Electric BBQs

[danbrotherston]

That's interesting. I definitely use them permanently in both Canada and Europe.

European electrical standards are obviously way different, but one thing that is different is that there are far fewer receptacles in a room. I think the Ontario/Canada code is that receptacles must be located every 6 or so in rooms. But seems no such standard exists in the EU...most of our bedrooms have only 2 receptacles. So extension cords are more or less a must if you want to have flexibility in where you locate furnishings.

As for outdoor rating, lol, it's definitely not outdoor rated, it's explicitly "not for outdoor use". Probably not the right thing to do, but I don't leave it outside, I always bring the electrical components into the shed, and usually the whole BBQ as well. It's one nice thing about it being portable is that it's easy to use and to move around.

I think it's interesting power bars are rated differently, given that many of them might have a 10-12 foot cable on them, which are essentially extension cords.

It's about fire risk I guess. Modern North American houses definitely have more outlets, especially kitchens, per code. Power bars can also have more circuitry to avoid fires, so I think that's why they're viewed more positively.

I guess some power bars may have overcurrent protection, but many do not. Perhaps the problem is that extension cords can be used without sufficient overcurrent protection because of low gauge wires.

In any case, extension cords were definitely still needed at my last home especially in my home with switched outlets.

The Kitchen outlets in the Netherlands are interesting. There are quite a few of them, and they are all on separate circuits. But our house has only 7 circuits total. The kitchen ones are all on separate circuits but shared with bedrooms, halls, etc. It seems strange, I would have thought copper wiring would be the expensive part but it seems heavily optimized for reducing the number of circuit breakers.