Cooker Switch - unsafe above hob?

[cleverspark]

Hi, I am wiring in my friends new oven that he has bought but his cooker switch is directly above where the oven will be sitting, approx 0.75m.
his kitchen lay out is strange as there is a door directly to the left of the oven and then to the right is the incoming supply and CU in a cupboard. cupboard consiting of a brickwall alongside the oven to another door, hence the oven is like been in a corner. Therefore no easy way of positioning the oven switch to the left or right of the oven.
It is in a council house so he is not going to pay to move the switch to an opposite wall (it is just within 2m) and plus for the fact that the council have just put in a new kitchen.
So question been. I know in the regulations it states that the switch should not be above the oven but is there any laws that state it shouldnt be?
me description is a bit blurry bt hope you understand there is no easy shift of the switch.
Many Thanks

 

[JohnD]

when you say "oven" do you mean "oven" or do you mean "cooker?"

 

[cleverspark]

yes I mean cooker )
but is cooker or oven not really the same thing?
guess not really since you can normally plug a oven into a ring main,
so yes, I mean a stand alone cooker
Thanks

 

[cleverspark]

well i went and fitted my mates cooker last night and any guesses on what happen to the switch when fixing the switch plate back on......

Yup, the whole corner shattered due to it becoming brittle due to the heat ingressed over the period of years. So that had to be replaced straight away. Even tho a big part of me thought I shoudlnt be doing this!

I told him this is one of the reasons it should not be above the cooker but pointed out the main reason as it is the easiest isolation switch and if there was a fire or such to do with the cooker then the position where it was made it nigh on impossible to isolate the cooker without setting yourself on fire!

Still, I dont know if there it is a legal requirement not to have it above your cooker or just a requirement.

Anybody know otherwise.

Cheers

 

[cleverspark]

BUMP



Who done that

Just wondered if anyone knew if there is a law, wont be bumped again so sorry if people are sick of looking at this

Many Thanks in advance

 

[Adam_151]

An oven is like a cupboard that gets hot that you put things like cakes, roasts or pies in, a hob has 'rings' or burners that you put pans on, a cooker is a device that has a hob and at least one oven

As to regulations etc (BS7671 isn't actually statutory, the Building regs are, and if you haven't complied with BS7671 you might have trouble proving compliance with those!)

The two points are as you have identified, ambient temperature, the standard the accesory is made to will assume an ambient temperature, if the ambient is higher than this, it might lead to it failing

And access to it in an emergency, big red switch should be easy to see and operate if a pan catches on fire1

 

[RF Lighting]

First of all, as you have discovered, the switch is NOT suitable for it's environment.

That does not comply with BS7671 for starters.

Also, it the oven / cooker or something being cooked on / in it catches fire, they you may have to reach through the flames to isolate the supply. That doesn't sound very good to me.