Can I Replace my own Electric Hob

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Hello..
Yea I'm a pest.. lol ..

Just been looking at replacing an electric hob.
Am I allowed to do it myself or is an electrician supposed to fit it?

The old hob is 6kw (6000 watts) so looking for the same or less wattage.
the cable looks 10mm2 but hold my hands up there and will investigate further.


BTW, are ceramic/induction more efficient than the older types of hob?




Many thanks for thoughts.
 
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You can do it, but you need to know what you are doing.

You'll first need to find out the value of the fuse/mcb that protects that circuit. That will tell you how big a device you could buy.

Efficiency is a moot point. You could go induction, but you'll have to throw most of your pans out and buy compatible ones. Induction is more controllable than other electric rings.

If you want controllability and efficiency then (IMO) get a gas hob. ;)
 
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Get a fridge magnet and test your pans. I went induction and yes it is a great hob. One main thing since all heat goes into pan not kitchen it keeps the kitchen cooler.

As to speed yes with boost you can have 3.7kW into one pan, but in real terms other than plain water not usable, it's too fast, and will make any food stick to pan and burn. In the main use no more than 1.4kW which is the standard output for small ring.

However the other toys are useful. I often use the auto boil then simmer and also the auto switch off when pan is removed. There are also loads of safety features like auto turn off after set time so you can't make an error and forget and leave it on, also temperature monitor which will auto reduce power and if temperature still rises will switch it off.

There is also a child lock for all the knobs.

Mine is a stand alone with knobs my mother has one with touch controls which had to be ripped out because in a wheel chair she could not see the display also it was too slow it took multi presses to turn down by which time it had boiled over knobs are far faster to operate.

One of the problems with a fitted hob is often they can't be installed above the oven. Why any one would want to I don't know as with a stand alone the oven has more functionality so if you want the oven under the hob stand alone is a better option.

Built in ovens tend to be either 13A or 16A where stand alone tend to use the full 32A available for functions like door closed grilling.

There are special hobs designed to run on 13A see this example but most are designed for a 32A supply.

With any electric hob the only reason for a hood is to take away cooking smells but with gas the hood needs to be vented outside as it is also to remove the by products of burning gas the main being water. Since my kitchen does not lend its self to fitting an extractor I would not consider using gas. My main reason for not using gas was the silly pan supports which resulted in pans being easy knocked off the cooker. I did not consider gas as safe with children. Gas is the only way to use a wok but that's its only advantage.

My stand alone cooker is set just slightly lower than the counter. However my mothers built in for some unknown reason was slightly proud. So with mine small spills are contained with hers a small spill runs over the counter top rather a silly idea. The gas cookers to be fair also retain spills but no where as easy to clean as a ceramic hob.

Our first ceramic hob needed one to be very careful and wipe up any spills very quickly or they would be baked on and needed special cleaner. But with the induction it does not bake on so cleaning is far easier.

We got caught out with one pan. We though the stainless steel pressure cooker would work however it would not. It needs to be magnetic and stainless steel is not magnet.

All in all very pleased with what we have hob wise. However we felt the oven was spoilt for a hapsworth of tar. The shelves can fall out. That is the only thing I don't like about our 4 year old induction cooker.

As to pressure cooker we now use microwave plastic pressure cookers although we do have one which will work on hob it's not used any more.

As a P.S. daughter uses gas and she was boiling water first in the kettle and then transferring to pan on the gas. I asked why. She demonstrated how even with a 5.5kW gas ring and 2.8kW kettle the kettle was far faster. So on returning home tried same with 2.8kW kettle and 3kW induction hob. And both came to boil at same time. So of that 5.5kW produced by the gas around 3.5kW just heats the room not the pan. Hence my wife does not drop sweat into the food likely my daughter does as her kitchen is a real sweat shop in the summer.
 
OK..

The fuse is 30 amp, and the wire is 10mm2. so I'm a right in thinking a 7kw hob is ok?

Ooops.. typing error..;
That should be 30 amp fuse, 10mm2 and thinking 7kw hob is too much.

(I believe that its 10mm2 as I have a spare piece of wire 6mm2 and the fitted wire is thicker. the next available size up being 10mm2)

Calculations so far:
As far as I'm aware, the maximum watts is 230volts X 30Amp fuse = 6900w max load.
If the wire was 6mm2 (47amp max load) then thinking that would be ok, due to the restriction of the fuse to 30amp.

Jump in if I am wrong... I'm open to correction
I haven't burned the house down or touched anything yet. :p just still in the planning stage


:p
 
Ooops.. typing error..; That should be 30 amp fuse, 10mm2 and thinking 7kw hob is too much. Calculations so far:
As far as I'm aware, the maximum watts is 230volts X 30Amp fuse = 6900w max load.
That's correct as far as it goes. In fact, in terms of the way you're thinking, you probably would be OK if it were a conventional (rather than induction) hob. In that case, the 7kW would almost certainly be quoted at 240V, which means that the current at 230V would probably only be about 28A - i.e. less than the rating of the 30A fuse.

However, even if that were not the case (and/or if it were an induction hob), your friend here is the concept of 'diversity'. This says that the 'effective current' of a cooking appliance can be regarded as the first 10A plus 30% of the remainder. Hence, even if the 7kW related to 230V (i.e. about 30.4A), the 'after-diversity' current would be consdiered to only be about 16.1A (10A + 30% of 20.4A) - way below 30A.
If the wire was 6mm2 (47amp max load) then thinking that would be ok, due to the restriction of the fuse to 30amp.
Changing the wire size would not affect the current rating of the fuse, the current drawn by the appliance or the relationship between them. Either 6mm² or 10mm² would be plenty adequate in your case.

Kind Regards, John
 

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