Radial??????

[john_uk]

in my kitchen i have a radial feeding 3 2gang sockets 2 fused switches one to power unit lights and the other to power cooker hood. the 1 socket has a neff single oven and a neff microwave which also has a oven on it. and a other socket has a dishwasher and dryer. all this is feed of a 2.5mm to a 32amp breaker there is no prob but is this right????

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There's more than one problem, and it is very much not right.

1) You should not have two appliances in one socket (at least, not if you use them at the same time), as a double socket is rated at 13A, not 26A.

2) 32A for a 2.5mm² radial is an absolute no-no. That would permit serious and sustained overloading of the cable with potentially catastrophic results. You must not have a breaker greater than 20A for this circuit.

 

[john_uk]

very good point but in a 2 gang socket if it is 13amp whay can you plug 2 things in??what about in your front room where you whould have a tv with 13a fuse and say stereo with 13a thanx

 

[brown-nought]

Your TV and stereo won't be fused at 13a. They will draw a max of say 6a between them.

The standard (BS1363) requires 13A total.
Somewhere I read (probably here!) MK tested their sockets with 19A continuously being drawn without problems.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

very good point but in a 2 gang socket if it is 13amp whay can you plug 2 things in??what about in your front room where you whould have a tv with 13a fuse and say stereo with 13a thanx

Please check the instructions for the TV and the stereo - 13A is almost certainly too large a fuse for those items, and should be replaced with ones of the correct rating.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The standard (BS1363) requires 13A total.
Somewhere I read (probably here!) MK tested their sockets with 19A continuously being drawn without problems.

Something like that - was it for an indefinite period, or 24 hours or something? IIRC even the MK ones suffered damage at 26A, so if the BS standard specifies 13A, I wouldn't like to bet on a cheapie being able to cope with much more.

And they are not indestructible. It's not known what caused this - whether it was a fault in the plug, or the socket, or an overload, but this is what can happen when sockets fail:

 

[ninebob]

Its here:

OK, I have been hunting for clarification on this as I do consider it extremely imnportant as a matter of safety.

Here is a quote from the Technical Section of the latest MK catalogue which arrived in the post Yesterday.

All MK socket-outlets are manufactured to comply with BS1363 part 2: 1995 and are rated at 13A per unit. Double socket-outlets have been manufactured and tested to exceed this rating by margin that allows electrical safety and reduces the risk of heat and mechanical damage to components due to overloading. It should be noted that BS1363 part 2: 1995 does not allow double sockets to operate at twice the permissable maximum loading and it should be remembered that double socket-outlets are not manufactured to be able to withstand a 26A load for sustained periods of time.

Research by ourselves and third party organisations has shown that all MK double sockets can safely withstand a continuous load of 19.5A for an indefinite period. Increasing the load slightly will begin to cause heat and mechanical stresses on the components in a relatively short period. Testing showed that a load of 22.3A was sufficient to cause heat stress that would cause a browning of the faceplates and sufficient heat to cause insulation damage to cable cores. A load of 24A for 43 hours was sufficient to cause significant heat damage to the material in which the socket-oulet was situated and within 75 hours sufficient to cause significant damage that would lead to the very real potential of fire.

MK recommend that users of their sockets consult professional design Engineers when designing installations to avoid the possibility of heat and mechanical stress to components and installations caused by overloading of MK socket-outlets.

I think MK's words speak better on this subject than anything I can say.

 

[plugwash]

what they don't say though is what effect 26A for 2 hours per day will have

my guess is not a lot but im not sure

VERY FEW domestic appliances draw 13A for very long