Elecric Kettle

[macca]

Now this may be a very stupid question. Does anyone worry about the wattage of a kettle. My wife bought a kettle at 2200 watts. Running normal stuff in a van, like lights, TV's and stuff, is this going to be too much or should i not worry about it.

Mod. Can you spell electric for me!

Cheers Geoff

 

[Burnsy]

G'day Geoff, I use an electric kettle for my morning coffee or two and for washing up in our 16'. Not sure what the wattage is but if it's too much it will trip out overload switch inside....maybe just don't use the toaster at the same time! We also have a whistling kettle to use on gas.

Cheers.

 

[ElectricGuru]

Hey Geoff

Not a stupid question and this one has been raised before.

At 2200 W the current draw is about 9 A that is pretty standard.

On 240 Vac some approximate currents are:
- Toaster = 5 Amps
- Kettle = 9-10 Amps
- Microwave = 8 Amps on full power setting
- Lights = Bugga all especially if LED
- TV = 1 Amp
- Stuff = ?

As mentioned by Burnsy, just don't switch everything on at once.

Cheers

 

[Feldty]

I now understand why we need a 15 amp power point / lead as a minimum for a van.
Silly question but will the vans circuit trip if it draws more than 15 amp? If not, what will that do to the power point / lead? The circuit breaker on my 15 amp Power point circuit at home is 35 amp I think, so it will be the last to trip?
You can tell people not to use too many things at once, but I am guessing people will forget from time to time, especially the toaster / kettle / microwave combination at breakfast time half asleep and a bit foggy.

 

[Burnsy]

Hi Feldty, we have tripped the van before, I was outside at the time and my wife said "there's no power" so I checked the pole outside and all good. I went in and circuit overlaod had tripped out, I asked her what she had on...A/C, microwave, kettle and then went to make toast for the kids....:doh: So the switch did it's job and lead was fine... no need to worry.

Cheers.

 

[ElectricGuru]

The circuit breaker on my 15 amp Power point circuit at home is 35 amp I think, so it will be the last to trip?

Hey Feldty

I would check that as 35 Amps seems high.

As Burnsy said, there is a combination 16 Amp Circuit Breaker / 30mA Earth Leakage Switch in the van that will take care of the overload and also the earth leakage problems too.

The circuit breaker will trip prior to the lead having any problems providing the lead/connections/socket outlet is all the right ratings at minimum 15 Amp. The circuit breaker works on an inverse time characteristic, ie the more current you are overloading it by, the quicker it will trip.

Otherwise, a little bit of load management is in order.

Cheers.

 

[Feldty]

Thanks Burnsy & ElectricGuru,