Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

And I know 20 amp gear is supposed to have a 20 amp plug but the sparky I know isn't going to sign his name on it. So rigging it onto a 10 amp plug for when I run it at 2400 watts or less shouldn't be a big issue so long as all the wiring can handle a total load of 20 amps for when its plugged into a higher powered supply.

warramungas wrote:Reviving an old thread here.
I just unplugged the dryer in the laundry that was on a stand alone switch and found 'well bugger me! That's a 20 amp socket!'.
Any reason I couldn't rig this to a 4800 watt element (if fsd have one) so I can run it in a normal socket or a higher powered socket for more power when available?

What is in the power box 20 amp would be separate and marked .

i have similar under the kitchen bench for the electric stove. its a higher Amp one. i had it replaced recently, the stove has a combined power (if all are on) of 6.5kW. on the meter box it has C32 for stove, is that 20 amp or 32? i dont know. my power ones have C20 on them which i just realised i have 2 of :teasing-tease: i thought i had one. looks like i can run two elements here when i find out which is which on the points :dance: if im allowed :))

what does C32 mean and C20 mean?

WTDist wrote:i have similar under the kitchen bench for the electric stove. its a higher Amp one. i had it replaced recently, the stove has a combined power (if all are on) of 6.5kW. on the meter box it has C32 for stove, is that 20 amp or 32? i dont know. my power ones have C20 on them which i just realised i have 2 of :teasing-tease: i thought i had one. looks like i can run two elements here when i find out which is which on the points :dance: if im allowed :))

what does C32 mean and C20 mean?

Would that be circuit breaker.

wynnum1 wrote:

warramungas wrote:Reviving an old thread here.
I just unplugged the dryer in the laundry that was on a stand alone switch and found 'well bugger me! That's a 20 amp socket!'.
Any reason I couldn't rig this to a 4800 watt element (if fsd have one) so I can run it in a normal socket or a higher powered socket for more power when available?

What is in the power box 20 amp would be separate and marked .

It is but I mistakenly thought it was for the stove. The stove is gas but I thought there must have been an outlet behind it for an electrical connection. Obviously I was mistaken as the socket in the laundry is definitely a 20 amp and there's a 20 amp circuit breaker marked in the box. All 3 pins on the socket are the elongated ones.

wynnum1 wrote:

WTDist wrote:i have similar under the kitchen bench for the electric stove. its a higher Amp one. i had it replaced recently, the stove has a combined power (if all are on) of 6.5kW. on the meter box it has C32 for stove, is that 20 amp or 32? i dont know. my power ones have C20 on them which i just realised i have 2 of :teasing-tease: i thought i had one. looks like i can run two elements here when i find out which is which on the points :dance: if im allowed :))

what does C32 mean and C20 mean?

Would that be circuit breaker.

i guess so. its inside my townhouse. would take a pic but ph is flat. ill take one after and post it here.

WTDist wrote:what does C32 mean and C20 mean?

C32 is a 32A circuit breaker and C20 is a 20A circuit breaker, the reason your power circuits will have a 20A breaker is to account for how many power points are attached to that breaker and likely to be switched on at once. Normally for a 10A power outlet a 16A breaker is used and not a 10A to give it a little headroom and allow for multiple outlets. No good if your breaker trips every time you try and run the toaster and kettle at the same time in the kitchen for example :-B

warramungas, for your 20A socket with 20A breaker, if you tried to run it to the limit (4800W) you may experience tripping of the breaker after running it that hard for a while. Is the outlet labelled as 20A? I would think it more likely to be a 15A outlet with a 20A breaker installed.

Psykamaholik wrote:

WTDist wrote:what does C32 mean and C20 mean?

C32 is a 32A circuit breaker and C20 is a 20A circuit breaker, the reason your power circuits will have a 20A breaker is to account for how many power points are attached to that breaker and likely to be switched on at once. Normally for a 10A power outlet a 16A breaker is used and not a 10A to give it a little headroom and allow for multiple outlets. No good if your breaker trips every time you try and run the toaster and kettle at the same time in the kitchen for example :-B

warramungas, for your 20A socket with 20A breaker, if you tried to run it to the limit (4800W) you may experience tripping of the breaker after running it that hard for a while. Is the outlet labelled as 20A? I would think it more likely to be a 15A outlet with a 20A breaker installed.

Thanks for the info. The breaker is definitely a 20 amp breaker and its says '20 amp switch' in black texta underneath. The socket has the 3 elongated pins of a 20 amp socket as opposed to the single bigger earth switch on a 15 amp. So what rating should a breaker be for a 20 amp socket?

Psykamaholik wrote:

WTDist wrote:what does C32 mean and C20 mean?

C32 is a 32A circuit breaker and C20 is a 20A circuit breaker, the reason your power circuits will have a 20A breaker is to account for how many power points are attached to that breaker and likely to be switched on at once. Normally for a 10A power outlet a 16A breaker is used and not a 10A to give it a little headroom and allow for multiple outlets. No good if your breaker trips every time you try and run the toaster and kettle at the same time in the kitchen for example :-B

warramungas, for your 20A socket with 20A breaker, if you tried to run it to the limit (4800W) you may experience tripping of the breaker after running it that hard for a while. Is the outlet labelled as 20A? I would think it more likely to be a 15A outlet with a 20A breaker installed.

Cheers Pysk.Just to better understand, In this pic below this is my switches inside my town house. Does this mean i could (but wont) run 3600W per power point circuit i have being C20? Is the power point breakers made to handle 15A elements?
i have 2 x 2.4kW elements.


Cheers
WTD

warramungas - If the circuit is run in 4mm cable with no other outlets or appliances attached, I would use a 32A breaker and keep it a 20A outlet. If the circuit is only run in 2.5mm cable then the outlet should be changed to a 15A outlet, sounds like someone may have done a bit of a dodgy there for that outlet.

WTDist - Without speaking to the electrician who selected and installed the equipment as to why they chose a 20A breaker for your power circuit I can't say for sure that it would be safe to pull that much current from 1 outlet instead of spread out over half your house. Going by the wiring rules it should have 2.5mm cable on that circuit which should handle that kind of current draw if it were only powering a single 15A outlet with nothing else in the circuit.

Wiring rules are complicated 8-}

Just for the benefit of all reading this who don't know much about electrickery, the circuit breaker's job is to protect the cable from overheating, melting and catching fire. Not to be confused with an RCD (more commonly called safety switch) which it's primary role is to automatically switch off if there has been a fault in the circuit making exposed metal parts live (the outer casing of a toaster for example).

Cant take photo as I'm at work but will tonight when I get home for a look. Thanks psyk.

warramungas wrote:Cant take photo as I'm at work but will tonight when I get home for a look. Thanks psyk.

Hows this look. Got the texta wrong as was relying on my memory. That was stoopid.

The one on the right.