I am looking for some 2-core mains cable to replace the cable on a hair drier.
I found some at TLC rated 6A and they also sell a 10A version.
The drier is rated 1440W. Now 1440/240=6A so I am wondering whether the 6A cable will be sufficient or whether I should use the 10A so that it's not at maximum capacity. What do you think?
Thanks, Stephen.
6A cable is fine carrying 6A. There is margin designed in.
NT
Incidentally (hope I am not being too pedantic) you really meant "Flex" .
"Cable" is usually the term for permanent wiring.
UK mains is now 220V nominal.
1440/220=3D6.5A If in doubt I always use the thicker stuff if possible.John
? ? Since when?
Since never ;-)
The spec changed from 240V +/-6% to 230V +10%/-6%, however the domestic supply continues at 240V. The spec may well (possibly has already) change again to +/- 10%
In article , John writes
Ok, ignore the pedantry for a moment but start a description with a noun and you wont go far wrong. Cable (noun) is fine but flex (abbreviation of flexible) being an adjective is a bad start, "Cable, flexible" will get you further in spec speak.
The military have a lot to answer for but they always start a description with a noun so you always know where you're starting from.
"Pants, under, for the use of", c/o Carry On... Up the Khyber (1968).
No, it's still -6/+10 and this change seems to have been indefinitely postponed.
The trouble with being a pedant is that you are always open to challenge - it takes one pedant to recognise another !. I've just checked a Collins 1984 edition dictionary and there is "Flex n. a flexible insulated electric cable".
As 'flex' as a noun was clearly in use extensively in 1984 for it to be included then in a dictionary, it is still clearly acceptable as a noun and the use in this thread is perfectly correct.
Rob
I went for the 10A flexible cable just to be sure. I ordered from TLC who describe it as flexible cable.
It all sounds better than the Americanism "wire", which sounds more like the sort of stuff you tie your garden plants with.
Cow :-P
The point I was trying to make (and labouring over) was that cable was not an incorrect term. I look on 'flex' as an adopted slang abbreviation of an adjective.
Just hope it fits the strain relief. Most hair driers manage with 6 amp stuff.
Already corrected...
Except that the power won't be constant, it depends on the resistance of the device. At a lower voltage and same resistance there will be less current and thus less power. You then also have to take into account that heating elements have a higher resistance when cold, less power, less heating, colder element... though this factor isn't great.
Ah, If you're going to be *that* precise, then the correct term from British Standards is "flexible cord"
yup... but once the send button is pressed, too late.
But if you want to be pedantic, it is still correct as it reads.
Permantly wired flex is cable? :)
NT
If in doubt refer to the international electrotechnical vocabulary (IEV), now on-line at
"assembly of one or more conductors and/or optical fibres, with a protective covering and possibly filling, insulating and protective material"
so includes both flexible cords and non-flexible cables.
I would have thought most metallic heating wires would have a positive temperature coefficient of resistance...
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