Cooking equipment

[patpappas]

A piece of equipment came to our building with a #10 SO cord and a 125v 30 amp twist lock on it, the total amperage draw totals 37 amperes, I think by rights it should have a 50 amp plug and #8 cord, the manufacturer had his electrician call back saying they do it this way all the time with no problems and believes all the devices on this piece of equipment do not come on all at the same time so it should be fine. I am not so sure.

 

[bphgravity]

Re: Cooking equipment

The equipment is listed and has listing instructions the manufacturer must comply with. Chances are, the unit has a few noncoincidental loads and the cord and plug are sized accordingly, otherwise, they may need to make some corrections.

 

[hardworkingstiff]

Re: Cooking equipment

A marina I was working for asked me to call a boat manufacturer to discuss power issues they were having at his facility. This was a long discussion, but the one comment that floored me when we were discussing the 50-amp receptacle that they were plugging into was...."we load our cables up to 65 amps." Me:"Isn't that a U.L. issue?" Them:"Our cable can handle it, we like to put the problem onto the power center".

I couldn't believe my ears. These people were loading a cable with a 50-amp receptacle on it to 65-amps. I told the marina manager I would not make waves, so I quietly let it slip away, but GEESH!

 

[charlie b]

Re: Cooking equipment

Our job stops at the receptacle, sad though that may be sometimes. What the owner plugs into that receptacle is none of our business.

But I half wonder what the boat manufacturer meant by saying they load the cable to 65 amps. Does that mean that 65 amps is the "total connected load," and that the actual load at any given moment is likely to be far less? I would have no problem with that. But if they meant that the total connected load was, let us say, 100 amps, and that they figure on a 65% diversity factor, so that it is likely the boat will draw no more than 65 amps, then I would not want to buy that boat or to plug my own boat into the same power center. Let them trip off someone else's power source.

 

[hardworkingstiff]

Re: Cooking equipment

That is a good question Charlie, I wish I had thought to clear it up. The attitude presented by this "engineer" (I'm not sure he was) was arrogant. They were tripping breakers at the power center of this marina. The marina had the problem that they took a 3-phase 480-volt circuit out to the dock and put a transformer that was wound to deliver 127/220. So they are starting with low voltage as far as the boat is concerned, and when a heavy load was put on it I think it dropped to below 210-volts.

 

[bphgravity]

Re: Cooking equipment

Originally posted by charlie b:
...Our job stops at the receptacle, sad though that may be sometimes...

That is true for the most part except for appliances intended to be permanently installed or fastend in place. There are many cord-and-plug connected appliances I am required to check for installation and UL compliance. An example would be the anti-tipping device for ranges.

Ranges, microwaves, diswashers, waste disposers, instant water heaters, pool equipment, irrigation equipment, the list is endless... All these things if installed, must be installed per the NEC, manufacturers instructions, and any listing requirements from UL.