Hi SwissForum,
I have a plug socket that is connected to a 16a fuse (see pictures attached) & labelled as “Washing Machine
My (googled) expectation is that a 16a plug will have square holes. As can be seen in the attached, the holes are round.
As the plug is connected with a 16a fuse, can I safely assume that it can used with a 3.6 KW device?
Yes.
The one pictured is 10A per phase. So if the plug uses more than 1 phase (ie, has 5 progs instead of 3 prongs) the appliance can use more than 10A in total, as you have three phases.
Assuming the plug came with the appliance (factory-made) and not something you attached yourself, If the plug fits / can be plugged in the socket you are good
It would need the square pins (T23 or T25) if it was 16A single phase and the plug would have three square pins (T23)
Careful
A normal three-pin Swiss plug fits in the lower half, but only 10A is available
All new 3.6 kW tumble driers sold here come with adjustable settings (via a box at the back of the device), which allows it to be connected either to a single phase (3 square progs) or all three phases (5 round progs), the configuration essentially determined by what socket is available for use. In your case, it would be the second, a plug that covers all 5 progs.
The plug and the circuit breaker pictures don’t correlate (or the fuse picture is not complete). The circuit breakers (MCBs) shown are each for a single phase, but the plug is 3-phase.
In newer installations, you would have the 3 MCBs in a single3P unit(1 for each phase) or 4MCBs in a 3P+N unit. This looks like an older installation (like my house) where the MCBs are alligned to each phase, rather than a plug or room. In either case, there should be 3 MCBs for each live phase plus 1 for the neutral. Each MCB for this plug must be rated the same.
