On Nov 27, 7:54*am, Vacillator wrote:
Hi,

* * * * * * When I use a portable roaster / oven, the outlet that I
plug the cord into gets pretty warm, as well as the wire at the last
few inches. * The cord has only 2 prongs, not 3. I think the roaster
is circa 1970. Is this OK? Anything to worry about? * Of course the
manual that comes with it says nothing about volts/ amps/ etc, just
says plug it in and cook. * This roaster is pretty big and has lots of
heating element material to heat up.

Thanks

The power information should be printed or molded into the oven
housing somewhere, often the bottom.
It is normal for the cord and plug to feel warm after running for some
time at these typical power levels, but not hot.
The cord should be a rubber type HPN and likely has a molded 2 pin
plug on the end. If so, after 40 years the strands of the copper
conductors near the plug often break due to the flexing in normal use
because the transition from soft rubber to the stiffer plug body forms
a 'stress point'. Generally the cord is #16 AWG which is a bit light
for those type appliances that can draw as much as 1500W so as strands
break the wire effectively gets smaller and the area around the break
gets hotter. If this is the problem, the simple fix is to replace the
plug with a new 'heavy duty' plug after cutting off at least a couple
of inches of the end of the cord.

An alternate cause of this problem is the wall outlet being worn out
and having lost some of it's spring tension so it does not make a firm
connection to the plug prongs and that causes local heating. That heat
can soon soften the fingers in the outlet, further reducing the grip
and eventually destroying the cord, plug and outlet.

Another possible cause is aluminum wire feeding the outlet and the
connection to the outlet terminals becoming hot. That heat will pass
through the metal of the outlet contacts into the prongs of the plug
and on into the cord.

If the plug and cord are indeed hot, then that should be investigated
and repaired since it can easily be a potential fire hazard.

Neil S.