replacing an old oven - wiring concerns

[andyearnshaw]

Hi all

I'm going to be replacing a very old oven with a brand new one which is much more energy efficient. The old oven has a rating of 2.9kw and the new one is 0.95kw i was planning on just swapping out the oven and wiring the new oven into the Terminal Outlet Box. Could there be a problem if there is a fault because of the difference in efficiency?

For info the consumer unit at the moment uses MCBs, I plan on getting this replaced with an RCD unit in a few months once I've got the cash available.

Thanks

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The old oven has a rating of 2.9kw

Sounds reasonable.

and the new one is 0.95kw

Can't be, unless it's a microwave.

Sure that it isn't 0.95kWh, i.e. the total consumption to carry out some standard but completely unrepresentative job such as baking a victoria sponge or burning a supermarket garlic baguette?

What's the actual rating of the new oven?

i was planning on just swapping out the oven and wiring the new oven into the Terminal Outlet Box. Could there be a problem if there is a fault because of the difference in efficiency?

No problem because of that, but what rating is the circuit?

What size is the cable from the oven?

Is that " Terminal Outlet Box" a cooker outlet plate, or a fused connection unit?

Do the installation instructions say what rating the circuit should be?

 

[andyearnshaw]

Thanks

Yes it may well have been 0.95kwh, I've not got the actual oven in front of me to check, I've got the manual here, attached are jpegs of two pages on installation

Untitled

• andyearnshaw
• 19 Aug 2010
• 3

Untitled

• andyearnshaw
• 19 Aug 2010
• 3

As you can see they're pretty uninformative

Thanks

 

[andyearnshaw]

Plus the terminal outlet box is really just a terminal block in a metal junction box, this leads to a control unit which also has a normal plug socket

Cheers

 

[andyearnshaw]

Last but not least the website says this about the oven

Energy consumption with a standard load, top and bottom heating: 0.95 kWh.
Energy consumption with a standard load, pastry function: 0.79 kWh.

Thanks

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Hmm.

Lord knows why makers do this sort of thing.

Anyway - the spec says 1.5mm² cable, and you should not put that directly onto a cooker circuit. But without knowing the actual rating there's no way of knowing if an FCU can be used.

What make/model of oven is it?

Do you also have an electric hob on the circuit?

 

[TicklyT]

There's usually a power rating buried somewhere in the technical specifications along with things like the dimensions and weight, rather than in the installation instrructions. There should be a rating plate or sticker, either on the back of the oven or on the door jamb so you can read it after installation by opening the oven door. The plate usually reads something like "220 - 240 V, 50 Hz, xxxx W". The 'xxxx' is the interesting bit.

 

[andyearnshaw]

Hi looked at the oven and it says 2.8kw

 

[1john]

Hi looked at the oven and it says 2.8kw

1.5mm heat resistant flex into a 13A plug top will suffice, you did say there was a socket available didn't you?

 

[andyearnshaw]

Thanks for the help

There is a socket on the wall above the worktop, built into the control unit/cooker switch, however the lead which comes from the oven won't reach that far, and there are no other plug sockets that side of the kitchen. Is there a way to convert the terminal outlet box into a plug socket? Or will I need to get a sparks in to wire a plug socket down to below the units, as I believe any new wiring can't be done by me.

Cheers

 

[davelx]

Last but not least the website says this about the oven

Energy consumption with a standard load, top and bottom heating: 0.95 kWh.
Energy consumption with a standard load, pastry function: 0.79 kWh.

Thanks

Which makes no sense at all, since it doesn't say over what period of time that amount of energy is consumed - 10 minutes? 1 hour? 1 day? 1 nanosecond?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The standard loads are defined somewhere - there's a pastry one and a small cakes one, which are more to do with how evenly ovens cook. The problem (?) is that almost all ovens these days are A rated for basic energy, so they need a way to measure how well they perform as well as how economically.

The standard load is basically a brick with a thermocouple in it. I've not looked at the details (couldn't risk that much excitement in one go), but it doesn't take a genius to work out that it'll be how much energy the oven uses to raise the temperature of the brick to X° and maintain it for Y minutes.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Is there a way to convert the terminal outlet box into a plug socket?

Yes, replace the front plate/terminal block with a socket.

Like-for-like replacement of an accessory is not notifiable even in a kitchen. I'm not sure whether outlet > socket is sufficiently similar or not.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The law doesn't use the term "like-for-like", it just says "replacing any fixed electrical equipment".

It doesn't give "replacing" any special definition, so the regular English one should do. As in "I replaced the cooker outlet plate with a socket".

 

[OwainDIYer]

I don't think "replacing" the shaver socket in the bathroom with a shower is quite within the spirit of Part Pee though ...