Fit

Don’t rush it when finding the right wire for your circuit breaker. Use common sense, and stick to the National Electric Code. Get what you need, and leave the guessing games to the amateurs.