Outlet Receptacle Spacing - Code Minimum

Best explanation yet, Thanks!!

we had our old house completely rewired and I can guarantee they did not follow code. We had 2 outlets on an 18 foot wall. In our newer house that is a brick house built in the late 30s We do not have that. We also had this house rewired with a 200 amp service installed but they did not change the outlets. I changed them out myself.

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Which code

Nice one

you are very good

Thank you for the video to put the code book in English 😂😂

The 12-foot spacing came about in the 1956 NEC; it was a 20-foot rule in prior editions.

In bedrooms I always installed the first receptacle at first stud off door frame ( 12 to 14" ) then did the 12' rule. For friends & family always installed a double duplex receptacle under large picture or bow windows and by TV location ( but not higher up wall mounted Flat screens ). Had a few customers insist to split wire every duplex receptacle in bedrooms so no matter where they plugged in a table lamp the switch by door would control top of every receptacle. In my house when I had first floor walls open fished up a 12/2 dedicated line under every bedroom receptacle to use in case of my central AC was down for awhile could just throw in a window air conditioner. Told the wife to always use the dedicated 20 amp receptacle for the iron.

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Why there is no app for the phone for quick reference in visual form is beyond my imagination.

Hi Joel, I have a QQ on a simple connection:
I have a wire coming from the electric panel to power a light switch and a receptacle.
1-Does this wire has to go to the light switch first, then "split" to go to the lamp and to the receptacle? or
2-The wire can go from the panel to the receptacle, then to the light switch, then to the light?
The receptacle is closer to the panel than the light switch. Basically I have, 1-The panel --> 2-The receptacle --> 3-The switch.
Thank you in advance for your help.

WOW! I did not know this!
Good I watched!
Thanks!

Hey Joel I might be fixing to start a remodel and need some help

for the example where a portion wall like between doors is non removable I don't believe you need a receptacle if the fixed portion is less than 6 ft wide... at least not in Ontario, Canada.

Does this mean that 6ft &12ft are not a Minimum Length but a Maximum length right?? So my question is... Can I install 2 Outlets/Receptacles 8 ft from each other? Like instead of 12ft apart can they be 8ft apart so that the appliance is only 4ftt away from either Outlet/Receptacles?

I guess you could do a video on circuit load calculations because that will also determine how many outlets and receptacles you can fit in a room. Again the NEC is a little dated on this and I suspect they will not adjust this until a few more cycles to take fully account of greater efficiency and lower load utilization by modern connected electronic loads. The bigger issue is the DC leakages across many of these devices which could add up and cause power quality issues and raise some additional safety issues.

So it’s a code minimum on actual walls you can install more to get rid of the trailing lead and multiple devices plugged into them which is dangerous as they are subject to mechanical damage and overload, heating and fire damage risks.

In this case they should add an exception to the rule to reduce the distance between outlet spacing allowing more to be installed for a given wall distance. It improves electrical safety if it get rid of dubious trailing leads. Either that or you can add quad receptacles. However at some point you would get into a voltage drop problem if you add more but for many modern day DC component devices that can cope with this drop without their performance being impacted.

Hi. Can you give me the book reference.

With all of the electrical appliances including wall warts I kind of think a single outlet every 6 ft is not enough. I go into places were they have outlet extenders with 10 things plugged in. Am willing to bet this is normal in atleast one or two locations in many homes

Years ago it was pointed out to me that 12 ft rule was put in place because most UL approved appliances only have a 6 ft cord. IOW, no matter where you go you need an outlet within 6 ft. (that's half way between outlets) What never seems to workout is that long couch with end table lamps. The cords barely reach unless the lamp is falling off the edge of the table. The same also seems to happen with king size beds. I'm amazed code hasn't changed to meet these issues, even though some of us are smart enough to install a few extras to solve the problem.

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