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I new here and looking for some advise please . What is normally the size of wire going from the consumer unit to cooker switch ? I would very much appreciate any help . Thanks
What size is the wire from consumer unit to cooker switch
- Thread starter Macmhuirich
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Either 6mm or 10mm.
It could even be 4mm.
What are you trying to do?
It could even be 4mm.
What are you trying to do?
How long is the cable? The installation method? The cooker make and model?
Note that the size of a cable is quoted as the
Cross sectional area of the live conductors.
If is quoted in mm²
You would need a digital measurement device (calliper) to discover the csa.
Or
Tell us the outside measurement of the cable in question and we may be able estimate the cable size.
Cross sectional area of the live conductors.
If is quoted in mm²
You would need a digital measurement device (calliper) to discover the csa.
Or
Tell us the outside measurement of the cable in question and we may be able estimate the cable size.
Agreed, as said it depends upon your cooker.
Historically 6.0 T & E was a pretty common cable size if the circuit protection was via a fuse, however Miniature Circuit Breakers (including RCBOs) are more common these days and therefore 4.0 T & E could suffice - many like me would still use 6.0 though.
Some pretty hefty cooking combinations might necessitate a few being 10.0 T & E.
You could even, in some instances, get away with 2.5 T & E .
If your cable runs are unusually long then going up to the next cable size anyway for one thing but mostly not.
So, in a nutshell 4.0 or 6.0 is usually the easy quick answer.
Take note that traditionally the "Cooker" was usually a hob with 4 rings and an oven and a high level grill all in one single appliance, where nowadays other combinations are possible either as one unit or separately but the easy calculation is usually the same as for the bog standard age old cooking appliance so it is the total KW to be taken into account in a normal domestic setting and the a "Diversity" calculation made accordingly and up to perhaps 13 or 15KW total max gives us the 6.0 or 4.0 figure.
If you look on YouTube there is probably an excellent article by a chap called John Ward that explains it all.
Historically 6.0 T & E was a pretty common cable size if the circuit protection was via a fuse, however Miniature Circuit Breakers (including RCBOs) are more common these days and therefore 4.0 T & E could suffice - many like me would still use 6.0 though.
Some pretty hefty cooking combinations might necessitate a few being 10.0 T & E.
You could even, in some instances, get away with 2.5 T & E .
If your cable runs are unusually long then going up to the next cable size anyway for one thing but mostly not.
So, in a nutshell 4.0 or 6.0 is usually the easy quick answer.
Take note that traditionally the "Cooker" was usually a hob with 4 rings and an oven and a high level grill all in one single appliance, where nowadays other combinations are possible either as one unit or separately but the easy calculation is usually the same as for the bog standard age old cooking appliance so it is the total KW to be taken into account in a normal domestic setting and the a "Diversity" calculation made accordingly and up to perhaps 13 or 15KW total max gives us the 6.0 or 4.0 figure.
If you look on YouTube there is probably an excellent article by a chap called John Ward that explains it all.
Last edited:
Back to this essential question…
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Doesn't have to be digital, could use Vernier calipers
Or a micrometer digital or not
Oh right the Taylor lad - by the "rack of the eye" then if you are proficient in light engineering disciplines and have a handy steel rule to compare against.
Oh yes. So it is simple to use a steel ruler to measure the diameter of a single strand multi-strand conductor, calculate the csa and then multiply that by the number of strands?Oh right the Taylor lad - by the "rack of the eye" then if you are proficient in light engineering disciplines and have a handy steel rule to compare against.
Do you think that you’d get the right answer when faced with 4mm² versus 6mm² cable?
I think not.
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Now, now, boys!
Ahem from:
https://www.diynot.com/wiki/Electrics:cable_types:flatpvccables ...
This has 2 core carrying the load and an earth. this is NOT 3 core
Cables are specified by the Cross Sectional Area (CSA) of their live & neutral conductors. This is measured in mm². Unfortunately a cable of, say, 10mm² is
often loosely referred to as 10mm cable, giving the false impression to people not familar with cable sizes that they just need to measure the width of the cable with a ruler. The table below gives some typical overall cable dimensions for some standard flat T+E cable sizes. Note that cables from different manufacturers will vary slightly from these dimensions.
Judging what cable size you have:
The difficulty comes in when there are imperial cable too as they are bigger than equivalent metric sizes.
https://www.diynot.com/wiki/Electrics:cable_types:flatpvccables ...
Flat twin + earth and 3 core + earth cables
Twin and Earth (T+E)
This has 2 core carrying the load and an earth. this is NOT 3 core
Cables are specified by the Cross Sectional Area (CSA) of their live & neutral conductors. This is measured in mm². Unfortunately a cable of, say, 10mm² is
often loosely referred to as 10mm cable, giving the false impression to people not familar with cable sizes that they just need to measure the width of the cable with a ruler. The table below gives some typical overall cable dimensions for some standard flat T+E cable sizes. Note that cables from different manufacturers will vary slightly from these dimensions.
Judging what cable size you have:
| CSA | Overall Dimensions | Diameter of each Live/ | Number of strands | Approx Measurement across |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral copper core strand | bundle of strands (‘diameter’) | |||
| 1mm² | 7.8mm x 4.25mm | 1.13mm | 1 (solid core) | |
| 1.5mm² | 8.2mm x 5mm | 1.38mm | 1 (solid core) | |
| 2.5mm² | 10.3mm x 6mm | 1.78mm | 1 (solid core) | |
| 4mm² | 11.9mm x 6.25mm | 0.85mm | 7 | 2.56mm |
| 6mm² | 13.5mm x 7mm | 1.04mm | 7 | 3.13mm |
| 10mm² | 17.1mm x 10mm | 1.35mm | 7 | 4.05mm |
| 16mm² | 19.4mm x 10mm | 1.71mm | 7 | 5.12mm |
The difficulty comes in when there are imperial cable too as they are bigger than equivalent metric sizes.
Just to add a 'disclaimer'
.... that table from our wiki which you posted is the one which I created and put there - but I thinkit is roughly correct 
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