13 Amp plug on a 2.9kW oven

[JT101]

Hi Everyone

So i've installed my first kitchen and everything has gone well. I've wired in the oven based on a sparkies recommendation but I just want to check I've done things correctly and try to understand a bit more about cooker circuits.

The oven is a single NEFF fan oven 2.9kW . There are no other ovens in the kitchen, and just a gas hob. The previous kitchen that had been installed in the last few years has a dedicated cooker switch which goes back to the circuit board on it's own dedicated fuse. Next to this fuse is a shared 30A RCD which covers the oven, ground floor lighting, sockets etc. A socket is spurred off of the cooker switch and is controlled by it. It is at the back of the oven unit.
2900W / 230V = 12.6Amps. So I put some 2.5mm flex on the oven with a 13A plug, and plugged it into the spurred socket. I'm pretty sure this is what the sparkies recommended to me.

Based on this I've got a few questions I hope someone can help me with.

1) Is this safe / correct setup, and do I need to have it certified and tested by an electrician?

2) I can see that you want a fuse as close as possible to the maximum rating of an applicance, but just out of interest what could happen if you put a 12.6A cooker on a 30A fuse? For example, if there was a fault in the oven, could it get hotter and hotter and hotter and start a fire before it tripped out at 30A?

3) Both sparkies I spoke to said to use 1.5mm flex on the oven. But I thought this was only rated up to 10A? I put a 2.5mm cable on there in anycase which I believe is rated to 13.5A, but a 1.5mm would have been a lot easier to wire into the plug.


Many thanks. Looking forward to your responses

 

[Taylortwocities]

If the oven comes with a plug on it, you can just plug it in.

There are some urban myths & misunderstanding about MCB /fuse sizes. The MCB in teh consumer unit is there to protect the cable that runs from teh consumer unit to (in your case) the cooker switch.

The fuse in the plug is there to protect the cable running to the oven and may also be there to protect the cooker itself, if that is what is dictated by the manufacturer.

1.5mm cable is rated at around 18amps, in free air, which is what you've got so that's what you need.

PS You don't need it certified, you are just plugging something in!

 

[Octopus]

If it's not supplied with a plug, I would be reading the installation instructions......

Edit. Neff products are generally hard wired...

 

[Andy78]

I'm pretty sure that BS1363 states that the maximum cable size to be used in a 13A plug top is 1.5mm.

 

[DPG]

That 2.5mm ain't going to be pretty in a 13A plug top.

 

[LewisM]

That 2.5mm ain't going to be pretty in a 13A plug top.

I've seen 2.5mm T&E shoved in a plug top that was definitely not pretty.

 

[JT101]

Understood. I can change the cable for 1.5mm.
Unfortunately this is one of those situations where I'm going to get two different opinions.
So it seems i have two options. One is to do what was recommended to me by an electrician i.e. use the 13A plug.
The second, and I'm not sure if I understand this completely, is to hardwire the oven into the load side of the cooker switch, and change the MCB. The MCB is currently 32A. The electrician I asked said maximum 15A, which is not really helpful given that they seem to come in 10A and 16A, neither of which would be suitable.

Incase you're wondering, I'm happy to pay a sparky to come round and do the hard wiring, but they're telling me to put a plug on it.

 

[Wilko]

If you want to avoid a plug, maybe a fused connection unit ?
http://www.screwfix.com/p/crabtree-13a-dp-switched-fused-connection-unit-white/62554
Just a thought

 

[Taylortwocities]

As asked before, what do the installation instructions say?

 

[Specialist]

As asked before, what do the installation instructions say?

Probably nothing, they usually get chucked with the packaging.

 

[Octopus]

^^ bet they haven't been read.

Neff = hard wired in my experience. If the oven was meant to be plugged in, it would have come with a plug fitted

 

[Taylortwocities]

Maybe the OP could reveal the model number, if the instructions have been shredded.

 

[Dave OCD]

Maybe the OP could reveal the model number, if the instructions have been shredded.[/QUOTE]

Better chance of that if the instructions haven't been shredded ?

 

[Spunkywads26]

I've just put a Hoover cooker in and it was a 1.5mm flex with no plug. The user manual stated that a plug is to be installed by a qualified electrician and should be suitably rated.

 

[Dave OCD]

Does it suck up all the crumbs inside ?