Cabling loads

[tonyenkiducx]

I changed that so it wasn't quite to strongly worded I know you guys are only trying to help, but seriously, I'm not the sort of person that just takes a "Hey, you cant understand this" and walks away with that. If I have to snag a books on electrics and learn all this crap I will, or take a course or something, but I want to know what to do! And you'd be helping me a lot if you could take 10 minutes from your schedules and just give me some free advice.

As for killing my entire family with 2 plug sockets, I am aware that if I put to much load on the cables, they could end up burning my house down. Which is why I'm trying to get some advice!

Right, I'm going to have a tinker in the fuse box with my hammer.

I want to install 2 plug sockets, and your telling me I have to pay an electrician to do that?

Yes. Unless you get building control involved.

And that by putting in 2 sockets, I might kill everyone around me?

Quite possibly yes.

And that with all your cumulative knowledge, you cant help me get two little sockets wired in?

you would be better off using full size sockets, not little ones

 

[Maxxy]

Kitchens, bathrooms, gardens etc all fall under the new(ish) Part P regulation. This means that 'diyers' cant do the work themselves in these areas, without getting building control involved.

To do the work yourself wouldnt be difficult at all, but complying with regualtions would be with limited knowledge.

Us advising you to get an electrician in was because most cookers are higher than a 13Amp rating, so require new circuits to be put in, or altered, and of course tested. As its a kitchen, this work is notifiable to building control. Registered electricians do this automatically already, and have got easy sytems already in place.

In your case, i believe someone answered saying you could plug it into an existing socket outlet, via a standard plug (13 Amp).

 

[RF Lighting]

Do they do miniture sockets then

 

[Maxxy]

hahaha

 

[tonyenkiducx]

Now that makes more sense. Thank you for the response, I can kind of understand that, allthough it's not the answer I wanted.. I was hoping more for a, "Well, if it was 'allready there' when you moved in, then you could....".. I take it your all to responsible to do that, and I'll just have to wing it. But I do appreciate your commitment to being safe.

Will let you know if I kill myself

 

[Steve]

2 words


warranty


void



And it was done wrong to start with!! Doesnt mean its ok to do it again!

Also, if that oven develops a fault, it could well catch fire before the fuse blows and the house insurance would not cover the damage as the oven was not adequately protected and fitten to comply with the relevant british standard.

Fit a 15 or 16 amp MCB at the main consumer unit, then it will be ok, but you'd be risking it with the cooker switch/socket combo.

Another way to do this is to have the cooker switch feeding a single socket behind the oven and plug it in here. Then it can be on a 32A MCB, and you can keep the cooker switch/socket combo.

 

[philrosenberg]

Hey Tony
Just wanted to throw my two penneth in too

Unfortunately any work done in a kitchen other than replacing faceplates needs either doing by a reqistered spark or you need to notify building control before you start and they will come out and inspect your work (for a fee of course).
You also need to have the kit to properly test it.

With all that said if you decide to go ahead (legally of course) then it sounds like you intend to take spurs off the cooker circuit. Ordinarilly this is wrong, you should usually only have the cooker and one socket (integrated with the oven switch) on this circuit. It may be that because you have a 13A cooker that this is not actually the case, I'm afraid I'm just a DIYer so I'm not sur. However another problem is that you will be creating a radial circuit rather than a ring. Plug sockets are usually on rings. I'm not sure if by using larger cable you can avoid this, again I'm afraid I don't have the detailed knowledge.

I imagine that the safest way to do it would be to extend your ring main, or alternatively I beleive it is quite popular now to have your kitchen on a separate ring to the rest of the house because of all the high power appliances in there (dishwasher, washing machine, kettle etc).

Both of these solutions require either using a registered spark or notifying building control I'm afraid. The way this is enforced it that the colour of new cable changed after the regulation came into force. This means it is easy to tell what was done before and after.

If it's any consolation I am going through the same process at the moment in my kitchen.

 

[tonyenkiducx]

I *really* hate electrics. The funny thing is, at the moment we have a second fuse box in the extension, and the sockets in the kitchen are wired from that back into the kitchen(Which is the back room of the house), so I was actually trying to make it safer.

For a temporary fix(Until I can get an electrician), can I just run an extension cord from a properly wired in socket?

 

[philrosenberg]

Yeah, course. No issue with using extension cables anywhere you like as far as the law is concerned - just don't run it under the tap or spill the contents of your kettle on it

If you really are still keen to do wiring yourself then get yourself a copy of the regs and then because the regs are incomprihensible a guide to the regs and have a good read. Unfortunately you still have to pay building control to come out to inspect some work but it depends what you want to do.
It seems that wiring is one of those things where you have to know your stuff fairly well to get going, but once you are up to speed most jobs should be within your capability.

Good luck

 

[JohnD]

A lot of domestic wiring is simple to do when you know how. The problem is that there are things that you won't know, and you won't know what they are so you can look them up or ask questions. If you are lucky, your Local Council Building Control office will be a co-operative one that provides Testing and Inspection for a reasonable fee (some just tell you to employ an electrician). See if they have a leaflet or Website with advice and information on how they work.

The testing is complex and not possible to complete without expensive instruments, so you will probably end up having to get someone to do some of it. You can easily do continuity, phase and resistance tests yourself, though not to the same level of accuracy.

There are a lot of useful books and evening classes available. However, if you aren't willing and able to learn how to do the work yourself, you're best advised to call in a professional, same as you would do about knocking down walls and building new ones.

 

[securespark]

One thing that made me realise you need to gen up on electrics before you pick up a terminal driver is your mention of 40A cable.

We do not measure cable quite in that way. Sure, cables have maximum currents which they can safely carry, but distance and volt drop (amongst other factors) are crucial, too. A cable that can carry 40A 8m may not be able to carry it 18m.

That is why some are reluctant to offer advice.

 

[tonyenkiducx]

You'll be glad to know I had an electrician around to look at the place on Friday, and unfortunately he's recommended ripping out the entire system(Except for the cabling I did for the cooker ).

If any of you remember my electrifying light switch, he says that's because there's no earths in any of the lighting system, so the potential is causing it.

Will post here again when I get his quote, and you can let me know what you think.