Connecting a cooker hood to power supply

[Stewart Clegg]

Hello
I have a cooker hood that came with a fitted 13 amp plug. Unfortunately there is no 13 amp socket near to the hood, however there is a FCU unit that has an off/on switch. So how should I connect the hood to the power supply? Do I cut the 13 amp plug off and wire it into the load side of the FCU or can I remove the FCU and replace it with a single 13 amp socket.

Any advice/help would be appreciated

Stewart

 

[ericmark]

Either, personally I would swap FCU for socket, but either will do.

 

[Stewart Clegg]

Thank you, I'll take a look at the wiring inside the FCU and most likely replace it with a socket

Cheers

 

[Taylortwocities]

If you decide to keep the FCU (I would). Then put the fuse from the plug in the FCU.
The extractor probably only needs a 3A fuse.

 

[sparkwright]

Surely the fuse does protect the appliance, in some cases?

A carpenter had an old battery charger for his drill.

It wouldn't charge, red light came on for a bit, then it kept blowing 3amp fuses in the plug.

The flex looked ok, moulded plug, that's all I looked at (I'm too busy to mess about with stuff like that).

So, in desperation to charge his battery up, he fitted a 13amp fuse.

BANG. Scorched carpet. No red light again, with a new 3amp fuse, no nothing.

So that 3amp fuse was protecting the appliance.

 

[winston1]

Surely the fuse does protect the appliance, in some cases?

A carpenter had an old battery charger for his drill.

It wouldn't charge, red light came on for a bit, then it kept blowing 3amp fuses in the plug.

The flex looked ok, moulded plug, that's all I looked at (I'm too busy to mess about with stuff like that).

So, in desperation to charge his battery up, he fitted a 13amp fuse.

BANG. Scorched carpet. No red light again, with a new 3amp fuse, no nothing.

So that 3amp fuse was protecting the appliance.

It was an incorrectly designed appliance then without the correct internal protection.

 

[sparkwright]

Would it be wrong for the fuse in a moulded plug to do the job of 'internal protection'?

Isn't it more sensible for a plug fuse to provide the protection in addition to anything inside?

Are there requirements for this?

It's well known for boilers to require 3amp external fuse protection, and since I don't want ANY damage to happen inside a boiler, not just because of cost, but inconvenience too, I am more than happen to comply.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Without wishing to start a similar thread to another recently, what do carpenters do in Europe?

 

[winston1]

Would it be wrong for the fuse in a moulded plug to do the job of 'internal protection'?

No because moulded plugs can be chopped off and replaced with something else.

Isn't it more sensible for a plug fuse to provide the protection in addition to anything inside?

Are there requirements for this?

No, because they can be used in other countries where plugs don’t have fuses.

It's well known for boilers to require 3amp external fuse protection, and since I don't want ANY damage to happen inside a boiler, not just because of cost, but inconvenience too, I am more than happen to comply.

We have been here before. All boilers I have come across have internal fuses. The same boilers are used in Europe on a 16a Schuko plug. The people who write MI for boilers are idiots.

 

[sparkwright]

In a hotel, they had about 100 new identical hairdryers.

I was surprised to see the factory fitted plugs had 7amp fuses fitted - I suppose I was expecting 13amp. Presumably 7amp was the nearest to the demand of the appliance.

Perhaps these hairdryers lacked internal protection, or most probably the manufacturers were wrong or over-cautious.

Since you often refer to over-sized lighting fixed cables, and switched fused spurs serving sockets with fused plugs, would it be considered over-kill fitting 13amp fuses in plugs when a smaller fuse would do? Is larger fuse wire a drain on resources?

 

[SUNRAY]

In a hotel, they had about 100 new identical hairdryers.

I was surprised to see the factory fitted plugs had 7amp fuses fitted - I suppose I was expecting 13amp. Presumably 7amp was the nearest to the demand of the appliance.

Perhaps these hairdryers lacked internal protection, or most probably the manufacturers were wrong or over-cautious.

Since you often refer to over-sized lighting fixed cables, and switched fused spurs serving sockets with fused plugs, would it be considered over-kill fitting 13amp fuses in plugs when a smaller fuse would do? Is larger fuse wire a drain on resources?

I imagine the flex was 0.75mm³

 

[securespark]

Appliances that have 0.75 leads generally have 13A fuses factory fitted.

6A is the limit for 0.75 flexible cable under 7671, but manufacturers work to different rules.

 

[winston1]

but manufacturers work to different rules.

This is the answer to sparkwrght’s question.