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Grid switch ratings enquiry

Farmboy
Had an interesting chat with a tech dept this afternoon after coming across some grid switches in a domestic kitchen.


Four grid switches (sharing a common backbox) are each fed via their own 16A cb's, and each feeds 1G sockets (for a cooker hood, fridge freezer, etc). Ignoring the cable sizes (the focus being on the grid switches), given the 13A plug fuses limits the loads in each cct, would you have the current rating of the grid switches equal to or higher than the 16A cb's (e.g. 20A), or lower (but equal to or higher than the socket rating e.g. 13A/14A)?


F
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    Zoomup:

    Any switch controlling a 13 Amp socket must be able to carry at least 13 Amps. That is what the 13 Amp socket can supply. A grid switch rated at 16 or 20 Amps could be used. It would be bad practice to use a grid switch rated at 6 or 10 Amps to supply a 13 Amp socket if the socket could be used by any unknown appliance. I suppose that the cooker hood is a very low consumption load and the control switch could be rated at 6 Amps., but why bother? 


    Z.




    Ah, you've covered the switch being either rated higher than the cb, or lower than the socket rating, but the question is about the bit in the middle. Given in normal service each single socket won't overload, would you have the switch rating higher than the cb rating, or have the switch rating equal to or higher than the socket rating but lower than the cb rating eg. 13A socket rating, 13A switch rating, 16A cb??


    F

Reply
  • 0

    Zoomup:

    Any switch controlling a 13 Amp socket must be able to carry at least 13 Amps. That is what the 13 Amp socket can supply. A grid switch rated at 16 or 20 Amps could be used. It would be bad practice to use a grid switch rated at 6 or 10 Amps to supply a 13 Amp socket if the socket could be used by any unknown appliance. I suppose that the cooker hood is a very low consumption load and the control switch could be rated at 6 Amps., but why bother? 


    Z.




    Ah, you've covered the switch being either rated higher than the cb, or lower than the socket rating, but the question is about the bit in the middle. Given in normal service each single socket won't overload, would you have the switch rating higher than the cb rating, or have the switch rating equal to or higher than the socket rating but lower than the cb rating eg. 13A socket rating, 13A switch rating, 16A cb??


    F

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