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Electrical circuit for oil burner

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John Jackson
John Jackson Member Posts: 3
in THE MAIN WALL
Hello. I have a forced air oil furnace on a dedicated 15 amp circuit. The breaker has never tripped but I was curious about whether the circuit should be upgraded to 20 amp. Are most of these circuits 15 or 20 amp in new installations? Thanks and a happy Easter to all.

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  • ed wallace
    ed wallace Member Posts: 1,613
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    electric circuit

    oil burner systems are designed to run on 15 amp circuits leave it alone if if its working ok if its tripping you have an electrical problem

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  • Bill NTSG
    Bill NTSG Member Posts: 321
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    It depends

    On the wire size. #14 awg is only rated for 15amps. #12awg wire is good for 20 amp. #10awg wire = 30 amps. So if you have #14 wire and you install a 20 amp breaker or fuse you are exceeding the capacity of the wire.

    The only time you may need the 20 amp on a furnace is if you have a BIG blower with a 3/4 or 1 horse power motor.
  • Glenn Harrison
    Glenn Harrison Member Posts: 405
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    Look at the nameplate in the furnace,

    it almost always has listed a minimum amps used and a maximum amps needed for the furnace. I personally have yet to see a residential gas or oil furnace that would need more than 15 amps, and a lot of times you could actually put a 10 amp fuse at the furnace for extra protection due to the lack of amps used.

    Also, if you have too big a circuit, you might not blow the fuse/trip the breaker in an overload situation, like a frozen blower motor.

    Glenn Harrison, Residential Service Techician

    Althoff Industries, Crystal Lake, Illinois

    Althoff Industies Link
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