[Sca-cooks] Crockpots, was Honeyed Carrots

[smcclune at earthlink.net]

-----Original Message-----
From: sca-cooks-request at ansteorra.org

Thanks for the extension cord suggestion. (I'm just the 
assist. cook for this one, so thinking of little things 
like this is a good thing for me )
<<<

Actually, you will need more than just an extension cord.

You need to make sure that you don't overload the circuit.  I've worked in kitchens before where there were a plethora of outlets ... but they were all wired into a single 15 amp circuit.  So when we plugged in three rice cookers and four crock pots, we overloaded it and tripped the breaker.  

Good industrial kitchens may have more than one circuit for the outlets--or one with more amps -- but unless you know for sure, you're safest assuming it's 15.  (Note that, in the US [1], at least, the electrical code requires that large appliances -- stoves, refrigerators, etc. -- have their own dedicated circuits, so you *shouldn't* have to worry about those.)  Your crockpot should have a label on it that tells how many amps it draws, probably some number between 1-5.  Add up that number for all the crock pots you are using, and if it's less than 15, you're good to go.  (Though it might be better to aim for a number like 10 or 12, so you have a little excess capacity for other appliances -- can openers, food processors, microwaves, etc.) [2]

Note that the large roaster ovens can draw 10 amps all by themselves, so you usually can't plug more than one of those in on a single circuit.

One way to avoid tripping breakers is to plug everything in to a power strip that has its own breaker.  It's much easier to tell when that trips -- and much easier to reset it when it does!

The other important thing to remember is that you can't use just any old extension cord for crock pots or roasters.  You need to have a heavy duty one that is rated for your appliance.  If you plug your crock pot/roaster into an extension cord, come back five minutes later and touch the cord.  If it is warm or hot to the touch, it's not suitable for that appliance.  Unplug it right away!  Same goes for power strips -- make sure the cord remains cool to the touch.

And above all -- don't try to cook things in your crock pot on the way to the event.  My husband and I have a power inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter and converts the 12V DC car power into 110V AC -- which basically give you a standard electrical outlet in the car.  Saves a lot of money over having to buy a specific car adaptor for the laptop, the cell phone, the camera battery charger, etc.  Well, we were going to a potluck, and decided to get clever and plug the crock pot into the inverter to keep the food warm during the hour-plus trip to the event.  Unfortunately, the inverter was not rated for the kind of current the crock pot wanted [3]-- the net result was that we *melted* the cord that went from the cigarette lighter to the inverter, as well as the plug that went in to the lighter.  Needless to say, we didn't try THAT again! <grin> [4]

Happy cooking!
Arwen
(who has lots and lots of experience with blown fuses and tripped circuit breakers .... Hey, Gwen-cat, can you say "Jeffco Fairgrounds?"  I thought you could... <grin>)

[1] I'm sure other countries have electrical codes, too.  I'm just not familiar with them!
[2] No, I'm not an electrician -- just married to an electricity geek <grin>.
[3] ... and the electricity geek forgot to check!
[4] Though the food did stay warm ......