With all due respect to everyone who has commented so far, I think you have all missed a fundamental point (although John got quite close to it).
So long as the MCB (or fuse) in the fuseboard is correctly specified for the cable(s) which connects it to the socket, then the rating of the socket itself is largely irrelevant. After all, you can have more than one double gang socket on a ring main, and the total load can be anything up to the 30A rating of the MCB. A ring main is rated at 30A despite the fact that it only used 2.5mm sq cable because two cables (=5mm sq) are used. So, in practice, the total load on a double gang socket can be 2 x 13A = 26A on a ring main, but only 15A on a spur. The limiting factor in the first case is the fusing of the plugs, in the second case it's the fusing of the fixed wiring. It's a question of what is the weakest link in the chain. Nick. At 6:02 pm +0100 4/4/05, John Allen wrote: >Chris, Jim > >Just taken a look at BS 1363-2: 1995, which is the part dealing with >sockets - the results are interesting! > >Here are the most relevant bits (with an awful lot left out!) > <snip> This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
