Question for the sparkys

[Woodmonkey]

Is 1.5mm flex Ok for connecting a cooker?

 

[Wuffles]

Is it a Samsung cooker by any chance?

 

[Woodmonkey]

Nope, bosch

 

[Wuffles]

Nope, bosch

The installation manual I had for a Samsung oven made a sparky come out in hives when he read it suggested a 1mm2 cable as a minimum requirement.

 

[Woodmonkey]

The manual says 1.5 but I thought that seemed undersized for a cooker

 

[graduate_owner]

If it is just an oven then you could use 2.5mm, but for a complete cooker it would be 6mm, connected via a cooker switch (40 Amp) and fed by it's own dedicated mcb at the consumer unit - 30A mcb is suitable.
Alternatively if it is a gas cooker and you only need electricity to produce an ignition spark .....

K

 

[Woodmonkey]

So you're saying 2.5 not 1.5…? It's a single oven, no hob

 

[blackrodd]

I've had a couple of Neff electric fan ovens and they each had a 13 amp moulded 3 pin plug fitted from new in the box.
So some must be o k to use on a 2.5 circuit, but 1mm or 1.5mm seems small.
Rodders

 

[n0legs]

It depends on the load the oven creates. What is it's Kw rating?
3Kw and below could be wired through a switched fused spur and be protected by a 13A fuse.
Most 1.5mm flex is good for 15A, but if you went with a heat resistant (I would strongly suggest you did) it will run at 18A.
Check here middle of the page, the 3039Y 3 Core Pvc Heat Resisting Flex :-
http://www.crselec.co.uk/crs-cable.pdf

 

[Woodmonkey]

It's 2.35 KW. It's got its own dedicated 16amp (I think) supply with an isolating switch

Tbh I was surprised it didn't come with a bit of cable.

 

[n0legs]

It's 2.35 KW. It's got its own dedicated 16amp (I think) supply with an isolating switch

Tbh I was surprised it didn't come with a bit of cable.

Its current demand is between 9.8 and 10.7 amps, allow a bit of a margin and it's going to need protecting with a 13A fuse in a switched fused connection unit for local isolation and control.
Is the 16A circuit already installed?
Seeing as no cable came with it and if you have to specifically buy some I would buy 2.5mm heat resistant, if there's sufficient room in the terminals to terminate it, if not then 1.5mm will be fine.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Thanks chaps

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's 2.35 KW. It's got its own dedicated 16amp (I think) supply with an isolating switch

Tbh I was surprised it didn't come with a bit of cable.

Because you're not supposed to fit them yourself.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Maybe... Although I'm struggling to find any legislation that says that. Since the cooker supply is already there it's really no different from wiring a 3 pin plug.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I can think of loads of things that are perfectly simple but illegal.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Can you point me to the law that says I can't do it Phil? I have no wish to invalidate my house insurance

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I don't know for sure, that's the way i read it - it is permanent wiring. I remember mine carrying the warning "must be installed by a competent person, so if you haven't certification you shouldn't. No doubt a sparks will be along in a minute to say one way or the other. It is as you say a perfectly simple job.

 

[Racers]

Ah yes the competent person clause, like wiring a mains plug its o/k if done by a competent person as I found out on my electrical testing course, no exam needed I just needed to show I can wire a mains plug! I have done hundreds but I wasn't competent until my work had been scrutinised.

Pete

 

[Student]

FWIW, we had a new cooker installed a few years ago. Because my interpretation of the Part P regulations was that all such wiring in a kitchen fell within part P, I phoned a local maintenance firm which claimed to do Part P work and asked them to send an electrician. As it happened, one was passing by on his way to another job a couple of hours later so called in.

The previous cooker was wired to a junction box in the oven cabinet which was spurred back to a dedicated cooker switch in turn connected to a 30A RCB at the consumer unit. My wife and I removed the old cooker. The new cooker, according to the manual has a total rating of 2,500 W and needed a minimum 2.5mm twin and earth with a fuse rating of 20A. Our friendly electrician turned up, had a cup of tea, spent 10 minutes connecting up the cooker to the junction box with 2.5 mm cable and checking that the cooker worked and then left, 30 minutes after arriving. It took 6 months for us to get the invoice, only to discover that we had been charged for 2 hours’ work and we never did get a Part P certificate. I ended up keeping the receipt for payment as proof that we had employed a so called “qualified” electrician.

Back in the early 80's, I rewired the whole of my house, before all the Part P stuff. I wired everything back to the consumer unit then called in the electricity board to connect the tails on the consumer unit to the meter and to organise an earth return through their cables rather than use the old ground spike. Their electrician checked that all was safe before finalising the connection so I felt that this covered my back for insurance purposes.

Rant over.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

In my first house the cooker ran off a 6mm spur off the 1mm radial to the dining room light.