Spurious Response wrote:
If I do not need 16 A power feeds as a result of not having any 16 A
power requisites, then why would I need a 16 A cord and receptacle
system?

For example, my 7.5 amp 230v Dyson DC-14 vaccum cleaner. The 120 volt
version draws about 15 amps.

Surprisingly, my Kenwood mixer uses 1000w (and there is a 1200w
version). which is around 5 amps at 230 volts, and would be over 10 at
120. However, it seems that such a mixer is not available in the U.S.

The Kenwood mixers sold in the U.S. are their smaller 600 watt units,
and the much loved Kitchen Aid units are 350 watts, with one that's
500w.

I seem to remember having a 12 amp or so toaster and hot water kettle in
the U.S. Ours here are 1000 watts. Things like blenders are 300 to 400
watts, which would work with a 6 or 7 amp fuse, assuming the wattage
rating is average and not peak.

A friend of mine has an HP laser printer that is rated 500 watts, but
the peak draw is 8 amps at 120 volts. The manual and printer itself say
500 watts, the 8 amps was on the web site.

I would not be very happy to use a device with an 8 amp peak draw on a
10 amp circuit. But I'm unusual in that. I always assume that
manufacturers lie (inflate output power, but ignore peak usage) when
they state current requirments and that anything that provides current
is rated for that current for a peak of a few miliseconds or less.

This is very common for transformers (which many people use here to operate
120 volt appliances brought in to avoid high taxes and huge markups) and
UPS's for computers, both of which are sold as being rated in WATTS,
but really are rated in VA which are 1.414 times as much.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
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