Greetings,

I have a 15 Amp GFCI breaker with 12 AWG aluminium conductors, for a circuit that supplies power to:

1) Kitchen light
2) Hallway Wall receptacle
3) Hallway ceiling light
4) Main Bathroom receptacle
5) At least one wall receptacle in the Master Bedroom

The breaker has been tripping at random times lately.

What I want to do is install a 20 Amp GFCI breaker to feed the bathroom receptacle and add a second receptacle in the master bedroom bathroom. I will run 12 AWG copper for this circuit.

That would leave the kitchen light, hall receptacle, hall light and bedroom receptacle.

Also, just curious, how far back in code do you have to go to find a 15 Amp GFCI breaker for a bathroom.

First I recall you saying you had aluminum wire in your money pit.

Wonderful.

I am not a saver. Some people save each edition of Code, I could have saved each edition beginning with the first Code I worked with, 1968, but I did not.

So, I do not know how you will find out when a bathroom only needed a 15 Amp circuit.

Absolutely, aluminum wire. 12 AWG for this circuit.

If I had the money, I'd R&R the panel, before I do any wiring work and just abandon the Aluminum wiring.

I figure to run a new circuit with 12 copper, disconnect the aluminum from the hall receptacle. The feed both bathrooms and the bedroom receptacles.

Of course the bathroom will be on GFCI receptacles.

I was just curious about the history of the code. I wonder if anyone at the NEC would know. For grins I may just write them. Useless information is always useful at the oddest times.

You may contact someone at:

NFPA :: About NFPA :: Contact Us

Me personally, I would not be contacting them about something as trivial as when the 20 Amp circuit for a bathroom was implemented, just for your own curiousty.

But that is just me.

You should be able to find older code books at libraries.

You do realize that once you establish a 20 amp circuit for a bathroom, that circuit is dedicated for bathroom only, and the bedroom receptacles cannot be on that circuit.

Yes, I realize that, but I can the bathroom receptacles in both bathrooms with the one feed as there will be nothing else on the circuit.

Sorry for the poor description. The master bedroom is also going to be on it's own 20 amp AFCI.

I'll just abandon the aluminum cables by cutting out the runs and leaving the conductors inside the wall and then fishing copper to the new fixture.

I'm really pushing to find the money to replace the panel before I change out the wiring.

Softball season starts in March so I will be umpiring again to get the funds. I have a friend that works at Square "D" in Kentucky and she will help me get a reduced price on a new panelboard.

Yo were correct in your analysis of "Money Pit".