|> However, as long as each 20 A circuit serves more than one outlet, those |> outlets can be the 15 A configuration. The 20 A requirement is for the |> circuit, not the outlet. | | Who's talking about "outlet" (I assume you mean | receptacle) configuration? | | The receptacles must be on 20 amp circuits. Your label | indicates 15 A circuits for 4 of them, splitting the | duplexes into 2 each.
These are not labels that would appear on the outlets. There is no intention to do so. Actually, this page was derived from one used to show a variety of NEMA configurations. The labels in the page are merely that of the NEMA configurations, but I had sunsequently taken the NEAM configurations off and left the voltage configuration. That is probably the label confusion.
The original plan for the kitchen was to have 4 outlets in each cluster, each a NEMA 5-15. Each cluster would have 2 20 amp circuits going to it, providing for a total capacity of 40 amps. The 2 outlets on one yoke would be fed by the same circuit. The 2 on the other yoke by the other circuit.
Some might wire that up with a shared neutral. But that can mess up the GFCI protection, depending on how one wires around it. There are ways. But I do not like tha appearance of GFCI receptacles in my kitchen so I would have that protection somewhere else, possibly in the breaker panel.
The idea of having the 2x2 cluster of outlets came from my desire to have
2 outlets arranged horizontally instead of vertically. An early design had a duplex rotated 90 degrees. Another used 2 single outlets side by side. But using duplexes would probably be no more costly than singles.
I would not want any 20 amp appliances plugged into the common kitchen outlets. And the code does not require 20 amp outlets; just 20 amp circuits and a minimum of 2 of them. I could run those 2 circuits to each of the
2x2 clusters and be compliant. I'd probably have more than 2 circuits. At the extreme, each 2x2 cluster could have their own pair of circuits.
But I also want to have the capacity for larger appliances in the kitchen, including those that might use 240 volts (we don't want to be running a
240 volt extension cord across the kitchen to another room to get power). So I decided having a dedicated 20 amp 120 volt and a dedicated 20 amp 240 volt outlet would be the way to go, in addition to the 15 amp outlets that are served by 2 to 2*N 20 amp 120 volt circuits.
The only catch I've run across is this. I would not want the 120 volt half of the dual voltage outlet to be powered from the same circuit as the 240 volt half. Being on the same yoke, they both need to have a common disconnect at the branch circuit origination. A 3 pole breaker meets that. But I'd still have to have GFCI protection at least for the 120 volt half, and I'd want it for the 240 volt half, too. There are no 3 pole GFCI breakers that I have ever seen. So this design is not yet complete.
This all started because I could not find this:
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Some people do need to ask themselves this question:
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I originally thought of doing this:
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I can't find anyone making such a faceplace. So I might have done:
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faceplate is definitely available:
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this might avoid some confusion other people might have:
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Dual voltage duplexes do have this issue:
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Or I could get really bizarre and do this:
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maybe this:
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I don't think so.