Wall mounted plastic socket in plaster board

Longclough · 21 Apr 2010

I recently had a double oven hard wired (details described in recent posts). I noticed last night when I first ran the double oven, that the gas hob molded plug touches the back bottom corner of the double oven (Oven rests against it). I felt around the area and although it is warm, I could touch it. I am concerned that if the oven was ran for a long period it may get hotter and damage the socket.

The question is as I don't want to get the electrician back. I was wondering if I unfitted the plastic box box from the wall and cut a hole out of the plaster board and then reattached the plastic back box to the wall behind. Is it acceptable to have a plastic box mounted this way? By doing this I should be have to disturb any of the wiring.

Chri5 · 21 Apr 2010

Cooking appliances need to be positioned carefully. Imagine an instance of a chip pan fire and not being able to isolate / turn the hob off.
The socket is poorly positioned and will need to be moved to a sensible location.

Subject to the cabling route it is entirely possible to provide a dry lining box and move the socket. It might be best to keep the old box in situ and simply get a flat plate cover for it.
That would avoid making good the old hole and if joining to the cable is required could be used as a junction point.

In strict rule mode it could be argued that the work is notifiable since it's not mtce. If the fitter knew the position of the oven I'd question why you accepted the incorrect positioning and paid him.

Longclough · 21 Apr 2010

chri5, The cooker is isolated above the work surface. This is then connected to a double socket and then spurred to cooker connection unit. The gas hob when plugged into the double socket is the problem.

My question really is. Am I allowed to bury plastic sockets in the plaster board?

The electrician is my neighbour fella. Not sure he really wanted to do the job, more likely sent. I was going to get someone else, but she insisted on him helping me out. I may just get someone else in to fix it and accept the loose. I just thought as all this cabling is ok, I may be able to rectify this without to much trouble.

ban-all-sheds · 21 Apr 2010

Longclough · 21 Apr 2010

ban-all-sheds, is it ok just to use a standard surface socket, screwed in to the brick work once the plaster has been removed. As it is behind the oven, I am not too bothered about what it looks like. Just want to get the moulded plug for gas hob away from the oven by 2/3 cm from its current position.

Steve · 21 Apr 2010

Yes just do it!

Adam_151 · 21 Apr 2010

Ban,

As he is saying there is a wall behind the plasterboard, then I'm assuming its dot and dab, in which case he'll want a standard metal flush box not a dryline box, and he'll likely have to get a scutch on the wall a little bit to let it go back

TicklyT · 21 Apr 2010

If you're looking for every last millimetre of clearance, a flat plate socket will sit closer to the wall than a standard one

The down side is they need a deeper backbox, so more to chop out of the wall behind them

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Wall mounted plastic socket in plaster board

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