Maquis
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Dave
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2020
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- Illinois
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- 2021 Mach E4X, 2023 Lightning Lariat ER
I agree with you that the electrician is wrong in this case, but the comparison to a common household branch circuit isn’t valid.IMO the electrician is wrong - the circuit breaker is NOT only supposed to protect the wires, it is supposed to protect everything on that circuit, including the outlet. The circuit breaker should be rated for the lowest rated item in the circuit, which in this case is a 50 Amp outlet.
His example of 15 Amp outlets on a 20 Amp breaker might be real examples of how many houses are wired, including mine BTW, but it is not the right way to do it. A 15 Amp outlet is more common and cheaper than a 20 Amp one, so that is the real reason they do it. It's not because it is safe.
It is true outlets rated for 15 Amps or 50 Amps could possibly handle higher than rated current. You could run 53 Amps through a 50 Amp socket and it might not melt or burn. Same for a 15 Amp outlet - it could probably handle 18 Amps without burning your house down. But it isn't the right way to do it. If the outlet is rated for 50 Amps, the breaker should be rated for 50 Amps.
For your use case, you will never have a problem. You will never exceed the outlet current rating. But if you plug in a 48 Amp charger, it could be a problem. Personally I wouldn't do it. But it probably won't burn your hose down. It is definitely on the edge of dangerous though.
The NEC treats circuits with multiple outlets differently Thant those with a single outlet. It’s perfectly fine to have a 20A circuit with multiple 15A receptacles. That way you can have 3 - 6A loads plugged into different receptacles, for example. It also helps that the only difference between a 5-15 and a 5-20 receptacle is the slot configuration. The current-carrying guts are identical.
But a circuit with a single receptacle cannot have a receptacle that is rated less than the breaker.
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