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Appliance Ratings and 13A plug tops

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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0 gkenyon over 5 years ago

broadgage:

There is a general acceptance that 13 amp plugs and sockets can not reliably and continually carry more than about 10 amps. Therefore domestic appliances are in practice limited to about 10 amps, presumably to avoid warranty claims about melted plugs.

The main exception is electric kettles, these are used so briefly that a full 13 amps is fine. Table top electric cookers are sometimes a full 13 amps, under worst case conditions, but much less most of the time and again are fine in practice.

Large steam clothes irons are not common domestically, but should also be fine as continual full load operation is unlikely. I have seen steam irons in a tailors workshop that require two 13 amp supplies. One for the iron itself, actual loading about 5 amps, and a second supply for the remote steam generator, actual loading about 12 amps. Often both plugged into the same socket with a death cube.

Domestic appliances likely to run continually are unlikely to exceed 10 amps these days.

3Kw heaters are still available but are marketed as being for industrial use and are therefore supplied without a plug. No warranty claims about melted plugs if plug not supplied.

I'm sure the thinking is not quite along those lines.

The thing that has changed is that, quite a number of years ago now, the rating of a double socket-outlet has been 13 A, whereas it used to be 20 A.
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0 gkenyon over 5 years ago

broadgage:

There is a general acceptance that 13 amp plugs and sockets can not reliably and continually carry more than about 10 amps. Therefore domestic appliances are in practice limited to about 10 amps, presumably to avoid warranty claims about melted plugs.

The main exception is electric kettles, these are used so briefly that a full 13 amps is fine. Table top electric cookers are sometimes a full 13 amps, under worst case conditions, but much less most of the time and again are fine in practice.

Large steam clothes irons are not common domestically, but should also be fine as continual full load operation is unlikely. I have seen steam irons in a tailors workshop that require two 13 amp supplies. One for the iron itself, actual loading about 5 amps, and a second supply for the remote steam generator, actual loading about 12 amps. Often both plugged into the same socket with a death cube.

Domestic appliances likely to run continually are unlikely to exceed 10 amps these days.

3Kw heaters are still available but are marketed as being for industrial use and are therefore supplied without a plug. No warranty claims about melted plugs if plug not supplied.

I'm sure the thinking is not quite along those lines.

The thing that has changed is that, quite a number of years ago now, the rating of a double socket-outlet has been 13 A, whereas it used to be 20 A.
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Appliance Ratings and 13A plug tops

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