Discuss Is this true? BS1363 current rating. in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

We do think about them, and they seldom occur, and if they do occur, nothing terrible happens. I bet if we took a bunch of average duplex 5-15's off people's walls and loaded them up to 2x15A, and the same for a bunch of double 13's loaded to 2x13A, we would see as much excess heat from the 5-15's as from the 13's.

About the only time I have ever seen two 13A loads regularly plugged into one double socket was back in the 1970s in my dad's shop. There was a ducted warm air heating system but it wasn't really powerful enough for a cold winter and the vents were in the wrong places, so they tended to supplement it with some portable heaters. I remember two 3kW fanheaters used to sit side by side plugged into a double socket in the main sales floor. It lasted all the years I knew the shop, and that is about as exciting as 26A on a double 13A usually gets.

I suppose my main point, as I tried to convey with my priority list of heat sources, is that BS1363 is a safe and reliable connector, although it does tend to heat more that some others due to the presence of the fuse and its contacts mainly if they are of cheap manufacture. Thermal failures due to total loads on doubles in the 20-26A range are utterly insignificant compared to thermal failures due to loads in the 10-13A range on one plug, which are not exactly common either.
 
Last edited:
But the thing is a NEMA 5-15s are made with 20 amp internals and limited to a 20 amp circuit. Its impossible to overload such a receptacle when wired to code.
 
Relax, they come in extra large ;)

View attachment 59827

Its ok if you are jealous of NEMA design. I think we can all admit its just so much more superior in every way including human safety :p

Unfortunately, the unsleeved pins negate much of the safety aspects. It's a basic onefor me - stop people accidentally touching electrical contacts where possible.
 
Every system has its pros and cons. The NEMA coding of different supply configurations and specific compatibilities is good, some of the constructional features of the better-quality brands are admirable, etc. But I agree with DPG that the inferior protection against direct contact somewhat overshadows everything else. The Australian solution of sleeving the prongs leaving a wafer-thin metal core has its own drawbacks, so unfortunately that particular issue (flat prongs + compact plug body + non-recessed outlet face) is rather heavily designed-in. We had the advantage in BS546 and BS1363 of a large enough cross-section that adding insulating sleeves did not noticeably compromise the strength of the pins.
 

Reply to Is this true? BS1363 current rating. in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock