Kitchen rewire advice.

[XamSpeP]

I've been planning to update my kitchen for some time now and I’ve hit a hurdle when it comes to the electrics. Currently, they're a complete mess; I could have done better when I was 10 years old.

I've been lurking around the forum for a while searching for various things and seem to get conflicting results.

I need a safe way of wiring the following...

American style Fridge Freezer
Washing Machine
Tumble Dryer
Dish Washer
Free Standing Gas Cooker
Extractor Hood
5x 13AMP 2G Sockets

I've come up with the following so far...

Fridge Freezer
C/U - 20AMP MCB Radial Circuit - Fridge Freezer (on FCU?) with 2.5mm or 4mm? (15m total circuit length)

Washing Machine & Tumble Dryer
C/U - 32AMP MCB Ring Circuit - Washing Machine & Tumble Dryer (on FCUs?) with 2.5mm or 4mm? (35m total circuit length)

Cooker & Hood
C/U - 32AMP MCB Radial Circuit - Cooker & Hood (on FCUs?) with 6mm or 10mm? (18m total circuit length)

Sockets & Dish Washer
C/U - 32AMP MCB Ring Circuit - Sockets & Dish Washer (on FCU?) with 2.5mm or 4mm? (45m total circuit length)

With most of these appliances requiring a lot of power I thought this way would be best, but I’m not an expert and I’m unsure on the cable diameters etc..

Can 4mm T&E be used for a ring circuit?

Can anyone help me with this? Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[ericmark]

When rewiring a kitchen there is no right and wrong way but many options all with pros and cons.
1) Fridge and freezer one does not want to lose supply to. RCD’s may be tripped with atmospheric storms. A dedicated supply in Ali-tube cable which does not require RCD protection will prevent loss due to non fault conditions but has reduced protection under fault conditions. Using a RCBO and dedicated supply gives best protection but problem is if you would notice it early enough with non fault tripping? Using a circuit which also supplies other circuits may increase likelihood of tripping but may give better advance warning especially if it also supplies an intruder alarm which is battery backed and screams when power is lost. In the main existing system will dictate which is used.
2) Washing machine and tumble driers and dish washers use a lot of power and it is common to include a switch to isolate without the need to drag out the appliance these are normally 20 amp rating so radial supply from a 20 amp MCB or RCBO does make some sense. It means if circuits are added later then there is no chance of overloading the switch. 35 meters is quite long and on the edge of requiring 4mm cable however this would be hard to fit into switches. Rings also have a problem with not much room behind grid switches and easy to get wires pulled out without loss of power and a good test with ELI meters is essential with rings using grid switches to ensure nothing has gone wrong.
3) Cooker and hood will depend on what is to be fitted some need fuse protection some can use MCB’s and with split level and need to comply with manufactures recommendations often multi supplies are required sometimes a local flush consumer unit is the answer again in the main existing system will dictate which is used.
4) Sockets even when not supplying white goods in the kitchen have a heavy current draw with kettles, fryers, toasters etc. all taking a heavy draw so either it is combined with low use rooms or dedicated kitchen ring. 45 meters too long to use radial.
All this work will need Part P or Scottish equivalent and I would not recommend DIY. The inspecting and testing required means you would most likely need to employ some help what ever you decided and I would strongly recommend you get professional advice with the design. It is so easy to do something which an inspector does not like. An extractor fan too small or missing etc. And it costs to do job twice. With new 17th Edition regulations now in force simple mistakes like missing label on fridge socket can result in kick back by LABC. Because as electricians we do not come under same rules we don’t know how strict the LABC is and although they are responsible to test if it fails they could charge a second time and if you are having to pay the LABC their fees at around £80 a time getting in an electrician could be cheaper in long run.

 

[XamSpeP]

Thanks,

So does that mean that an electritian should have no problems with carring out what i've suggested above?