Any electricians here? (Hardwiring a cooker advice)

[peterkro]

O.K. Zanussi/Electrolux et al are a bunch of fuckers,not putting the total load in the user manual in the forlorn hope it'll prevent people wiring it up by themselves.Nobody has told them that security by obscurity doesn't work.
On the site below it has fuse rating of 30amps so 6mm is fine.What existentialist says is technically true but is probably not worth worrying about if an actual fault occurs it'll blow a 40amp breaker as easily as a thirty.

http://www.365electrical.com/ZCV621MW_Zanussi-Ceramic-Electric-Cooker-with-Double-Oven.html

 

[existentialist]

Erm, my advice is not to dabble with electrics if you don't know what you're doing. It isn't difficult but fucking up can be fatal.

This is good advice, but I've lost count of the time I've had really pissed off reactions to my ever suggesting that

 

[existentialist]

O.K. Zanussi/Electrolux et al are a bunch of fuckers,not putting the total load in the user manual in the forlorn hope it'll prevent people wiring it up by themselves.Nobody has told them that security by obscurity doesn't work.
On the site below it has fuse rating of 30amps so 6mm is fine.What existentialist says is technically true but is probably not worth worrying about if an actual fault occurs it'll blow a 40amp breaker as easily as a thirty.

http://www.365electrical.com/ZCV621MW_Zanussi-Ceramic-Electric-Cooker-with-Double-Oven.html

This is true, because those are continuous current ratings, too. I was being over-conservative

That's the amateur aspect coming through

 

[Citizen66]

O.K. Zanussi/Electrolux et al are a bunch of fuckers,not putting the total load in the user manual in the forlorn hope it'll prevent people wiring it up by themselves.

It might be on the unit itself.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Erm, my advice is not to dabble with electrics if you don't know what you're doing. It isn't difficult but fucking up can be fatal.

Of all the posts on the thread, I'd take this as the one to follow. 30 or 40 amps is a lot of electricity. It might bite you.

 

[existentialist]

Of all the posts on the thread, I'd take this as the one to follow. 30 or 40 amps is a lot of electricity. It might bite you.

Hmm.

TBH, you can get as fatal an electric shock from a 6A lighting circuit as from a 40A cooker spur. Personally, I think the big deal with high-current circuits is that it is that much more important to make sure you do the connections well because, at those currents, overheating and fire are a bigger potential risk than on a low-power circuit.

And, if the property's protected with an RCD, an inadvertent contact on the 40A spur will trip out the supply just as fast as on anything else.

I know what you mean - I find myself being that much more cautious around a higher-rated circuit than a low one, but there's no real logic to it apart from sparks and burns, which you have to really fuck up to produce...

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It'd be wise to make sure you get the cable that is rated according to the rating on the fuse/breaker, rather than the cooker. That might be a little overconservative, but the idea is that the fuse should be the weak link in the circuit, not the cable...

I have no idea what that means

Erm, my advice is not to dabble with electrics if you don't know what you're doing. It isn't difficult but fucking up can be fatal.

I'm not stupid enough to be doing it myself

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Right, as you know, I have no idea of amps/watts/voltage etc., it's all gobbledegook to me.

I took a picture of my fusebox, but I've a feeling that won't tell you anything. There's no numbers or anything, and I didn't want to pull it to pieces to see fuses etc.



and here's where the cooker socket used to be, just above and to the right of the cooker. It had one of those orange switches



It's now been moved further to the right and underneath cupboard

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

So considering that extra length, probably better off with 1.5 metre cable yes?

 

[gentlegreen]

Your cooker trip is 32 A.

It's always best to keep cables as short as possible, but it's not that big an issue.
You are after all just replacing what was there before.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Your cooker trip is 32 A.

It's always best to keep cables as short as possible, but it's not that big an issue.
You are after all just replacing what was there before.

Is it? How do you tell that?

Closer up



Is it something to do with that B32?

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm 99 percent sure - the doorbell would be 6 amp - which sounds reasonable.

Mine say NSB32

 

[peterkro]

Yes it's a 32amp circuit so 6mm.It's probably as well to keep in mind having that 13amp socket combined with the cooker supply may in combination with the cooker on full blast trip the MCB ,a light or something won't cause that to happen but for a kettle or toaster use one of the other sockets which will be on a ring main.Those type of combined switch/sockets are normally installed on a 10mm 45amp circuit.It's possible it is a 45amp circuit with the wrong size breaker but I won't go into all that.My personal option would be to stick one of those baby proof things on the socket and forget it exists.It's not a safety hazard as such but may annoyingly trip the MCB from time to time.

