Cooker / hob wiring, is this right?

[digitalspace]

Hi,

We're starting to strip our mums kitchen in prep for fitting a new one. When I removed the induction hob I noticed that it was fed directly from the rear of the plug socket that was designated for her cooker. The socket is fed with 6mm cable direct to a cooker switch above the worktop.

I'm just wondering if this is the correct way to do things i.e. is it safe to have a 7KW~ load fed from the back of a normal plug socket (admittedly the socket being fed from a 40a mcb w/ 6mm cable seems good, but are the terminals of a plug socket designed to have the hob wired in too?).

While I'm here I have another question you may be able to answer! Our mum is having integrated appliances and I've read that you can either have a socket behind the appliance controlled via a DP switch above the worktop, OR you can have sockets that remain accessible for example you can 'hide' the sockets at the back of a cupboard where you're still able to get to them. For aesthetic reasons I'd prefer the latter option and so I was thinking you could run a 2.5mm radial from the 'ring main' socket (above the worktop) to behind one of the new cupboards and put a double socket there. Obviously we'd leave the a large hole in the back of the cupboard for access to the socket/appliance plugs.


pics say a thousand words etc

Any help is appreciated!

 

[dan86]

could get interesting..!

 

[Badged01]

A nice little one to kick Monday off!

…if this is the correct way to do things i.e. is it safe to have a 7KW~ load fed from the back of a normal plug socket

Not the ideal way of doing it as a cooker connection point could easily have been installed to replace the socket point but I don’t believe it is against any regulation. Setting aside the wiring compliance of the installation itself and just thinking of the actual design loading if used as a connector and not socket outlet ….

7kW cooker ~ 30A which with the std diversity for a cooker = 10A + 30% (30-10) = 16A. Lets call it 20A for good measure.

Std single socket is design rated for 13A across the terminals with a load (e.g. plug). In this case the rear terminals are just being used as ‘connector’ blocks so without any manuf advice I wouldn’t know what they are capable of but c.f. to standard junction boxes I would be surprised if the couldn’t handle at least 20A as a connector.

In a nutshell you’ve probably got away with it so far by good luck more than good design, so during your upgrade rid yourself of the single socket and get a proper connection unit installed.

I've read that you can either have a socket behind the appliance controlled via a DP switch above the worktop, OR you can have sockets that remain accessible for example you can 'hide' the sockets at the back of a cupboard

Your first option is the preferred method of doing it and is what is considered best design practise – you can isolate the appliance from a switch which is readily accessible above the worktop.

But there is nothing stopping you doing it the other way by having a socket outlet in a cupboard adjacent to the appliance. Other than no-one might know where it is, you have to empty the cupboard to get to it and you will probably have to unwire/rewire the plug to feed it into the cuboard if you want to do anything with the appliance!