Cooker Switch Repositioning

[Mephi]

I am considering buying a place that needs a lot of redoing and am trying to figure out if I could make the very small kitchen work for myself and my budget. With my current plan, I'd be placing a fridge/freezer in the corner that would be covering the current cooker switch. The cooker and switch need to be moved to the left for the layout to work. Would it be a big job to have the switch moved by a professional? Tiling would be removed as part of the renovation anyways, so I am not concerned about that. And would this be a job that I need to inform my council of?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Would it be a big job to have the switch moved by a professional?

Well, not what you would call big; more awkward depending on where the cable runs.
You don't want joints hidden in the wall so the cable might have to be partly replaced unless it comes from the left.

And would this be a job that I need to inform my council of?

Not in England.

 

[flameport]

Would it be a big job to have the switch moved by a professional?

Not in the scope of replacing a kitchen.
A few £100s perhaps.

Certainly not something which would have any relevance to buying or not buying a property.

 

[ericmark]

The lay out as it exists is far from ideal, odd no rules stopping what you have, but the norm is to have the isolation switch where if there was a cooker fire, chip pan for example, one can reach the isolator, so not directly behind the cooker, I say this as maybe it does not need moving when things are reconfigured.

The problem is safe routes, wiring should run vertical or horizontal from some thing which shows the wiring is likely to be there, this could be a cooker connection unit, or a blanking plate, but running cables in an L shape is not permitted, without some thing to show where they run.

Google "wiring safe zones uk" and look for your self. Of course you can run surface, but I assume you don't want that, although using dado trunking may be an option. As could taking up to within 150 mm from top of wall.

 

[Murdochcat]

Wait until you rip the kitchen out and find out how the cable gets to the current position. Other than that we are only guessing

 

[sparkwright]

Best to wait until you have an actual kitchen layout drawing.

Often a fridge freezer needs a little bit more than a 600mm space, so it's possible that cooker-socket may be able to stay where it is, but to be replaced with a double blanking plate covering a joint for the extended cooker cable. The blanking plate being covered by the fridge freezer.

Then again, the new kitchen dimensions may not allow this.

A lot depends on the direction the existing cable goes. If it comes up from the floor, it will easy to pull it down and run across at low level.

If it comes down from the ceiling, it may be a little harder to do.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

Although it appears to have become the norm to have a cooker switch there is actually no requirement to have one

 

[Murdochcat]

Although it appears to have become the norm to have a cooker switch there is actually no requirement to have one

other than MI's often state isolation within 2 meters ...

 

[sparkwright]

Although it appears to have become the norm to have a cooker switch there is actually no requirement to have one

Unless the consumer unit was ridiculously close to the cooker, it would be a very rough, lazy electrician who wouldn't fit a cooker switch.