It is a single phase 120v 30a circuit. The plug itself is not legal unless there is over current protection built in but I guess nobody ever pointed that out. I suppose they could put a 20a fusible link in there but it probably would not be replaceable.
And normal "romex" wiring in Canada and the US is rated for 300volts
- - - - or some of it 360 or even 600.
The RATING of the adapter does not necessarily mean that is what it is intended for.
LOTS of extention and power cords use brown and blue with green/yellow stripeed ground since much equipment is builkt for the "world market". North America may well br the only paet of the world that still uses black and white and even here on AC it's black and white - with white being neutral and black live - while on DC black is ground/- and RED is live or +. -
Romex (Type NM) is ALL 600v as is virtually all chapter 3 conductors although some are higher. The only place you see 300v is in "junior" cords and some fixture wires in Chapter 4. Then there is Chapter 7 low voltage wire.
There seems to be 2 threads going on here. The OP's adapter and a post about some heaters. Ratings of devices is not the same as ratings of utilization equipment.
The NEC acknowledges the blue neutral in some imported factory assembled cords but all chapter 3 wiring methods define white or gray as grounded conductors (usually but not always a neutral) and bare or green, green/yellow as equipment grounding conductors.
Where I worked there were thousands of 24 volt DC signal circuits. It took me a long time to get it in my head that the black wire was the plus and the white was the negative. Before that I was always use to the black wire being negative.
Then a new building project was designed to use red for the positive and black for the negative. Turned out there was no red and black signal wire ordered , just black and white. Engineers decided that instead of changing the blue prints to slip a piece of red heat shrink tubing over the last 6 or so inches of the white wire. Ok, tuil they ran out of red heat shrink tubing. So black sill negative and white positive. We put up with that for 2 years and the production line shut down for maintence. We then went around and took off the red heat shrink and reversed the colors so the 500 or so connections matched our old 'standard'. The blue prints stayed the same, but we knew not to pay attention to the old colors.
Full 30
Are you sure?? A 20 amp outlet is also a 15 amp outlet - and WILL be fuded at 20 amps. The fuse is to protect the WIRING - not the device. As long as the adapter is rated to handle 30 amos it is legal and safe. (Legal if it has UL or CSA approval - not legal without even if it had a 15 amp fuse in it)
No, there is lots of 2 wire+ground #14 cable that is only rated at
300 volts.MOST extention or attached power cords ARE 600 volt
There does not seem to be any NRTL approval stamp but the use of the receptacles is spelled out in 210.21(B)(3)
Circuit Rating (Amperes) Receptacle Rating (Amperes)
15.................... Not over 15 20.................. 15 or 20 30..................... 30 40.................. 40 or 50 50...................... 50You are plugging this into a 30 amp circuit and then coming out with a NEMA 5-20 receptacle. Without supplemental over current protection the utilization equipment you plug in is not adequately protected. For example, that lamp you want to test with will have an 18ga line cord and the maximum short circuit protection on 18ga fixture wire is 20a. (not to be confused with the 7a overcurrent protection)
240.5(B)(2) Fixture Wire. Fixture wire shall be permitted to be tapped to the branch-circuit conductor of a branch circuit in accordance with the following: (1) 20-ampere circuits — 18 AWG, up to 15 m (50 ft) of run length (2) 20-ampere circuits — 16 AWG, up to 30 m (100 ft) of run length (3) 20-ampere circuits — 14 AWG and larger (4) 30-ampere circuits — 14 AWG and larger (5) 40-ampere circuits — 12 AWG and larger (6) 50-ampere circuits — 12 AWG and largerThe manufacturer will also tell you what the maximum circuit size you can plug their equipment into but that is generally enforced by the plug. You exceed those instructions at your own peril.
Not really, the answer is printed or embossed on the cord. If it has a "J" in it, it is 300v (SJOT, SJT etc your regular "orange cord") That is even true of more expensive cords. (>$100) Example of a "heavy Duty" cord
SJEOW cord is about as tough as you get in the consumer market S= hard service J= Junior (300v) E= Thermoplastic Elastomer O= Oil resistant W= Water Resistant.
I have never seen any zip cord that was 600v and that even includes the large dryer and range cord.
SO cord is 600v but that is the heavy black rubber cord you see at a carnival but you don't see much of that at the Home Depot.
If he never plans to use it as a 30 amp 240 volt circuit the solution is simple. Replace the 30 amp breaker with a 20
600 volt NM-B 14/2G or 12/2G is the standard cable for residential use in canada.
Extention cables without the J are 600 volt. All of my contractor grade cords have no J. SOOW 14AWG and STW 14,, and SOOW 12
Zip cord is NOT an "extention cable" in my books!! It's "Lamp cord" or "speaker wire"
There ARE a lot of 300 volt ones out there too, I see - but in the garage or hangar and on job sites we see a lot of 600 volt.
"MOST extention or attached power cords ARE 600 volt"
Cords are not cables. I already said all chapter 3 conductors are 600v or higher.
They hook up cooktops and dryers with 10 ga zip cord.
I don't see a lot of SO cord but I suppose it is out there.
That's parallel conductor flexible cable but not what I would call "zip cord" It's common on "flat plug" extention cords but has much heavier insulation than "zip cord" which is usuallyconsidered to be 2 wire
We have higher safety standards up here which may be why they are more common here than down there.
But part of the design of the plug, cord, internals of any appliance is that it's going to be plugged into a circuit that was designed for that plug. In this case, using that adapter, Fretwell has a point, you could plug a 15 or 20A appliance into a 30A circuit. If the cord shorts, the designers were expecting it to be fused at no more than 20A. Is it a big deal in the real world that's going to create fires? Probably not. But it doesn't sound code compliant either.
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