What Size Wire Is Rated For 60 Amps?

Right wire sizing is very important. Especially safety-wise. 1 of the nigh mutual questions we get virtually wiring is 'what is the wire size for a 60 amp billow?'.

A lot of homeowners brand this very common mistake : They use six AWG wire for a sixty amp breaker considering 6 AWG guess wire has 65A ampacity. At first hand, that seems quite reasonable, and information technology's an honest mistake to make. The trouble is that we run a risk of frying our 60 amp billow if we use the 6 AWG wire.

That's why we'll await at how to adequately choose a wire size for a sixty amp breaker using two National Electrical Code (NEC) CODE rules.

Wire Size For 60 Amp Breaker — We oftentimes brand quite obvious mistakes when information technology comes to sizing a wire. To correct them, we merely demand to use two NEC CODE rules.

Knowing how to make up one's mind a 60 amp wire size will help you lot in any kind of situation. This may range from:

sixty amp service wire size.
sixty amp circuit wire size.
Copper sixty amp wires.
Fifty-fifty wire size for sixty amp sub-console 150 feet away.

The size of the wire is ever the same in theory (nosotros'll encompass how big a wire y'all need for a 60 amp breaker farther on):

lx amp wire size is ~~either~~ ~~vi AWG or~~ four AWG wire (AWG stands for American Wire Gauge; standard wire sizing is the Us) for 220V voltage. An amateur will use a vi AWG wire size for sixty amp 220V. A professional will ever use iv AWG wire size for 60 amp 220V.

As we'll see further on, the pick of wire size for a threescore amp billow shouldn't simply take the ampacity of a wire into account. Information technology's imperative that we also use 'Chapter 3: NEC CODE Rules and Design Exercise' rules (specifically NEC 220-two and NEC 310-16 rules), that include:

80% breaker rating rule. Maximum loading for any branch excursion is 80% of the rating of the circuit for ampacity of wire for any load.
Business relationship for voltage drop. The rule of thumb for voltage loss dictates that if the length of the lx amp wire is 100 feet, we volition see a 20% voltage driblet. That means that 4 AWG wire volition non suffice; we might have to use 3 AWG wire for a sixty amp breaker at a 100+ feet distance.

At present, if yous consult the AWG gauge wire size chart hither, you tin run across that:

6 AWG wire has 65A ampacity.
Bigger iv AWG wire has 85 AWG ampacity.

Let's await at these ii rules closely. It will help illustrate why professionals always recommend using 4 AWG instead of 6 AWG for 60 amp breakers.

Note: In the end, yous will exist fully equipped to size any wire (including the lx amp breaker wire size) yourself. If you'll accept any problems, you lot tin can pose a question in the comments and we'll endeavour our best to aid you out.

80% Billow Rating Dominion For sixty Amp Wire Sizing (1st Dominion)

It's obvious why an amateur would use a 6 AWG wire for a 60 amp breaker at 220V. 6 AWG wire has a 65A ampacity, and you only need sixty amps for a 60 amp billow, right?

Sadly, information technology'due south not that unproblematic.

We need to utilize the near of import rule in wire sizing: The 80% breaker rating dominion, according to the NEC Code. This dominion is to ensure electric safety; you don't desire to fry an electrical circuit because you choose a wire judge that'south too small.

Here is how this rule works:

Let'south say we want to determine the wire gauge for the 60 amp breaker. This tin be anything from a sixty amp hot tub wire size to a wire for 60 amp service, you name information technology.

60 amps is fourscore% of the wire size you need. That means that for a 60 amp breaker, you volition demand a wire that can handle at least 75 amps. Here is how you make this very important calculation:

Adequate Wire Size = 60 amps ÷ 0.8 = 75 amps

This is what all those homeowners that mistakenly use half dozen AWG gauge wire for threescore amp breaker don't take into account. half dozen AWG can only handle 65 amps.

Here'due south what a professional will know:

The next wire size that can handle more than 75 amps (every bit required for a 60 amp breaker) is the four AWG judge wire. 4 AWG can handle 85 amps; that's more than plenty ampacity to adequately wire a 60 amp billow, even accounting for the 80% billow dominion.

Annotation: This principle also accounts for free air and direct burial wire size calculation.

In some limited cases, even so, we as well use a 3 AWG wire size for a lx amp breaker. That's because of the 2nd NEC CODE rule:

Business relationship For Voltage Drop (2nd Rule)

If you have a short circuit, you tin freely disregard the voltage loss. However, if you accept a long wire connecting to a 60 amp billow, you lot take to have the voltage drop into consideration.

By disregarding the voltage drop, you tin mistakenly utilize the regular 4 AWG gauge wire when you should, in fact, be using a bigger 3 AWG wire.

Here is the rule of thumb for voltage drop that we should be using:

For every 100 feet of wire, the voltage drops by twenty%.

Some factors like the selection of wire (copper, aluminum, atomic number 26, steel, etc.) and the number of wires may influence the verbal per centum loss, but this is the general rule of pollex.

That means that we should increment the amps by 20% for every 100 feet of wire if we are to get the aforementioned power output (wattage) according to the basic electrical ability equation:

Power (Watts) = Electric current (Amps) × Voltage (Volts)

Allow's employ an instance to showcase what a voltage drop is and how to calculate the wire size for a lx amp breaker that's some altitude from the power source.

Example: What is a wire size for a threescore amp sub-panel 150 anxiety away?

Alright, using the eighty% breaker rating rule, we already know that nosotros demand a wire that tin handle at least 75 amps. At present, nosotros have to add the amps in guild to balance out the voltage drop.

Co-ordinate to the rule of thumb for voltage loss, in 150 feet of wire, we lost 30% of voltage (100 feet = 20%, 150 anxiety = 30% loss). That means nosotros have to increase the amps by 30%. Here's how we calculate the final amps:

75 amps × 1.iii = 97.5 amps

This means that a wire for a 60 amp sub-panel 150 feet away must handle at least 97.5 amps. 6 AWG wire can handle 65 amps, 4 AWG wire can handle 85 amps. In this case, due to 150 feet distance, both of these wires have a besides low amperage.

We need the next wire size: 3 AWG. This wire size tin can handle upwardly to 100 amps. Information technology's perfect in this instance.

In brusk, the wire size for a 60 amp sub-console 150 anxiety away is 3 AWG gauge wire.

Now You Know How To Determine Any Wire Size

It's notoriously easy to make mistakes when sizing wires and it'due south not uncommon to encounter lx amp breakers go up in flames every bit a result.

With these two simple NEC Code rules – 80% breaker rule and voltage drib rule – yous tin can fairly size a wire similar a professional.

Hope this was helpful and will help you make the correct selection for the size of your sixty amp billow.