Hello...
I am trying to install a new built-in electric cooker to REPLACE an old built-in gas cooker.
The gas cooker has been removed, and the gas supply capped, by John Lewis, but they could not install the new electric cooker, and left me in the lurch.
I have located the mains supply (down the back of the built-in kitchen units, removed the kick-board from the bottom of the units, and dragged the mains cable out from underneath).
It is a spur with a junction box connecting two appliances. One is connected to the automatic ignition of the gas hob (which I am retaining), and the other connection was to the gas cooker (it had an internal light, fan, clock, timer and automatic ignition, which I am not retaining).
My intention was to remove the cable to the gas cooker, retain the cable to the gas hob, and connect a new 2.5mm cable to the new electric cooker. Simple?
Removing the top from the junction box revealed weird wiring:
Mains red was connected to both appliances red - correct.
Mains black was connected to both appliances earth - wrong(?)
Mains earth was connected to both appliances blue - wrong(?)
That is NOT right, is it? Was it dangerous?
I can test that the red is, indeed, LIVE.
But how can I test which is the real return circuit (which should be black or blue coding)?
At the moment I cannot get to the other end of the mains spur to see how that end is connected to the ring main. I need to knock the back out of a kitchen unit, and I don't want to do that unless necessary.
All that I have working (now that the gas cooker has been removed) is the ignition to the gas hob. That works whether it is wired:
Mains red -> appliance red
Mains black -> appliance earth
Mains earth -> appliance blue
OR
Mains red -> appliance red
Mains black -> appliance blue
Mains earth -> appliance earth
But it takes next to no current.
I cannot understand how my old gas cooker worked, driving a fan etc, with the RETURN and EARTH mixed up?
Did my kitchen installers - 20 years ago, balls up the connections when they connected the mains spur to the ring main? Have I been running a return circuit, through this spur, on an unsheathed "earth" wire?
Am I right in being very reluctant to continue their "crazy" wiring on this spur considering I now want to power an electric oven, and not just a fan and other low-power stuff?
I don't know, off hand, how to test which of the BLACK or unsheathed earth is really taking the return current? Might there be an easy test?
How would an electrician test this "crazy" setup?
(I must say, I have checked other, accessible, circuits my kitchen installers put in and they are all normal)
This has properly flummoxed me!
I am trying to install a new built-in electric cooker to REPLACE an old built-in gas cooker.
The gas cooker has been removed, and the gas supply capped, by John Lewis, but they could not install the new electric cooker, and left me in the lurch.
I have located the mains supply (down the back of the built-in kitchen units, removed the kick-board from the bottom of the units, and dragged the mains cable out from underneath).
It is a spur with a junction box connecting two appliances. One is connected to the automatic ignition of the gas hob (which I am retaining), and the other connection was to the gas cooker (it had an internal light, fan, clock, timer and automatic ignition, which I am not retaining).
My intention was to remove the cable to the gas cooker, retain the cable to the gas hob, and connect a new 2.5mm cable to the new electric cooker. Simple?
Removing the top from the junction box revealed weird wiring:
Mains red was connected to both appliances red - correct.
Mains black was connected to both appliances earth - wrong(?)
Mains earth was connected to both appliances blue - wrong(?)
That is NOT right, is it? Was it dangerous?
I can test that the red is, indeed, LIVE.
But how can I test which is the real return circuit (which should be black or blue coding)?
At the moment I cannot get to the other end of the mains spur to see how that end is connected to the ring main. I need to knock the back out of a kitchen unit, and I don't want to do that unless necessary.
All that I have working (now that the gas cooker has been removed) is the ignition to the gas hob. That works whether it is wired:
Mains red -> appliance red
Mains black -> appliance earth
Mains earth -> appliance blue
OR
Mains red -> appliance red
Mains black -> appliance blue
Mains earth -> appliance earth
But it takes next to no current.
I cannot understand how my old gas cooker worked, driving a fan etc, with the RETURN and EARTH mixed up?
Did my kitchen installers - 20 years ago, balls up the connections when they connected the mains spur to the ring main? Have I been running a return circuit, through this spur, on an unsheathed "earth" wire?
Am I right in being very reluctant to continue their "crazy" wiring on this spur considering I now want to power an electric oven, and not just a fan and other low-power stuff?
I don't know, off hand, how to test which of the BLACK or unsheathed earth is really taking the return current? Might there be an easy test?
How would an electrician test this "crazy" setup?
(I must say, I have checked other, accessible, circuits my kitchen installers put in and they are all normal)
This has properly flummoxed me!