wiring a German cooker into a UK home

Leia · 4 Aug 2004

Hello everyone,
I've just joined, and have a question. Having just moved home from Germany to England, and brought my German 3 phase cooker with me, I see the UK domestic supply is not 3 phase. Is it possible to connect somehow my German cooker to my english power supply. I've called three uk electricians and none of them know! I assume, if it is possible, that we need to join the three lives together, and into the live pin, and then neutral to neutral and earth to earth?
If anyone knows if this is safe or not, I would appreciate the info

Cheers,

Leia

ZenStalinist · 4 Aug 2004

It is not possible to join the three lives together, as tehre would be no potential difference, between the terminals and the oven likely requires phase-phase to work.
You could see about having a three phase supply installed, it is available in most areas but is most likely going to be ridiculously expensive, and the REC my put up a fight. Best bet is probably buying a new oven.

Some may be designed to work on a single phase supply also, though it isn't too likely what does the manual say?

Best solution may be to get a new oven.

AdamW · 5 Aug 2004

I am wondering if this is an oven designed to be used with both single and 3-phase... reason being, Leia mentions putting the neutral wire into the neutral terminal. If it was purely 3-phase then isn't it quite likely it wouldn't have neutral AND earth?

I agree with Zen about checking the manual. If you don't have this, or if it doesn't make it clear, then contact the manufacturer and ask them.

ZenStalinist · 5 Aug 2004

Hmm... Some ovens do have neutral even if purely three phase, you have to remember that they often have lamps in them, which are about always 230v, and some also have a socket on the front in Germany, I have noticed.

plugwash · 5 Aug 2004

i remember reading somewhere that german ovens could be wired as single phase in most cases

i would try connecting the three lives together and seeing if it worked

also you could try giging the manufacturer a call and asking if it can be wired for single phase and if so how

david and julie · 10 Aug 2004

I'm no electrician but I thought 3 phase had a neutral and an earth, that is red,blue,yellow, neutral and earth.

Plugwash is right get in touch with the manufacturers for safety.

Adam_151 · 26 Aug 2004

david and julie said:
I'm no electrician but I thought 3 phase had a neutral and an earth, that is red,blue,yellow, neutral and earth.

Nor am I, but I know that 3 phase doesn't always have a neutral

I wouldn't try what pugwash suggusted, becuase if it is a star config, but not meant to be wired on single phase, then the neutral may not be sufficently sized for single phase operation

danburns · 19 Oct 2010

Adam_151 said:
I wouldn't try what pugwash suggusted, becuase if it is a star config, but not meant to be wired on single phase, then the neutral may not be sufficently sized for single phase operation

Ummm....surely if wired single phase then the neutral would be the same size as the live, and therefore would handle what was supplied to the cooker?

If the neutral is undersized then so is the live...and that's where the fuse/MCB comes in isn't it Adam?

plugwash · 20 Oct 2010

I think adam meant nuetrals inside the cooker not the neutral in your supply cable.

clandor · 7 Jan 2011

take a picture of the terminal block of the oven and post here, or even the back of the oven (without the cover). Most ovens throughtout the southern hemisphere are wired in 3 phase + N but all can be converted to single in a few seconds.
Normally adding multiple phases to an oven is just to spread the loading across the supply transformer more evenly.

solair · 16 Jan 2011

Continental 3 phase ovens are rarely actually using 400V. They usually just have different elements on different phases using 230V. So, it's usually possible to wire all 3 "phases" to the live side of a single phase supply if it's hefty enough to provide enough power to the cooker.

I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer or check the cooker's installation manual. There are often instructions for installing the cooker with various different power systems that might be encountered i.e. single phase 32A (as in UK, IRL, France, Spain etc) or 400V 3 phase or possibly even 230V X 3 single phase with 3 supply circuits.

mikerodent · 20 Jan 2011

Hi Leia.

Nobody can answer the question, unless you tell them exactly what is on the plate at the rear of the cooker.

A pic would be best.

It may be a 2 min job to alter the connection configuration.

Mike

danechip · 12 Feb 2011

I've done this before with 3 lives, pinned out to hob, cooker and grill. I Joined up the 3phaze into L.

I don't recall the make of cooker. It was halogen and around 2002.

Paul_C · 12 Feb 2011

Folks, the original poster asked this question over six years ago and has not posted since, so I suspect the oven has already been wired up and in use for some time now or the idea was abandoned!

However, on a general note, a lot of the new domestic ovens sold across Europe are designed with connection to both 1-phase and 3-phase supplies in mind, and don't actually have anything connected at 400V between phases. All the elements are 230V and the 3-phase connection is just to allow for distribution of the load to cater for the ridiculous residential supplies found in some European countries which are 3-phase at a maximum of 20A per phase or something equally silly.

For use on a single-phase circuit in Britain, all that's necessary is to strap the L1/L2/L3 terminals together.

amulet · 28 Aug 2011

Paul_C said:
Folks, the original poster asked this question over six years ago and has not posted since, so I suspect the oven has already been wired up and in use for some time now or the idea was abandoned!

However, on a general note, a lot of the new domestic ovens sold across Europe are designed with connection to both 1-phase and 3-phase supplies in mind, and don't actually have anything connected at 400V between phases. All the elements are 230V and the 3-phase connection is just to allow for distribution of the load to cater for the ridiculous residential supplies found in some European countries which are 3-phase at a maximum of 20A per phase or something equally silly.

For use on a single-phase circuit in Britain, all that's necessary is to strap the L1/L2/L3 terminals together.

Hello. Can you elaborate on this? I have a cooker with 2 black, 1 blue, 1 brown and 1 yellow and green wire. Evidently it had been wired to a plug ( I am in Europe with single phase) but the wiring had come away from the plug when I acquired it.

Thank you

wiring a German cooker into a UK home

david and julie

Paul_C

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