Cooker Hood has plug at the end, though my connection is hardwired? Help!

[zenonithus]

Hey all,

I bought a cooker hood and when I went to install it realised it has a 3-pin plug at the end! I have a grey wire sticking out of the wall with neutral and live only (no earth) so it needs to be hard wired. Would this be a case of cutting the plug off and using a wire connector to connect both wires up? Thanks

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Is the hood class 2 (symbol of square within square on label)? If not it must be earthed.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Where does that grey cable come from?

Is there a Fused Connection Unit nearby - with or without a switch?

Plus - I would think there is an earth which has been cut.

 

[zenonithus]

Hey guys, thanks for the speedy reply. DetlefSchmitz unfortunately I cant seem to see that symbol anywhere. Here are some pics of the specs. There is an earth wire inside the hood as seen in the middle pic.

EFLImpudence the grey cable (neutral and live) goes to exactly that, a fused connection switch with a 13amp inside.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It must be earthed.

If you really do only have a 2-core cable from the FCU then you'll have to replace it with 3-core.

 

[EFLImpudence]

The diagram shows that it does need an earth.

It would be better if you could connect the hood cable to the FCU - it doesn't have to be buried.
Disconnect the existing cable and remove it and cut off the plug
There should be an earth in the FCU.

Is it in a convenient place to do that?

 

[zenonithus]

The FCU has earth wires connected up to it. EFLImpudence I cant do that unfortunately. The grey wire connected to the FCU is buried inside the wall and quite far apart. I remember the old cooker hood very similar to this one had a wire connected up to the grey wire in the wall, which is why I'm wondering if they just cut off the plug and connected it up. I'm guessing a hard-wired hood the grey cable would go directly into the motor?

 

[EFLImpudence]

The FCU has earth wires connected up to it. EFLImpudence I cant do that unfortunately. The grey wire connected to the FCU is buried inside the wall and quite far apart.

Ok.

I remember the old cooker hood very similar to this one had a wire connected up to the grey wire in the wall, which is why I'm wondering if they just cut off the plug and connected it up.

May be.
That would be alright, perhaps that one didn't need an earth.

Unfortunately the new one does.
Examine the cable to see if there is a cut earth wire between the other two wires.
If there is you will have to dig out enough cable to access the earth.

If not - some other way.

 

[zenonithus]

So does this mean the plug/wire for the new cooker hood has an earth running through it? Why would there be an earth wire inside the hood? I might take a closer look at the connection, though If the wire is just neutral and live is it safe to assume I can just connect those up to the neutral and live on the grey wire? Though from the specifications people are saying there is definitly an earth wire running through the cooker hood wire is that correct?

 

[zenonithus]

Actually ignor that! I just removed some electrical tape from the grey wire and it does indeed have an earth wire included so does this mean it is possible to connect? Though will the cooker hood wire definitly have an earth inside if I cut it off?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Actually ignor that! I just removed some electrical tape from the grey wire and it does indeed have an earth wire included

Good. All is well then.

so does this mean it is possible to connect?

Yes.
Make sure it is connected in the FCU.

Though will the cooker hood wire definitly have an earth inside if I cut it off?

Yes.

You could just use connector block as it is up out of the way, but one of these (or similar) would be much better -
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/ASJ501.html

 

[yorkspark]

I just removed some electrical tape from the grey wire and it does indeed have an earth wire included

this then needs sleeving and connecting to the earth terminal in the joint box

so:_
1. chop plug off cooker hood
2. fit joint box onto grey cable using line, neutral and earth into the respectable terminals
3.strip flex and terminate cores into the joint box matching the colours to the respectable incoming cable
4. enjoy

 

[zenonithus]

Cheers guys, ok will cut the plug tomorrow, fingers crossed. As for the FCU it looks to have 4 earth wires plugged in. It looks to be part of a circuit with the sockets and oven switch as I remember the FCU did not power when the sockets weren't wired up to a socket switch. Looking at all the grey wires their earths all seem to be connected up so hopefully this means the one for the cooker hood is connected somewhere at the other end.

 

[Adam_151]

It does look like its connected then, although a closer look to confirm would not go amiss, it lookes like the 4 earths in the fcu are two from the ring, one from the outgoing cable, and one to tag the backbox (not always fitted). If you look on the back of the FCU, there are a brown and a blue each on their own in terminals, this is the outgoing side, the incomming side will have a pair of browns which share a terminal and a pair of blues which share another terminal. If you follow the ones on their own (outgoing) you'll see which grey sheath they go into and can then check that the earth that goes with them is also connected to the earths. But as I said, four of them would suggest it is

 

[zenonithus]

Thanks for the info Adam. It appears all the earth wires in the grey wires are plugged in. The earth wire in the cooker hood hard wire is bare and bent back suggesting it might not have been used for the previouse hood.