Re: L6-20P -> L6-30R

[Wayne E Bouchard <web () typo org>]

On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 09:39:46PM -0400, William Herrin wrote:
> There just aren't a whole lot of failure modes here that result in
> fire short of one or the other breaker failing. And that results in
> fire regardless of the amperage mismatch.
>
>
> This, by the way, is why you're allowed to plug that 22 gauge
> Christmas light wire into a 15 amp receptacle even though it can't
> handle 15 amps: the 3 amp fuse will blow if there's a short. Just
> don't plug in anything with lower-rated wire that doesn't have its own
> breaker or fuse.
>
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin

And that is the result of the way things have been set down. The
electrical code (as well as just general common sense) requires that
there are multiple levels of protection specifically to try to avoid
"weird failure modes". So what we end up with is wire that is
overrated for the current it is supposed to carry, multiple fusable
links inbetween point A and point B and a grounding system that is
supposed to safely direct voltage away from people in the event that
everything else fails.

So back to what I said before, I don't like doing stuff like that and
don't advocate it if for no other reason that it makes good sense not
to put yourself into a potentially problematic situation.

-Wayne

---
Wayne Bouchard
web () typo org
Network Dude
http://www.typo.org/~web/