Wrong wire size on pump?

[antipode]

I already posted that my new Hayward pump had a "blade" style plug instead of the twist lock.

So, I was going to replace the plug end as advised. When I cut it off, I realized that the new pump's cord is 16 AWG wire. (The pump is a 1.5 HP, 12 amp; the receptacle is 20amp; the OLD pump was also a Hayward -- but it had 12 AWG wire.)

A) 16 AWG is too small to power a 12 amp pump, right?
Extra credit) Why the heck is Hayward selling pumps with 16 AWG wire?!?

B) Can I just attach the OLD cord to the new pump? (Old pump was 11 amp; new pump is 12 amp)

HELP!

 

[Bama Rambler]

(A) Well technically, 16awg is good for 13amps. So, technically, the wire is big enough to run the pump.

(B) It certainly won't hurt anything to change the wire out to bigger wire and if it were mine I'd go ahead and do it since you have the wire already.

Now for the extra points Money, that's why they would sell the pumps with small wire. You figure a few pennys on each pump multiplied by thousands of pumps make a little difference. They probably also cut the length shorter too.