Re: smart plugs???

On 18/01/2025 15:12, Lars Poulsen wrote:

On Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:48:03 +0000, Mike Scott wrote:

... I'm looking at probably 3kW at 240V to run a heater.
>
The power level is just a bit outside my comfort zone for home
construction ...

 On 2025-01-18, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

I should say it is. It’s well beyond the rating for a typical household
outlet. Whatever it is, I imagine you’re going to need professional
electrician help to set it up.

 If I remember correctly,
 US home outlets are 120V 15A. So 1800W max.
EU home outlets are 230V 10A, so 2300W max.
UK home outlets are 230V 27A, so 6.2kW max.

No.
UK plush are fused by law at 13A max. 3kW. The outlets are not rated for more than that, and if used at that a lot may end up arcing
The *rings* to which they are connected are typically fused at 32A so that more than one appliance can use them.
Lighting circuits are typically limited to 16A.
More power is permitted if it is to a dedicated appliance and a dedicated circuit breaker.
The intention is as follows.
1/. The house will have a 60A or 100A fuse in the supply. This limits the maximum power the house can draw.
2/. Lights are wired on a star or daisy chain spur with the breaker representing the maximum safe current for the *wire*.
3/. Special appliances will get their own private circuit and breaker. Typically a cooker might be on a 45A spur, permanently wired in, but that is all that is on it, and the cable size must be matched to that.
4/. General purpose sockets are on 30A or 32A breakers and must be wired as a *ring*.  This means that te cable does not have to carry the full current. Any ring can delver about 7kW
Every socket is rated at 13A only, but you can have many many sockets on a ring. This limits appliances to 3kW normally.
The general principle is to fuse at the 'consumer unit' the central 'fuse' box, to prevent *house* wiring catching fire ONLY.
The appliances are fused to protect *their * wiring
And the internals are also typically fused if electronic.
All user accessible sockets must be earthedm and the ring circuit ensures  diverse earth routes.

 This is why electric tea kettles work so well in the UK.
And if I remember, there is a fuse in the PLUG, so an appliance can
have a cord with a smaller fuse if it doesn't need the full power.
 This is why the UK plugs are so massively huge.
 

Well they are not 'massively huge'.
And its a fair price to pay for probably the best wiring regulations in the world.
Britain doesn't often get stuff exactly right but this one is.
The US arrangements horrify me.

But even in the US, a 20A outlet is not unusual.

Absolutely illegal in the UK. Except for specialist applications like maybe a EV charger.

It does require a
heavier wire gauge in the walls. And 240V with amperages from 10A
to 50A is common for washing machines, laundry dryers, electric
stoves and EV chargers.

Horrifying. 50A for a washing machine? Not in the UK. 13A max unless you are on industrial three phase or it has a dedicated circuit assigned to it and is hard wired.
Unfortunately, the plugs allowed for them

are a motley collection of incompatible versions. I wish they would
allow the EU Schuko for 10A, and the UK socket for up to 30A.
 

No reason not to wire your house up for 220V and a british wiring system. And by british washing machines :-)
A guy I knew in S Africa wired his house with German sockets - he was German. I used UK extension leads to run my UK kit off when I was there.
--
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