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carlhjerpe 4 days ago

In the Nordics we're on 10A for standard wall outlets so we're stuck on 2300W without rewiring (or verifying wiring) to 2.5mm2.

We rarely use 16A but it exists. All buildings are connected to three phases so we can get the real juice when needed (apartments are often single phase).

I'm confident personal computers won't reach 2300W anytime soon though

bonzini 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

In Italy we also have 10A and 16A (single phase). In practice however almost all wires running in the walls are 2.5 mm^2, so that you can use them for either one 16A plug or two adjacent 10A plugs.

Tor3 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In the Nordics (I'm assuming you mean Nordic countries) 10A is _not_ standard. Used to be, some forty years ago. Since then 16A is standard. My house has a few 10A leftovers from when the house was built, and after the change to TN which happened a couple of decades ago, and with new "modern" breakers, a single microwave oven on a 10A circuit is enough to trip the breaker (when the microwave pulses). Had to get the breakers changed to slow ones, but even those can get tripped by a microwave oven if there's something else (say, a kettle) on the same circuit.

16A is fine, for most things. 10A used to be kind of ok, with the old IT net and old-style fuses. Nowadays anything under 16A is useless for actual appliances. For the rest it's either 25A and a different plug, or 400V.

carlhjerpe 4 days ago | parent [-]

Let's rephrase: 10A is the effective standard that's been in use for a long long time, if you walk into a building you can assume it has 10A breakers.

On new installations you can choose 10A or 16A so if you're forward thinking you'd go 16 since it gives you another 1300 watts to play with.

nordcikmgsdf 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

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