The earth pin on a 15A socket is physically larger than a 10A socket, so a 10A plug in a 15A socket will have a loose-fitting earth connection.
10 amp plug into a 15 amp socket
Just bought a new oven, the old one, a SMEG piece of crap will never touch again, had a 15 amp plug and there is a 15 amp socket on the wall. The new oven, a Blanco, cheap as chips don't care if it only lasts 5 years, has a 10 amp plug. Now obviously the plug fits and won't overload the circuit, but can anyone think of any reason why it could be dangerous to connect a 10 amp plug to a 15 amp socket/circuit? Just check the board and it has a dedicated 32 amp breaker on it.
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The earth pin on a 15A socket is physically larger than a 10A socket, so a 10A plug in a 15A socket will have a loose-fitting earth connection.
eaglem (24-05-20)
Yes I thought about that, however the sockets have a sleeve type system that accepts the pin and the active and neutral will hold the plug at the correct height - even so, I might get the socket changed.
Edit: I might get a 10 amp to 15 amp converter - apparently you can get them from Jaycar - used in caravans quite a bit.
Last edited by mi_tasol; 13-02-16 at 01:24 PM.
I'd just put a 15A plug on the cable.
Dont forget the legal clause....get a licensed/qualified person to do it.....Originally Posted by mtv
OSIRUS (15-02-16)
Yes that's probably simpler - to have a licensed person put a 15A plug on the cable
It should be fine. We have a 15 amp plug inside for our air con. I use it to charge phones, plug iron in to, anything. As long as the plug of your 10 amp stuff fits in, it should be fine.
OK, I can't find it in as3000, but both 10A and 15A plugs have a 1.5mm thick earth pin that is the same length. The 10A Earth pin is 6.4mm wide, while the 15A Earth pin is 9mm wide. By virtue of the fact that it is physically possible to insert a 10A plug into a 15A socket, there is no problem with with using a 10A plug in a 15A socket. (obviously you can't the other way around). If there was any danger, the plugs and sockets would be made so that it was impossible to do.
If you have a look at the pic, the 10A plug Earth pin aligns with the centre of the 15A wall plate Earth socket. The Earth socket has a set of contacts that contact either side of the pin, so proper contact is made whether it is a 15A plug or a 10A plug.
You have your new oven with 10 Amp cable and plug un-protected electrically. What you did is generally considered illegal in Australia as the protection devices were rated based on the rated load. That is true, obviously if electrical system in your place was sized by qualified people.
Imagine you have an overload condition in your oven causing the current to raise to let's say 11Amp. The protection was designed for 15Amp plug and as a result your oven and cable will be subject to the higher current for a long time causing over-heating with potential fire.
I highly recommend you call a licensed electrician to change the power socket to 10Amp and review the protection device - circuit breaker I assume or even fuse if the house was built long time ago.
Good point fromaron. Although CCT breakers and fuses are sized to protect the wiring, in the case of a stove where the flexible cable is hidden behind the unit, it would be wise to size the CCT breaker to protect this as well. A 15A stove outlet will likely have a 32A fuse or CCT breaker protecting the wiring, but the most he would do is change it for a 20A CCT breaker, unless you specifically ask him to fit a 10A socket as well.
I seem to remember that this is essentially correct. The protection device (circuit breaker) is designed to protect both the oven AND the in house wiring. Change the socket and breaker.
The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.
gulliver (13-02-16)
It is a common practice to use a dedicated oven power point with it's own protection. Also it is important to know some ovens do not like being powered downstream of earth leakage switch so electrician might need to be involved to slightly rewire the switch board.
Tiny (13-02-16)
I would be concerned too about having a 10A rated device on 32A circuit breaker but why can he not use an RCD?
If there is earth leakage then there is a fault !
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because ovens do have a certain leakage and they are on a fixed wired instalation,due to steam,oil etc they are not required to be on a RCD,.I had to disconnect quite a few because of this,even if there is a clock on the stove the Megger will give you a fault.When I used to work for St.George Ranges a long time ago,even the Inspectors fell for this and given a defect notice.
Last edited by gulliver; 13-02-16 at 07:01 PM.
fromaron (14-02-16)
..but the OP is not using a fixed wired installation.
Is it unlawful to use a 2kW oven on a standard 10A GPO in a circuit with a 20A RCD breaker ?
I would have also assumed that modern stoves might be better designed to deal with steam and oil due to stricter safety regulations these days.
Arcing from oil bridges around contacts would be a fire hazard for me.
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Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
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far out......... why not just completely re wire the house while you are at it, just in case
your Smeg would have been rated at 15A, hence a 15 Amp outlet - the earth pin is bigger purely to stop people bunging 15 Amp appliances in an 10 Amp outlet
if you pull a powerpoint apart you will find that the connection is a clamp that makes connection when pushing in the plug - so your 6.4mm earth pin is fully covered by a 9mm clamp.
The earth is designed to remove fault current to earth when something goes wrong for a really short period of time
just plug it in and use it
f
有段者
Onefella (14-02-16)
I agree with Freakee. Just plug it in and use it. I would; and I'm a qualified Electrician.
FYI:
15A Outlets have a 20A circuit breaker.
10A Outlets have a 16A circuit breaker.
Light circuits have a 10A circuit breaker.
gulliver (14-02-16)
We have no idea how was the 15amp socket wired in a first place so by simply giving such advice you make an assumption which could be wrong and in fact dangerous in some cases.
Yes, no argument there..
Although on rereading my post, I should have said "10A socket instead of the 15A", but that's what I meant. Personally I'd just plug the stove in and use it.. I might even change to a 20A CCT breaker. (Actually, ours is still a fuse anyway)
My oven 15A outlet has a 32A fuse..
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