Placement of kitchen switches

[eswdd]

Hi all,

Am just about to redo my kitchen having successfully rewired my lighting circuits last year and have pretty much worked out all my electrics, just have a couple of questions, all related to my pretty diagram:

Firstly, the cooker circuit currently goes to a connection unit (A) from which the cord runs to the cooker, however this is going to be directly above the hob (not good). The current supply is shown in green. The question is, can I just bury a cable on the blue path (in conduit) to move the switch out of the way (in which case I'd either tile over the junction or leave a blanking plate there), or should I dig the cable out of the wall and either place a junction box under the kitchen surface, or should pull the cable all the way down to the floorboards and then reroute up the brown path?

Secondly, I have had comments from friends about the placement of switches near hobs and there are notes in various places suggesting not having a DP switch with built in socket because the socket placement might mean the cord being burnt on the hob (in addition to the extra load on the cooker circuit). This suits me fine, however, what are the minimum distances for the DP switch and sockets to be from the hob, and what is the recommended distances (B + C). I realise the maximum distance from the DP to the oven is 2m.

Other than that does my plan look OK?

Thanks

Simon

 

[eswdd]

Just noticed I hadn't made it obvious that the hob is gas, the electric is just for the ignition.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

For hobs, there is an exclusion zone that extends over the hob and a further 50 mm horizontally in every direction along the work surface, and upwards for 760 mm. In this zone, there may be no combustible materials. This usually means there is almost no margin for positioning the hob to avoid the wall cupboards each side. Note that as of autumn 2004 if you fit a 700mm wide hob (usually 5 burner units) then you must have at least 700mm gap or "bridge" in any wall cupboards.

For cookers the zone is 20 mm side clearance on the lower part of the cooker (oven sides) and then 150 mm each side for the top part of the cooker (above the level of the burners and pan supports). The upper zone extends vertically to either 610 mm above the top of the cooker if it has an eye-level grill, or 760 mm if the highest point is the hob burners.

I guess it would make sense not to have wiring accessories in the exclusion zone.

As for your plan for the cooker circuit - as I'm sure you know in your heart of hearts, completely rerouting as per Plan Brown is the way to go. Anything else means joining cables, which is to be avoided , particularly with high-current circuits. If you extend via the blue route you would have to bury the cable over 50mm deep or have it in metal conduit, as even with a blanking plate the dogleg route would not be obvious, and it goes right where someone could drill in the future to put in different cupboards.

The cable from the DP switch to the FCU should be 6mm².

And I assume "13A FCU" is a generic term, not an indication that there will actually be 13A fuses in them?

 

[eswdd]

This usually means there is almost no margin for positioning the hob to avoid the wall cupboards each side.

Does this mean I can place cupboards exactly at edge of hob as long as i ensure they are 50mm clear (horizontally) of the edge of the rings?

As for your plan for the cooker circuit - as I'm sure you know in your heart of hearts, completely rerouting as per Plan Brown is the way to go. Anything else means joining cables, which is to be avoided , particularly with high-current circuits. If you extend via the blue route you would have to bury the cable over 50mm deep or have it in metal conduit, as even with a blanking plate the dogleg route would not be obvious, and it goes right where someone could drill in the future to put in different cupboards.

Yes that's what I thought, the only reason I even thought of the idea is that was what the previous owner had done to get it from it's current location to another further to the left and up! The only problem with rerouting is it's buried under concrete which was under the old tiles, so I want to do as little chasing as poss, best get that SDS drill I was going to get this w/e

The cable from the DP switch to the FCU should be 6mm².

Even it it is going to a device with a considerably lower current rating? Or am I getting confused with the cord from the FCU.

And I assume "13A FCU" is a generic term, not an indication that there will actually be 13A fuses in them?

Well, I was going to rate the fuses according to the appliance they were protecting, I assume this is what you mean?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Does this mean I can place cupboards exactly at edge of hob as long as i ensure they are 50mm clear (horizontally) of the edge of the rings?

Reads that way...

Yes that's what I thought, the only reason I even thought of the idea is that was what the previous owner had done to get it from it's current location to another further to the left and up! The only problem with rerouting is it's buried under concrete which was under the old tiles, so I want to do as little chasing as poss, best get that SDS drill I was going to get this w/e

You could always disconnect the old one and just leave it there...

The cable from the DP switch to the FCU should be 6mm².

Even it it is going to a device with a considerably lower current rating? Or am I getting confused with the cord from the FCU.

Yes, because the cable to the FCU is only protected by the MCB of the cooker circuit, and that's too high a rating for 2.5mm²

Well, I was going to rate the fuses according to the appliance they were protecting, I assume this is what you mean?

That's what I meant.

 

[A C Electrical]

how did you do your diagram please ? cheerz

 

[A C Electrical]

Did you need any software for your diagram just would be good to give my customer's a diagram of what works caried out. Thanks.

 

[eswdd]

Sorry, just drew to scale using paint shop pro and then scaled down to put on diagram, took me about 4 hours for one diagram

 

[eswdd]

You could always disconnect the old one and just leave it there...

yes, but then i need a junction under the floor or replace the wire all the way to the CU

 

[eswdd]

BTW, Forgot to mention: Thanks

And I quite like your sarcastic posting style, makes me laugh!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You could always disconnect the old one and just leave it there...

yes, but then i need a junction under the floor or replace the wire all the way to the CU

Ah - I didn't think about that - sorry. Which would be less work? Are you sure you could get the cable out undamaged?

PS - Powerpoint would have been quicker than PSP...

 

[eswdd]

Ah - I didn't think about that - sorry. Which would be less work? Are you sure you could get the cable out undamaged?

Judging by the rest of the wiring in the flat it's sheathed in metal conduit, so i can dig that out, and then extract cable. If it does get damaged, then I've got enough 6mm T+E to reach the consumer unit if I have to.

PS - Powerpoint would have been quicker than PSP...

Thanks - I'll remember that for next time (have to download it first)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If it's in conduit you should just be able to pull it out...

 

[dw3101]

thats a lot of 6mm round the cupboards!!

 

[eswdd]

If it's in conduit you should just be able to pull it out...

hmm, didn't think of that, will see when i pull the floorboards up to have gas pipe moved....