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Appliance Ratings and 13A plug tops

statter
Hello

I looked last year for portable heating and not surprisingly there was little above 2.5kW rating.  All the old 3kW stuff has long gone.

I was surprised however to find a wide range of steam irons rated at 3000W and even 3100W.  (that's almost 13.5A at 230V).  I realise of course that irons are likely to be much more intermittent than heating and that 13.5A is very unlikely to blow a 13A fuse but it cant be good practice to overload plug/ socket like this.  A decent ironing session can still be hours ……   OFC at 240v its under 13A but 230v has been the standard for ages now.   In my experience many socket/ plug combinations are marginal approaching their rating so deliberate overloading will only make matters worse over time.  I would have thought that these appliances wouldn't qualify for CE marking and couldn't be sold legally?  Does anyone know if there is a BS or EN for small appliances?


Thanks


Peter
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    Thank you all for the above information it is interesting to see how the various standards fit together.   I suspect the formal answer is down to the rating being stated at the higher voltage (i.e. 240 rather than 230). The 3000W may even be rounded. Its all gone some way to satisfy my curiosity.  I suspect that the dearth of 3kW space heaters is because the plugs are problematic at 230V whilst even the latest steam generating irons have duty cycles that are low enough to get away with it.
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  • 0
    Thank you all for the above information it is interesting to see how the various standards fit together.   I suspect the formal answer is down to the rating being stated at the higher voltage (i.e. 240 rather than 230). The 3000W may even be rounded. Its all gone some way to satisfy my curiosity.  I suspect that the dearth of 3kW space heaters is because the plugs are problematic at 230V whilst even the latest steam generating irons have duty cycles that are low enough to get away with it.
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