Hi all i have just started tearing our kitchen out when i took out the electric built in oven it was just plugged into the normal ring socket. When i unplugged it there was brown stain and a bit of cracking on the neutral point of the socket the neutral on the actual plug was just as bad and virtually fell out. Have i got a major problem thanks for any advice
cooker socket
- Thread starter max1973
- Start date
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It really depends on what type of wiring serves the appliance, can you find out the conductor size or when you say it's plugged in was it just into the ring main? What rating is the cooker you'll be putting back into it's place, any pics?
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a typical single oven, drawing less than 3kW (like yours) is safe on an ordinary plug and socket, with a 13A fuse.
The damage round the neutral pin of your plug suggests that when originally fitted, the wire was not firmly gripped in the pin-top terminal (the brass screw is rather small and difficult to get really tight). This looseness will have given a poor connection, which will have overheated, and the heat will have made the connection worse, as the brass terminal and copper wire will erode and eventually burn away. This will make it get even hotter, and the cycle continues until the wire burns away, or the house burns down, or you fit a new plug.
Copper wire which has been overheated becomes softer, and squashes away over time when you try to make a tight connection, so any copper that looks darker must not be re-used. The insulation will also become brittle and prematurely aged from heat.
Cut away or replace all the heat-marked flex; use a new plug by a good brand like MK, Crabtree or MEM; and replace the socket as well. If the wiring inside the socket shows evidence of damage, it will have to be replaced or repaired. Unless you are equipped to do this, it will probably be more economical to engage a qualified, well-recommended local electrician than to buy the correct tool and learn to use it.
It is preferable to have a large, fixed appliance like an oven on its own dedicated circuit, rather than on the general house ring, and when a kitchen is built or updated, this is worth considering, especially if you expect to have numerous large appliances, or if you think that in future you might want a double oven, or an electric cooker. Kitchen fitters are not usually good electricians.
too slow!
but very thorough!
The damage round the neutral pin of your plug suggests that when originally fitted, the wire was not firmly gripped in the pin-top terminal (the brass screw is rather small and difficult to get really tight). This looseness will have given a poor connection, which will have overheated, and the heat will have made the connection worse, as the brass terminal and copper wire will erode and eventually burn away. This will make it get even hotter, and the cycle continues until the wire burns away, or the house burns down, or you fit a new plug.
Copper wire which has been overheated becomes softer, and squashes away over time when you try to make a tight connection, so any copper that looks darker must not be re-used. The insulation will also become brittle and prematurely aged from heat.
Cut away or replace all the heat-marked flex; use a new plug by a good brand like MK, Crabtree or MEM; and replace the socket as well. If the wiring inside the socket shows evidence of damage, it will have to be replaced or repaired. Unless you are equipped to do this, it will probably be more economical to engage a qualified, well-recommended local electrician than to buy the correct tool and learn to use it.
It is preferable to have a large, fixed appliance like an oven on its own dedicated circuit, rather than on the general house ring, and when a kitchen is built or updated, this is worth considering, especially if you expect to have numerous large appliances, or if you think that in future you might want a double oven, or an electric cooker. Kitchen fitters are not usually good electricians.
too slow!but very thorough!
As already said, no, but just in case the socket also got overheated keep an eye open for damage to the circuit cables when replacing it. Unlikely, but it won't hurt to spend a few seconds looking.
But what you have got is a major opportunity to change the electrics in the kitchen - get the cooker onto its own circuit, have a dedicated radial for the appliances, a separate circuit for the F/F, use grid switches above the worktops to control sockets below them for appliances, install sockets on the lighting circuit low down behind plinths in case you ever want plinth lights, extend the lighting circuit to supply lights under wall cupboards etc.
The chances of you leaving the electrical layout exactly as it is right now, and therefore not needing to notify anyway are probably zero, so you might as well go for it.
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