Electrical question about replacement rocker switch

Factual Questions
1

We have a clothes steamer that suddenly stopped working after less than a year. I bought it online so I’m not going to bother sending it back but I think I can fix it. The on/off rocker switch seems to be the culprit because I noticed it doesn’t click like it used to (pressing it on or off used to have a distinctive click but doesn’t now) so I’m assuming it’s broken.

I removed the old switch and am going to buy a replacement on Amazon. My switch has 10A250VAC and 15A125VAC listed on it.

The replacement I found on Amazon shows this which is not an exact match: “Power : AC 250V 15A, AC 125V 20A;”

Is this switch a valid replacement for mine?

I’m also curious why does my switch have two power specs listed, the 250V vs. 125V?

2

Yes, that switch will be fine. The 250V is European (there are other reasons, as well).

3

yes it would be good.

it is rated at both voltages to be allowed for that use. a switch might be manufactured for 125V and not work safely at 250V. though with both voltages being used throughout the world it likely be made for both.

4

Thanks!

5

Agree with the others; should work fine.

There’s usually an electric arc between the switch contacts as you open or close the switch. Too much arcing will erode the contacts.

The magnitude and duration of the arc depends on many factors. On DC systems it is a function of the supply voltage, current (when opening the switch), resistance and reactance of the circuit, contact material, and opening/closing speed of the contact. It’s the same for AC systems, with the addition that frequency is also factor.

Because most loads and wiring tends tend to make the circuit inductive instead of capacitive, arcing is usually more pronounced when the switch opens versus when it closes.

Generally speaking, the arcing tends to be a bigger problem with DC versus AC. This is because the arc extinguishes itself during the next zero-crossing of the current when the system is AC. (Though it *could *reform due to the plasma.) Because of this, the max current & voltage specs for most switches are lower when the switch is used for DC versus AC.

Now back to your switch… all else being equal, the magnitude of the arcing between the switch contacts will be greater on a 250 VAC system versus a 125 VAC. So they limit the max current for the former. These values were determined via empirical testing.