Hi there,
I have a cooker which is 15 amp, just wondering how I can use it safely at home with 10amp plug?
Is there any adapter, convertor or RCD that would let me safely do it?
Cheers,
Morty
Hi Morty (@ms4807),
A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question.
Typically, electric ovens will have a dedicated 15A plug for their use and you can get dual 15A power points like this DETA 15 Amp Solid Plate Double Power Point, so if you have an electric oven, it might be worth checking behind it to see if one is available.
Otherwise, you can use an Ampfibian 15A To 10A Micro Compact Power Adaptor to adapt down from a 15A plug to a 10A powerpoint.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Jacob
Thanks Jacob, the second solution looks perfect.
Hi @ms4807 and @JacobZ
"just wondering how I can use it safely at home with 10amp plug?"
Electrician I am not - but I thought if your appliance requires a 15 amp supply, you cannot or should not attempt to connect it to a 10 amp supply?
I thought it was all to do with the copper wiring cross-sectional area in your home?
I should add to this belief. We were thinking of a new stove and air-conditioner - but the electrician told us that being 15 amp appliances he would have to run dedicated 15 amp wiring to each, back to the fuse box. We couldn't use the 'current' wiring in the house as it was 10 amp.
Is this because the appliances can consume power greater than 2400 watts?
Just curious.
Hi @Noyade,
I was under the same impression before looking into this question.
I wasn't previously aware of them, but the Ampfibian 15A To 10A Micro Compact Power Adaptor looks like a good product. It was designed for this specific purpose, includes safety features such as overload protection in the form of a breaker switch and RCD and complies with all relevant standards.
I am certainly not an electrician either, but the product seems good and with the warranty and safety features, I'd be inclined to trust it.
I will mention that the instructions state it must be connected directly to a power point and that it should not be used as a permanent solution, for example with things like an oven. If the usage is sporadic, it is a good option, but for things that will be used every single day, a dedicated 15A plug should be installed.
Thanks Jacob.
To me, it's just a portable RCD device that will 'stop' people configuring 15 amp cord male ends into a 10 amp male end or filing down the 15 amp earth plug.
Which of course is a good thing.
But at the end of the day, if Mort's "cooker" drags more than 2400 watts (10 amps) - this thing will trip every single time.
Is that how you see it?
I guess feedback from Mort would be good. 😁
It is not something I would recommend. A 10 amp circuit should have a 10 amp fuse so you would likely find you would trip a breaker or blow a fuse of you used your oven fully. Worst case scenario would be a house fire in an older home and if it was due to this, you may find an insurance claim would be denied. It's not much work for a sparky to replace or add a 15 amp breaker and pull a heavier wire through. Certainly cheaper than having to replace your house. We have a heater at home which obviously has thin cable or terminals not up to the job. The plug got hot, as did the wire when it was used on full power.
G'day Spud @Spud_Mc_Fuddy
My house fuse box wiring is 16A RCDs. Is that standard?
To me - if Morty got an electrician to change his cooker plug to a 10A one - he is more likely going to have better success in operating it than going through that 10A portable RCD?
No?
Hi all,
To clarify this cooker is actually an steam cooker that I want to use in a food truck. There is a chance that I get 15Amp supply in the events but wanted to find an alternative just in case. I am going to do either this solution or anything else starting from next month.
Thanks @ms4807
Just curious - is there a specification plate on it - what wattage/current it draws?
Cheers and good luck.
Long term, a dedicated 15A powerpoint should be installed, but as a backup, this adaptor will offer a short-term solution, which seems like a worthwhile option considering Mort's (@ms4807) circumstances.
If the cooker draws over 2400 watts and overloads the circuit, the breaker will cut the circuit, so the current is contained. If the appliance doesn't overload the circuit, then the breaker won't react.
Ultimately, it is not a long-term solution, but it offers a safer short-term solution until a dedicated power point can be installed.
Cheers Jacob.
"steam cooker that I want to use in a food truck"
I didn't realise the situation was in a van.
Good talk.
Thanks.
It's not where I live. Ours are mostly 10 amp except my garage and stove. They are 15 amp as I wanted to be able to use a welder. Since then though, advances in welders means mine only draws 10 amps anyway. The maximum most home appliances draw is 2400 watts. Divide that by 240 (volts) and that gives 10 amps. I was thinking for the OP that perhaps a generator could be a good option where 15 amps is required and only 10 amps is available. Now that's literally "cooking with gas". 😁
I got confused too. I would think about two leads. One for 10 amp plugs and one for 15 amps as they may have different plugs. You could also consider a generator which would mean you could also go to sites without power. At 10 amps you would have to be mindful of the circuit breaker tripping, especially when a building could be locked or nobody knew where the switch board was. Also, maybe even public liability if you were trying to run something that required 15 amps on a 10 amp circuit in case of damage or fire. If you did plan to use 10 amps still, perhaps a stress test at home would be in order. You could run all of the things that you would normally run in the food truck and see what effect it had on the circuit breakers. Could be perhaps that when the oven is working, it is only used on a particular setting or you set up a battery bank and inverter or generator to power lights and other items and only run the oven off the grid. There are ways of testing load, for example a smart power adaptor, they sell them at Bunnings and you could check what loads particular settings had on power consumption.Arlec Energy Cost Electrical Meter - Bunnings New ZealandYou can also get power converters which means you can plug a 15 amp plug into a 10 amp socket. Not to be used for caravans and they don't supply any extra current, just allow you to plug a 15 amp plug into a 10 amp socket. You would still pop the circuit breaker at 10 amps.HPM 15A Single Outlet Power Convertor With RCBO Protection - Bunnings Australia
Totally correct, you can't squeeze 15 amps of power out of a 10 amp circuit. Not without the possibility of fire or circuit breakers popping.
