Here's a study/report from the Department of Consumer Affairs:
An excerpt:
Most table lamps, standard lamps, televisions, computers, mixers, blenders, power drills, jigsaws, soldering irons will use 700W or less. Larger appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, microwave ovens, irons, induction tops, and hotplates will use more than 700W. For your convenience, these are just standard two plug and socket outlets 6A and 16A. For appliances up to 700W, use a 6A plug and socket outlet. For those over 700W, use a 16A plug and socket outlet.
Since the recommendation is to derate 6A plugs and sockets to 3A, maybe it's just easier for manufacturers to buy a bunch of 16A plugs and use them across all products.
That way, there's never a mixup of what plug goes with what product.
the items such as ovens and toasters should be the first ones with the 16A plugs
They should all come with 16A plugs, we struggle every day with unplugging and replugging in appliances since all of ours are 16A, except for a hand blender.
The logic doesn't work because most Indian homes have 16A sockets only in the kitchen or bathroom and users end up using a 16A to 10A adapter for use elsewhere in the house.
Perhaps the liability is with the socket/plug and not the actual internal wiring. I've observed that there's a 16A socket in every room for new constructions, this is probably for ACs and/or evaporative air coolers.
I often have to replace the 6A wiring of those large desert coolers at least once during the summer because they overheat and melt even though the motor is just a 150W unit and I'm using quality wiring.
Probably has something do with power factor or reactive power — concepts that I don't fully understand.
Moreover, even if the wiring burns, the device will not be damaged. The device can only be damaged by a high voltage (which is impossible when the wiring burns), not by a short circuit in the wiring.
True. I should have clarified that by warranty claim I meant damage caused by a fire, for which the manufacturer might be blamed.
Some more excerpts:
Electricians are required to install socket outlets with the proper gauge wire, but homeowners often modify their circuitry without consulting the codes and make mistakes in the process. One such mistake is to extend the circuit from an existing outlet with a smaller gauge cable than the incoming one. The smaller wire creates a bottleneck for electricity as it passes through the socket outlet on its way along the circuit, and the extra resistance heats up the socket outlet terminals and the socket outlet. In such a case, you may notice the socket outlet getting hot even if you aren't using it.
A socket outlet can heat up for a related reason when you use it to power an appliance that draws more power than the socket outlet is designed to supply. For example, you may be using a socket outlet to supply an appliance or power tool and find that it occasionally draws more than the circuit can handle and trips the circuit breaker. If you attempt to remedy the situation by simply replacing the breaker, the socket outlet will get hot every time the appliance or tool draws more electricity than the socket outlet and the wires attached to them can handle.
Loose connections are responsible for many melted socket outlets and fires. If one of the terminal wires works itself loose from the terminal screw, electricity may be between the wire and the terminal. Air has a higher resistivity than copper, and more heat is produced when electricity passes through it, which is one reason why lightning strikes often result in fires. A poorly fitting plug or a loose socket outlet can also cause arcing. Heat from loose connections is seldom benign enough to simply warm the socket outlet. It usually results in damage to the socket outlet or plug.
AC doesn't need a closed circuit for current to pass through the wiring. In some cases where live and neutral are interchanged or if the switch is left on, the current might find a stray return path through the environment, thus causing an unused socket to warm up. This kind of leakage is supposed to be highly unlikely, but it's common enough to be included in the study/report quoted above. I gave up trying to understand AC for this reason and just treat every bare wire as live.
16A plugs are likely used for liability reasons, probably because they're less prone to air gaps and loose connections since there's just one standard plug and socket. 6A sockets have at least two versions — the european version and the universal socket version that also takes in US/UK plugs.
I have some universal sockets that are so loose that there's no contact even with the plug firmly in the socket, I have to twist the plug slightly to get it to power on. I guess I should switch out those sockets as soon as possible, and be grateful nothing's caught on fire yet.