By the way if that is a 6mm circuit that's a fuck up by whoever put the cooker switch on.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I'm 99 percent sure - the doorbell would be 6 amp - which sounds reasonable.

Mine say NSB32

Well I have no idea what all those letters mean

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yes it's a 32amp circuit so 6mm.It's probably as well to keep in mind having that 13amp socket combined with the cooker supply may in combination with the cooker on full blast trip the MCB ,a light or something won't cause that to happen but for a kettle or toaster use one of the other sockets which will be on a ring main.Those type of combined switch/sockets are normally installed on a 10mm 45amp circuit.It's possible it is a 45amp circuit with the wrong size breaker but I won't go into all that.My personal option would be to stick one of those baby proof things on the socket and forget it exists.It's not a safety hazard as such but may annoyingly trip the MCB from time to time.

By the way if that is a 6mm circuit that's a fuck up by whoever put the cooker switch on.

My last cooker used to trip stuff because one of the rings was fucked.

As for the rest of your post...

 

[gentlegreen]

Well I have no idea what all those letters mean

I doubt anyone does quite frankly.

Though there are various kinds of trips - special ones with bimetal switches that are designed not to trip on complex loads like rooms full of PCs ...

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Oh, I think you're telling me not to use that particular plug socket (the cooker one) for anything else yes?



I'm pissed off it's wonky as well

 

[gentlegreen]

My last cooker used to trip stuff because one of the rings was fucked.

I once had a ring go open circuit and then complete the circuit through the bottom of an aluminium pressure cooker while it was under pressure.

 

[gentlegreen]

Oh, I think you're telling me not to use that particular plug socket for anything else yes?

No domestic appliances are going to cause you any grief.
An amp is an amp is an amp ...

 

[peterkro]

My last cooker used to trip stuff because one of the rings was fucked.

As for the rest of your post...

Hopefully this is a bit clearer your cooker with everything turned on draws a bit under thirty amps which is fine.But because that single socket is also on the same circuit if you plug in a kettle say it will bring the total current up well over 38 amps which will trip the breaker.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I once had a ring go open circuit and then complete the circuit through the bottom of an aluminium pressure cooker while it was under pressure.

Speak English man! Did your pressure cooker end up on the ceiling or did you end up on the floor?

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm constantly amazed I never trip my electric at home with all the appliances I have in the kitchen on only one 32 amp circuit.
I'm shortly going to have to run a new spur for my new electric hotplates.

(Of course that would be illegal so I will of course pay a qualified electrician to do it - LOL)

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

No domestic appliances are going to cause you any grief.
An amp is an amp is an amp ...

oh

Hopefully this is a bit clearer your cooker with everything turned on draws a bit under thirty amps which is fine.But because that single socket is also on the same circuit if you plug in a kettle say it will bring the total current up well over 38 amps which will trip the breaker.

oh



Well I'll avoid plugging the microwave, kettle, steamer, any other appliances in there then if the cooker's on yes, but only if cooker's going full belt, but otherwise it should be fine if just using maybe the oven?

 

[gentlegreen]

Speak English man! Did your pressure cooker end up on the ceiling or did you end up on the floor?

No, it simply vented bean juice downwards - so a bit of a damp squib really.

 

[peterkro]

oh



oh



Well I'll avoid plugging the microwave, kettle, steamer, any other appliances in there then if the cookers on yes, but only if cooker's going full belt, but otherwise it should be fine if just using maybe the oven?

Yes a good idea.As I say it's not really a safety problem just an annoying one if the MCB trips when using the socket and the cooker you'll know what the problem is.

 

[gentlegreen]

You have another 26 amps or 6KW available from that double socket.

 

[Wilson]

I'm pissed off it's wonky as well

You might be able to fix that once the front is off.

 

[gentlegreen]

That's one serious consumer unit !
When I first moved in thirty years ago, I had three Bakelite fuses in which I would insert whatever wire I had lying around.
It used to smell of fish whenever I switched on the immersion heater for a bath.
When one day it started spitting out glowing bits of Bakelite, I put a bucket of water under it and finally went up Wickes and bought a new unit.

I still have only one ringmain for the whole house - that has the immersion heater spurred off it too, one lighting circuit, and one cooker spur that I have all my kitchen appliances running off.

I have over a dozen 4 way blocks in my main room, three in the kitchen and two in the bathroom.

 

[Citizen66]

I'm pissed off it's wonky as well

I'd be pissed off that they used surface mount sockets and visible mini trunking in a kitchen!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

You might be able to fix that once the front is off.

But the whole thing is wonky isn't it, so the back part would need to be straightened as well. Maybe it's wiggleable?