Recently began helping a neighbor who is down on his luck financially with repairs on his home due to termite damage. I noticed so far that several of the electrical runs in the home on 20 amp breakers were wired with 14 gauge wire. Although it looks like the correct gauge was used out of the service panel(15amp-#14, 20amp-#12, etc...), at some point in the home #12 turned into #14 wire. The home is about 30 years old and before I add more grief to this poor guys life and open my big mouth can anyone tell me if the NEC requirement to use #12 wire with a 20 amp breaker pre-dates 1980? Although not up to todays code does this situation warrant serious concern or is this NEC code "overkill" on the side of safety? Can anyone give me some sound advice based on the circumstance here? Very concerned.
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