15 amp outlet on 20 amp circuit reddit

I connected 15 amp light switches to my home's 20 amp electrical wiring. Everything works. What could go wrong?

Edit: the switch controls 5 recessed ceiling lights. No electric receptacles.

I just picked up a new microwave and it specifically says to use a 20 amp outlet, even though the plug doesn't have a horizontal prong and can fit in a 15 amp outlet. The area we want the microwave only has a 15 amp outlet...

My breaker box is full of 20 amp circuits so I'm thinking I should be fine to replace this 15a with a 20a outlet right?

My garage has what looks like a single recepticle 20 amp outlet. I noticed that the breaker for this outlet is labeled with a 15 which I understand means 15 amps. Based on my limited knowledge this seems wrong. Should I swap this with 15 amp outlet? Any advice as to how to handle this? Any chance breaker is mislabeled or me reading this situation wrong?

I see all kinds of answers on this, some say yes, some say no, but can you add a 15 amp outlet on a 20 amp line using 14/2? I'm asking for a friend (seriously)who is trying to add an outlet for a network switch in the laundry room. I obviously thought it was a no, but then he stumped me when he said "then why are there 14 ga backstabs on the 20 amp outlets?"

Hi, quick question, as I was changing all switches and outlets in the house I recently bought, I've noticed that some of my outlets and switches in master bathroom are hooked to the 20 AMP breaker (at the main switch breaker says 20), should I replace all switches and outlets on this circuit with 20 AMP switches and outlets? It seems like right now all those switches and outlets are 15 AMP.

Bonus question: it seems like my electric dryer is hooked to 50 AMP breaker, but the outlet dryer is connected to is usual 15 AMP outlet. Something doesn't feel right here...

It is my understanding that the circuit protection device should be the lowest rated device on the electrical circuit, whether we are talking building wiring, automotive wiring, or electronics. If current draw should exceed the wiring rating or device rating, the circuit protection trips.

If an appliance is plugged into a 20 amp circuit/breaker with a 15 amp receptacle and the draw exceeds 15 amps because of a fault, will the 15 amp receptacle fail? Catastrophically?

My only guess is that a 15 amp receptacle and 20 amp receptacle are actually rated for the same thing, whatever that is. The 15 amp recep’s shape is there to only prevent a 20amp appliance from being plugged in.

I'm replacing some outlets in my house with tamper resistant outlets. In my dining room, I have a 20 amp breaker with what appears to be 12 gauge conduit, but all of the outlets are 15 amp.

Should I replace the outlets with 15 amp or 20 amp? If I replace any of them with 20 amp, do I need to find every outlet on the circuit with 20's, or is it ok to have both 15's and 20's on one circuit?

I can’t find a straight answer on this anywhere so i thought I would try reddit.

We moved and I noticed all my kitchen breakers are 20 amp but the outlets are a mix of 15 amp and 20 amp. Is it a code violation to run 15 amp recepticles to a 20 amp breaker? Is that safe? Do they all need to be changed to match the breaker rating?

House is from around 1994 and we are in Illinois. If that matters?

I've been going through my house and replacing all of the old outlets with new ones. I got my 50 year old subpanel replaced with a new one, and my wiring in the walls are all Knob and Tube. The wires for all of my outlets appear to all be 12 AWG, and I didn't think twice about it. But today I noticed that many of my circuits have 20 Amp breakers on them, and I know that on some of those circuits I put in 15 amp outlets. The most recent 15A outlets I changed were the ones in the garage for the washer and dryer. I know that 12 AWG wiring can handle 20 A.

Should I replace all these outlets with 20 A outlets if the breaker is 20 A? I really don't anticipate plugging in anything that requires 20 A or even 15 A in most of the outlets. The only one I probably really want to replace is the washer/dryer outlet (it's a gas dryer so it only uses 120 V), but I'm not sure if the other ones really matter.