Cooker outlet socket not seeing live

[Gareth77]

Hi everyone

I have a cooker I've just bought and wish to instal in my new house, I've gone to connect it to the cooker outlet panel on the wall, but the live cable in the socket is not showing any voltage.

Wiring looks relatively new, house is old, fuse board and wiring looks like it's been done within the last 5-10 years, circuit breaker is on. All the other electrics work in the house.

How do I go about fixing this? Open up the fuse board (mains fuse disconnected) and trace back the cables from the breaker to the cooker? Unlikely there's a break in that cable, but I can't think what else to do.

Many thanks in advance

Gareth

 

[opps]

Is there a wall mounted cooker switch that you have missed?

I guess that it is possible that the live on the MCB in the consumer unit may have been unscrewed/removed.

I am not an electrician, I have opened up many consumer units. Given that I am not an electrician, I am not able to suggest that you remove the cover, and with the power off, check for continuity between the live on the MCB and the outlet.

I use cheapo telephone cable to run from the outlet back to the CU so that I can bridge the two with my multimeter to test continuity. It is possible to do it without using the telephone cable as an extension the probes on the multimeter but it saves me having to undo any cables and twist them together.

 

[opps]

The switch may be hidden in a cupboard, or even under the units.

 

[Gareth77]

Hi all

There is a switch on the wall that I missed! It doesn't have a light on and was in an odd place, but thanks for the replies, all solved now thankfully!

Gareth

 

[conny]

Under no circumstance do you remove the main fuse!
This is the one near to your meter and is the property, and responsibility, of your DNO. You can be prosecuted for tampering with it.
If you have a switch between your meter and the consumer unit, (fuse board to use your words), then you may turn this off to isolate the CU.
If you do not have a switch between them then, even turning off the switch in the, 'fuse board', you are going to have live connections in there, especially when you remove any covers.
If you are not competent, or even not sure, then call in a professional. It may cost a few quid but how much will your wife/partner lose when they don't have your wage coming in anymore?

 

[Gareth77]

Thanks for the reply and the warning. Even though my terminology and in depth knowledge is lacking, I have enough experience with electrics to be safe enough around them and to carry out simple jobs. That said, the fix on this was an easy one.

Regards

Gareth

 

[opps]

Under no circumstance do you remove the main fuse!
This is the one near to your meter and is the property, and responsibility, of your DNO. You can be prosecuted for tampering with it.
If you have a switch between your meter and the consumer unit, (fuse board to use your words), then you may turn this off to isolate the CU.
If you do not have a switch between them then, even turning off the switch in the, 'fuse board', you are going to have live connections in there, especially when you remove any covers.
If you are not competent, or even not sure, then call in a professional. It may cost a few quid but how much will your wife/partner lose when they don't have your wage coming in anymore?

Good points and worth mentioning.

I omitted to say that whenever I open a CU, I am aware that the live running in to the main switch is live, and that I check to make sure that nothing else is live.

 

[opps]

Thanks for the reply and the warning. Even though my terminology and in depth knowledge is lacking, I have enough experience with electrics to be safe enough around them and to carry out simple jobs. That said, the fix on this was an easy one.

Regards

Gareth

The fact that you were able to determine that there was no live suggested (to me) that you are not a complete novice, I am however aware that I should not make such assumptions and am happy to defer to others.

Anywho... glad you managed to sort things.

 

[conny]

Good points and worth mentioning.

I omitted to say that whenever I open a CU, I am aware that the live running in to the main switch is live, and that I check to make sure that nothing else is live.

Bear in mind, if you remove any of the fuse/MCB/RCCB shrouds you will expose the live busbar.
This is why I think it should be mandatory to fit a double pole isolator switch between the meter and consumer unit.
If the main isolator is turned off then the busbars will be dead but, I always treat them as live just in case there is a fault in the isolator.

 

[SUNRAY]

quoted post has been deleted

I think you'll find most of the sparks on here also know the difference between a fuse board, fuse box and consumer unit.
However they are also intelligent enough to use the same language as the person asking the questions to avoid confusion.

 

[SUNRAY]

quoted post has been deleted

Which he doesn't need to learn, he knows what he's talking about and so does everyboy else except one. There is no need to confuse the general public unless their knowledge is actually harmful.

However one person on here who refuses point blank to accept any sort of advice or education when he is wrong and he is the one claiming he needs to educate everybody else.

 

[RandomGrinch]

Of course he does. That sort of attitude is why these wrong descriptions abound in this industry

I'm afraid that you seem to be the lone crusader on this one

 

[opps]

I don't have a dog in this fight but I suspect that the OP might decide to go somewhere else the next time that they want advice.

The way that some of these threads deviate is not helpful to novices/newbies.

I am not willing, or in a position, to apportion blame but seriously, it is chuffin tedious. And yes, I admit that there are times that I bite and argue back with the person being overly pedantic (not necessarily aimed at any individual in this particular thread). Each of use have experience that an OP lacks, hence they come here for advice, they don't need to see threads turn in a cycle of back biting.

Am now ducking my head below the parapet. Actually, I have just finished my pint and going home anyway.

Play nicely... please