13amp? cooker socket

Hi all,

Just moved into a council property and found this as the set up for the electrical points for the oven in the Kitchen...

I've not seen a set up like this for a long while, does anyone know what I need to look at oven wise for this? It has a gas point but I'm not looking to fit that again due to costs of running a gas oven, I just want a bog standard Free Standing 3 pin Oven. Does such a thing even exist anymore??

Failing that, does anyone know how much roughly and what would need doing to put in a standard oven connection in wired up to the fused(?) switch at the top of the cupboard?

The orange switch turns the socket on, the other ones don't work(?) and I'm not sure what the other blank socket is for at all.

Many thanks.

Is the blank plate to the right of the socket actually a cooker flex outlet?

you can get just an oven with a 13A plug.

If you want a cooker (4 plates, oven, grill), then you would wire that into the "blank" cooker outlet

endecotp said:

Is the blank plate to the right of the socket actually a cooker flex outlet?

Click to expand...

It certainly looks like one to me. The angle of the plate allows for the cable going to the cooker to exit it, at the bottom.

OP, if you undo the screws in the blank plate that's on the right hand side of the single-socket-without-a-switch, there will be a row of three terminals inside. Connect your new cooker to here. It will be controlled by the orange switch in your first picture.

Post a picture of it, if unsure.

Obviously, turn the power off first

ashlovescars said:

Hi all,

Just moved into a council property and found this as the set up for the electrical points for the oven in the Kitchen...

I've not seen a set up like this for a long while, does anyone know what I need to look at oven wise for this? It has a gas point but I'm not looking to fit that again due to costs of running a gas oven, I just want a bog standard Free Standing 3 pin Oven. Does such a thing even exist anymore??

Failing that, does anyone know how much roughly and what would need doing to put in a standard oven connection in wired up to the fused(?) switch at the top of the cupboard?

The orange switch turns the socket on, the other ones don't work(?) and I'm not sure what the other blank socket is for at all.

Many thanks.

Click to expand...

where are the socket and blank?

If below worktop height and behind cooker I suggest the socket was for the gas hob ignighter (plug something in and see if controlled by the fused switch - it would be worth checking the cable size) and as others have mooted the blank may be the cooker connexion point controlled by the orange switch.

The 3rd switch - any chance there are facilities for a cooker hood or under cupboard lights?

Free standing ovens using a 3pin plug will be the size of a microwave oven .You already have power setup required for a standard electric oven.
(A gas oven is cheaper to run than electric .)

foxhole said:

Free standing ovens using a 3pin plug will be the size of a microwave oven .You already have power setup required for a standard electric oven.
(A gas oven is cheaper to run than electric .)

Click to expand...

A full-size single electric oven (not a double) can typically run on a 13A plug, but at this size they are normally fitted in a cabinet.

As can a full size dual-fuel cooker with a gas hob and a single electric oven.

I think when @ashlovescars says "bog standard Free Standing ...Oven" he may mean "cooker" not "oven"

A free-standing, full-size dual fuel or gas cooker may run on a 13A plug. An electric cooker can't.

endecotp said:

Is the blank plate to the right of the socket actually a cooker flex outlet?

Click to expand...

Looks like one to me.

@JohnD has put it well. I do remember the old Baby Belling cooker, the oven switch also selected other functions, so you could not use all together. It seems they are still cookers of this type but I would call them counter top, not free-standing. I have a 2 kW counter top induction hot plate, and it does work well, some of the old ones were very dangerous when the element failed it would spring up and make the pan live.

foxhole said:

(A gas oven is cheaper to run than electric .)

Click to expand...

That seems unlikely, due to the way a gas oven works. The flame it lit all the time, and air needs to be drawn in to keep it burning, so it is very inefficient, a typical electric oven will heat up for maybe as much as 5 minutes, but then uses a mark/space ratio, i.e. turning on/off, and uses very little energy to maintain the temperature. Where the gas oven continues to burn at same rate even when up to temperature. So very inefficient.

The same with the hob, the modern induction hob heats the pan, not the air around the pan, so both with the oven and the hob, get gets the kitchen really hot and needs extractor fans/cooker hoods to keep the kitchen cool, where the electric oven and hob, only heats the food.

There is a debate on the microwave cooker, which like the gas, is using power all the time it is on, where the air frier will be switching on/off once hot, so uses a lot less power to the microwave. But when compared to a normal fan oven, since the fan oven is much larger, not so easy to work out which is cheaper.

I do keep telling off my wife, for re-heating coffee, cost to reheat in a microwave even when not hitting boiling, is more than using the cup boiler to make another, as to cost of coffee, oat milk, powered milk and sweetener, not sure, but if my coffee, with just cows milk goes cold, I drink it cold, simple.

What I can't understand is a council house rented without a cooker already installed? I will admit our oven is today only used for pizza and at same time finish of the potato, as the air frier too small to take a pizza, most goes into the air frier, which is a pain, as wife insists on using rubber things which means the air frier does not work correctly as the air can't circulate properly so all the times for food cooked is wrong.

ericmark said:

Where the gas oven continues to burn at same rate even when up to temperature. So very inefficient.

Click to expand...

No it doesn't, it has a thermostatic flame control.

Does the Council not connect these cookers? its hardwired so part of the installation that is usually the responsibility of the social landlord.

JohnD said:

No it doesn't, it has a thermostatic flame control.

Click to expand...

So a gas oven will not make a kitchen hot? This must be a new fangled oven, as those I have used, resulted in a hot kitchen.

ericmark said:

So a gas oven will not make a kitchen hot?

Click to expand...

Where did that idea come from?

JohnD said:

Where did that idea come from?

Click to expand...

If the heat only goes into the oven, until you open the oven door, it will not heat the room, I know in a commercial kitchen moving to induction hobs can reduce the cooling fans or air conditioners require by a huge amount, in a domestic kitchen we just put up with the heat.

ericmark said:

If the heat only goes into the oven, until you open the oven door, it will not heat the room,

Click to expand...

All the heat from the oven must surely eventually end up in the room - where else could it go? !!