I moved house a year ago and the cooker socket has never worked properly since then. The fuse in the consumer unit blows any time the oven is used or the kettle is boiled (using that socket). It doesn't blow instantly - maybe after a minute or so (sometimes more, sometimes less). I thought (based on advice from a friend) that the socket needed replaced. So I arranged that - but the MCB is still tripping.
So, I took a closer look at the consumer unit - and discovered that the MCB for the cooker socket is only 6amps (the same as the MCB for the doorbell!!). The others are either 32amp or 16amp. I don't know how this happened (the consumer unit was fitted by a qualified, but retired, electrician). But at least I know now why the cooker and kettle were overloading the socket.
I've now bought a replacement MCB (Wylex) from Screwfix and wondered how difficult it would be for me to fit it myself? I'm not the kind of person (usually, anyway) to just blunder ahead and potentially get it disastrously wrong. So I've been reading, researching and scouring YouTube for examples of someone replacing an MCB. So far, I've got sidetracked watching another billion electrical-related videos (cos I'm just geeky that way). But I've not actually managed to find exactly what I need.
Can anyone advise me as to whether it's technically feasible for me to attempt this myself? And if so, can you point me in the direction of some basic instructions? Either YouTube or written instructions would be great. If your advice is that this is too technical and/or dangerous (or illegal?) to attempt then I'll definitely get someone in to do it. But I'd like to be able to learn to do as much of this stuff as I can (within reason).
Thanks in advance.
Lori
x
So, I took a closer look at the consumer unit - and discovered that the MCB for the cooker socket is only 6amps (the same as the MCB for the doorbell!!). The others are either 32amp or 16amp. I don't know how this happened (the consumer unit was fitted by a qualified, but retired, electrician). But at least I know now why the cooker and kettle were overloading the socket.
I've now bought a replacement MCB (Wylex) from Screwfix and wondered how difficult it would be for me to fit it myself? I'm not the kind of person (usually, anyway) to just blunder ahead and potentially get it disastrously wrong. So I've been reading, researching and scouring YouTube for examples of someone replacing an MCB. So far, I've got sidetracked watching another billion electrical-related videos (cos I'm just geeky that way). But I've not actually managed to find exactly what I need.
Can anyone advise me as to whether it's technically feasible for me to attempt this myself? And if so, can you point me in the direction of some basic instructions? Either YouTube or written instructions would be great. If your advice is that this is too technical and/or dangerous (or illegal?) to attempt then I'll definitely get someone in to do it. But I'd like to be able to learn to do as much of this stuff as I can (within reason).
Thanks in advance.
Lori
x