I'm looking to replace my oven (the old one was a 15 Amp) and my new one is 10 Amp, the old one was hardwired, my new one has a plug. So I would now need to attach a socket. I am also a little concerned with the heat generated behind the oven.
My understanding is it will be ok because the oven will only draw 10 Amps? there would obviously be an issue if the oven drew 20 Amps and I tried to use a socket rated for 10 Amps. The breaker is rated for 16 Amps.
This is not exactly a good idea because how will the next home owner know that you installed a 10AMP socket with a 15AMP breaker. Your sockets should definitely be at LEAST at the level of your breaker otherwise the following could happen.
Someone comes in and changes the oven one day and checks the breaker box to see how many amps you can use. They see a 15A breaker and say great I can put a 12A load on this no problem. Then you are sucking 12A from a 10A socket. This will be fine for short spurts but if someone wants to do something like say, the oven auto cleaning cycle, then that socket could melt and start a fire without ever tripping the breaker.
Sockets MUST be rated as high or higher than the breaker that is supplying them.
Yes, you can use a device which draws 10 A on a circuit protected by a larger breaker. For example, table and floor lamps may draw less than 1 A and have light power cords that could not carry 15 A continuous, but code allows them to be used on 15 A circuits.
If the lamp socket would develop a dead short, the breaker would blow before the cord would overheat. If the lamp socket would develop a fault in which it drew 19 A continuously, then the lamp cord would get hot, but the probability of such an event is judged to be nil.
One answer that is missing is that you can install a 10A socket and change the breaker to 10A as well. I think that this is the easiest and safe option for you.
If you want to be helpful to future owners, put a little label on the switchboard cover.
