Adding 13A socket to cooker circuit

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Hello, as part of a kitchen makeover I’m replacing a slot-in gas cooker with a Neff built-in single oven, and a Russell Hobbs gas hob.

The oven is going into a new base unit and is rated at 2.99kW / 13A. It comes with a flex connection that plugs into the rear of the oven, and the other end of the flex has the three exposed cores with no plug.

I phoned Neff to see whether a 13A plug can be fitted, and the guy said that hardwiring the flex to a cooker outlet plate is preferable, but he went on to say that some electricians just put a plug on it.

The gas hob has a moulded 13A plug for the ignition and - I presume - for the no-flame cut-off.

We have a dedicated 30A cooker circuit, as originally fitted when the house was built 35 years ago. It runs from a Wylex CU (I replaced the rewirable fuses with MCBs) to an MK CCU with socket (which is used for a kettle). It then runs to the cooker outlet plate, which has been substituted for a 13A socket for the ignition of our gas oven.

Obviously, the easiest thing to do is to put a plug on the oven flex and fit a double socket in place of the single, but if hardwiring is preferable then we're looking at running a 13A socket from the outlet plate.

I don't want the aggro of running a spur from a wall socket, which is why I want to run from the cooker circuit. I’ve collated various bits of info on this, and I’m thinking to proceed as per the attached plan.

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you
Cooker Circuit.jpg
 
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I don't want the aggro of running a spur from a wall socket, which is why I want to run from the cooker circuit. I’ve collated various bits of info on this, and I’m thinking to proceed as per the attached plan.
Wiring-wise, that looks OK - and you could use just 2.5mm² cable (rather than 6mm²) from the cooker outlet plate to the FCU.

However, all new sockets require RCD protection and, from what you've described, I suspect/presume that the cooker circuit (and quite probably everything else) does not have RCD protection. If that is the case, then you could overcome that problem by using an RCD FCU, rather than an ordinary FCU.

Kind Regards, John
 
You don't need the FCU since the hob has a fused plug. Also 2.5 mm² from cooker outlet plate to socket is sufficient.
 
You don't need the FCU since the hob has a fused plug. Also 2.5 mm² from cooker outlet plate to socket is sufficient.
As I said, I agree about the 2.5mm² cable. However, you're right about the FCU not being needed (from the fusing point-of-view) - I misunderstood his diagram and thought that his "3 outlets" referred to three sockets, not one (plus the cooker output plate and FCU, 'making three'!).

However, my point remains that if the circuit is not RCD protected, then he needs to provide RCD protection for the new socket - that could be done with either an RCD FCU or an RCD socket (to actually install an actual RCD there {in an enclosure} would probably be unnecessarily bulky and probably more expensive).

Kind Regards, John
 
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Yes, RCD is required for the new socket.

Provided no new cables are buried in walls, the hob could be wired directly into an FCU (no new socket). I don't hesitate to cut plugs off. Others may, for various reasons.
 
We don't know the extent of the makeover, but any new sockets anywhere will require RCD protection.
Maybe time to consider when RCDs at the CU are needed.
 
Provided no new cables are buried in walls, the hob could be wired directly into an FCU (no new socket). I don't hesitate to cut plugs off. Others may, for various reasons.
That's true, and it could be an RCD FCU. However, adding one single socket (downstream of an RCD FCU) would be trivial if the OP would prefer not to cut the plug off.

An RCD socket, wired directly from the cooker outlet plate in 2.5mm² cable would be another option - but I'm not sure that one can get single ones, and a double RCD socket might be unnecessarily expensive.

Kind Regards, John
 
We don't know the extent of the makeover, but any new sockets anywhere will require RCD protection
Indeed.
Maybe time to consider when RCDs at the CU are needed.
Indeed - but that would probably mean a new CU - since adding an external RCD for one circuit (given what I presume is a Wylex Standard board) would probably be a step down the road of non-cost-effectiveness.

Kind Regards, John
 
Dare I suggest?

Connect them both to the cooker outlet and change the fuse wire to 15A - and clearly mark the fuse as 15A.
 
Bloody jobs worth’s

Them rcd fcus are a fire hazard as it is without being used on a
Cooker circuit!
They are also only rated at 13A so you are adding in the 13a limitation again.

The new socket isn’t a general purpose outlet. It will be behind a cabinet.

Pracitally speaking there is no benefit for adding an rcd fcu. And as above it would be far more of a hazzard than a help
 
As I said, I agree about the 2.5mm² cable. However, you're right about the FCU not being needed (from the fusing point-of-view) - I misunderstood his diagram and thought that his "3 outlets" referred to three sockets, not one (plus the cooker output plate and FCU, 'making three'!).

However, my point remains that if the circuit is not RCD protected, then he needs to provide RCD protection for the new socket - that could be done with either an RCD FCU or an RCD socket (to actually install an actual RCD there {in an enclosure} would probably be unnecessarily bulky and probably more expensive).

Kind Regards, John

Thank you for your input. Sorry if '3 outlets' was misleading, I wasn't sure how to refer to them collectively - it was just to show that they will be tightly together, without long cable runs.
 

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