Cooker Cable

[martinhalliday]

I currently have an electric cooker (and hob) in my kitchen with a 6mm cable running from the RCD to the cooker isolation switch and then to the cooker. I am replacing the cooker with an electric oven (3.0 kW nominal power, requiring a 13 amp power supply) and gas hob.

I need to extend the run of cable from the isolation switch and as i don't really need 6mm cable is it safe to use a smaller diameter cable or should i just use 6mm anyway?

Thanks in advance,

Martin

 

[breezer]

you can use 2.5mm twin and earth, but you MUST change the fuse / mcb that supplies the cooker to a 16A one as the fuse /mcb is there to protect the cable and if you leave it as it is should a fault occur the 2.5 cable will go first (not nice)

 

[martinhalliday]

Thanks Breezer. I think the easiest option is to replace the cable with 6mm as i have to move the isolation switch anyway and can then run it to the correct length.

Also am i able to connect the extraction hood to this supply as well?

 

[breezer]

you will have "fun" trying to get a 6mm cable into a socket

as you mentioned changeing the whole cable why not put in a mini ring ?

take the 6mm cable out back to the consumers unit put in 2 x 2.5 mm cables, and put two sockets on the end (one on each cable and join the two sockets with 2.5mm cable this way you can always add more sockets as it is now a ring (you will still have to change the fuse to a 30 /32a if you do this

Alternatively

as above, but put one twin socket on and a 16a fuse but that is all it can have no more than one twin

either way it has to be cheaper than buying more 6mm cable

 

[martinhalliday]

At the moment the cooker is wired directly from the feed coming from the cooker isolation switch and then out of the wall. I presumed this was the 'norm'? should the feed have a socket that the cooker plugs into then?

**most confused**

 

[breezer]

At the moment the cooker is wired directly from the feed coming from the cooker isolation switch and then out of the wall. I presumed this was the 'norm'? should the feed have a socket that the cooker plugs into then?

**most confused**

no that is how it should be done for a cooker

i was only tring to save you money by saving you from having to buy more 6mm cable that will not fit easily into a socket

 

[il78]

you can use 2.5mm twin and earth, but you MUST change the fuse / mcb that supplies the cooker to a 16A one as the fuse /mcb is there to protect the cable and if you leave it as it is should a fault occur the 2.5 cable will go first (not nice)

I didn't think you could do that (ie, 6.0mm - 2.5mm), I thought you could only do 2.5mm - 6.0mm... Just in case some-one was to see the 6.0mm in the board and uprate the fuse/MCB to 32A again......

 

[sharpspark]

you can use 2.5mm twin and earth, but you MUST change the fuse / mcb that supplies the cooker to a 16A

Looking at this old post, it made me wonder how this was any different to using 2.5T+E as a spur off a ring main, the MCB would still be 32A but that would be higher than the rating of the cable to the spur. So how does that make spurs acceptable?(Assumes his cooker circuit was 32A)

 

[sterose]

Forget small monetary savings.

Use 6sqmm for all of the run to the cooker to save having to change MCBs.

Next, add a fused connection unit to the end of the cable, and run the cooker from this.
Repeat this last step for another feed to the fan.