I have a older house from the 50's. The wire is the type that's wrapped in cloth. Im replacing a exsiting juction box that feed my range hood which draws 1.7 amps.

I can't really tell if its 12 or 14 gauge. Judging by what the wire stripper says its 14 gauge.

My questions is, if its 14 gauge and I run 12 gauge off it for the range hood... will it be a problem.

The outlets are on a 15 amp fuse, the light circuit has a 20 amp fuse, but its hard to say if the previous owner just put it there because he was too cheap to buy a new one.

Thanks
Matt

Not a problem. But if the circuit is 15 amps I would use 14 gauge. You wouldn't want to further confuse the next owner and you wouldn't want the next owner to think you were too cheep to purchase a few feet of 14 gauge wire. Be easier to do also.

You can believe your wire stripper if you insure that your are using the 14 gauge slot for solid, not stranded wire. The 14 gauge slot would nick a 12 gauge wire. You can tell the difference between 14 and 12 gauge wire by the feel when bending. When twisting 14 and 12 gauge wire together, the 14 will tend to wrap around the 12 gauge instead of twisting together evenly.