@RJR posted:Cjack, recognizing that in talking about house wiring we're departing a skosh from the topic, but my practice when wiring my home renovation projects was to keep lightin and outlets on separate circuits, so as to have lighting when an outlet overload pops a breaker. I used 14-gauge for lighting, and 12-gauge for outlets, on the theory that outlets might be called upon to carry heavy loads. But, I would note that some say 14-gauge/15 amp should be used for outlets outside a kitchen because they may have lamps and small appliances plugged in, and they need the greater overload protection.
Good point. When my house was wired, they ran the circuit to the ceiling fixture and then to the outlets in the room for each breaker. Not handy when having to work with the power off in the room.
