If I can ever afford to buy a house (I won't) - I'm going to put plugs everywhere

[BigJ]

Two outlets per wall, mandatory IMHO.

What is mandatory in your opinion doesn't matter unless you're the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction). The general requirement is that there is to be no more than 12 feet between receptacles concerning uninterrupted wall space (there are quite a bit more requirements to this but I'm not listing them).

 

[bruceb]

Yes, I have heard of Mike Holt. But once you start applying basic electrical layouts, like plugs every 6 feet and on both sides of entries or wall openings, you can easily see that in a small room you will have at least 6 receptacles, plus the ceiling light (if you have one) And common sense says not to put more outlets than the wires can handle at any one time. Hence the suggested max of 12 outlets per 15A circuit

 

[BigJ]

Yes, I have heard of Mike Holt. But once you start applying basic electrical layouts, like plugs every 6 feet and on both sides of entries or wall openings, you can easily see that in a small room you will have at least 6 receptacles, plus the ceiling light (if you have one) And common sense says not to put more outlets than the wires can handle at any one time. Hence the suggested max of 12 outlets per 15A circuit

I'm not disputing any of what you're saying regarding best practices. But there is a world of difference between best practices and minimum code requirement. When people start taking best practices as minimum code requirement, you get renegade inspectors that think they can do whatever they want without backing things up with code references.

In a perfect world, best practices will always come into play. But when a customer wants the bare minimum and pays for the bare minimum, that's what they're going to get.

 

[0roo0roo]

Beware

less of an issue these days with cfl everywhere, the total draw on most plugs just isn't very much .

 

[ShawnD1]

less of an issue these days with cfl everywhere, the total draw on most plugs just isn't very much .

Actually it's the opposite. Houses today use more power than they've ever used before. Just 30 years ago, you could get away with a 60A service. Today? Oh shit, forget it. 100A minimum unless you want to put a lot of thought into whether or not breakers will trip when you plug something in.

Even 20 years ago, gaming consoles and computers did not have fans in them. Sega Genesis and SNES did not have fans. My 80386 computer didn't even have a heat sink on the CPU. My current computer has a huge heat sink with a huge fan on it, the video card also has its own heat sink and fan, and even the memory has metal around it. The popular game consoles is the Xbox 360 which is notorious for sounding like a jet turbine and still overheating.

 

[0roo0roo]

Actually it's the opposite. Houses today use more power than they've ever used before. Just 30 years ago, you could get away with a 60A service. Today? Oh shit, forget it. 100A minimum unless you want to put a lot of thought into whether or not breakers will trip when you plug something in.

Even 20 years ago, gaming consoles and computers did not have fans in them. Sega Genesis and SNES did not have fans. My 80386 computer didn't even have a heat sink on the CPU. My current computer has a huge heat sink with a huge fan on it, the video card also has its own heat sink and fan, and even the memory has metal around it. The popular game consoles is the Xbox 360 which is notorious for sounding like a jet turbine and still overheating.

60 amp, 100 amp, thats at the breaker box. per circuit in the house it is less because of the cfls and stuff, crts were hardly energy efficient, so home entertainment is more breaking even than getting worse. most computers are getting more efficient, esp at idle, and of course the lcd is far more efficient than crt, so even if you have a higher end pc, the difference is nullified by todays display tech. most others run things like imacs or laptops, which use a fraction of the power of older machines. things like 360's are pretty minimal in impact, a family is unlikely to have more than one..or more than one in a room. let alone run one along side a hair dryer

 

[alkemyst]

I think the max you're allowed is 12 per breaker.

Interestingly the electrical code doesn't seem to mention anything about octopus plugs or power bars. As far as the law cares, those things don't exist. You want 30 receptacles on a single breaker? Go nuts!

Actually in a rental unit or commercial building there are rules on it and a fire marshall can pull the occupancy cert if violated.

 

[Modelworks]

Plug in adapters for phones, chargers , are one of the biggest issues I have with power. So much so I replaced 4 adapters with 1 higher current adapter. If you have 3 or 4 devices all using the same voltage you might consider it.

NC has added a requirement of arc fault breakers and child proof outlets.

I can understand the breakers but I hate those child proof outlets. The damn tabs tend to get stuck or don't spring back.

 

[Modelworks]

Yes, I have heard of Mike Holt. But once you start applying basic electrical layouts, like plugs every 6 feet and on both sides of entries or wall openings, you can easily see that in a small room you will have at least 6 receptacles, plus the ceiling light (if you have one) And common sense says not to put more outlets than the wires can handle at any one time. Hence the suggested max of 12 outlets per 15A circuit

When I took the course it wasn't measured as outlets spaced on the wall but outlets measured between each other in the room. So a corner could have an outlet near it and not need one on the wall perpendicular to it.

 

[xSauronx]

My current place is basically one plug per wall. I remember my parents custom built house has outlets intelliently placed based upon where they planned to put stuff. For example, the logical place to put a TV in the living room had 5 sets of outlets.

My parents did that as well...but they also designed the house so practically none of the rooms can be rearranged. ever. Their place is going to look exactly the same for the next 30 years

 

[bruceb]

Octopus plugs or cube taps are something the NEC can't control.That is up to end user common sense. NEC is primarily concerned about the hard wiring portion, that can't be changed or easily fixed later if done incorrectly or unsafely. Power strips, while they can be a problem, usually have a circuit breaker built into them, so they are not too much of a problem. But again, they should be used with care and prudence.

Note: Arc Fault outlets are now mandatory in all Bedrooms for new or remodelling construction work. Not sure if childproof is mandatory yet.

 

[BigJ]

Octopus plugs or cube taps are something the NEC can't control.That is up to end user common sense. NEC is primarily concerned about the hard wiring portion, that can't be changed or easily fixed later if done incorrectly or unsafely. Power strips, while they can be a problem, usually have a circuit breaker built into them, so they are not too much of a problem. But again, they should be used with care and prudence.

Note: Arc Fault outlets are now mandatory in all Bedrooms for new or remodelling construction work. Not sure if childproof is mandatory yet.

As of 2005, they were not. If the AHJ has adopted 2008 in its entirety, they (tamper-resistant receptacles) are required. The 2008 code also expands the AFCI requirement so that basically, if the outlets (for those reading, receptacles != outlets) aren't required to be GFCI protected, you need an AFCI breaker (for new construction/add-on). Depending on the AHJ, I've even seen it where they required AFCIs on a SE upgrade with no additional wiring being added.

 

[alkemyst]

To those above.
For one, most home builders are going to give you what they do...there usually is no customization allowed unless you are custom building. Hell many are only packaging 2-3 phone jacks (kitchen and master bedroom usually always and sometimes 'den') without upgrades.

Two, there is no reason that you have to have all outlets in any room on any one breaker.

three, not all rooms would even call for this. I know some that have a great room and garage with jacks at short spacing (one dude has a garage with high outlets, low outlets and outlets in the ceiling).

four, you can have a main panel and a few sub panels as far as breakers go. With enough money it's easily done.