Dodgy kitchen wiring

[guru_bob]

Hello, this is my first post so go easy.

I'm not an electrician, but my mate asked me to have a look at the wiring in his kitchen, as I know a bit more about it than him. The kitchen was installed a couple of years ago, and the fitters seem to have made some extensions to the existing ring main. The picture shows what's there now, hope you can see it okay.

They have run one long spur from one outlet and attached two double and two single sockets to it, which I know is wrong. The last section of cable (from the worktop sockets on the right to the cooker hood socket) is 1.5mm^2 cable (everything else is 2.5mm^2). The cooker hood socket is marked 5A max. The under-cupboard lights are connected using a normal lightswitch.

So what I reckon is:
(1) the spur needs to be connected via an unswitched fused spur unit with 13A fuse
(2) the lights should be fused down, so replace the existing switch with a switched fused spur unit with 5A fuse
(3) the cooker hood socket should maybe be fused down in the same way?

Would that bring it up to scratch, or have I missed things?

Any help or advice gratefully received!

Bob

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Hi Bob and welcome.

You are quite right it is a mess, but will need a competant registered electrician to sort out. You will get it done right first time and have a cosy certificate to back it up. The spur is way off, the 20A switch is confusing.

Given the layout of the actual sockets, sould be straight forward to bring the long spur ack into the ring.

By far the best advice is to get it done professionally (plus that way its legal)

 

[lgsparky]

I would say the cooker, hobs and dishwasher do not want to be spured off the ring, especially un fused as they are quite high load assuming the cables are 2.5 and that the appliances are quite high load

 

[lgsparky]

refering to my last reply this attachment is probably the best method of wiring for you, also i would consult a registered electrician for certificate etc

ps thats 2.5 minimum

 

[chocolate]

Hi, and welcome.

There's no simple solution to getting this kitchen to meet wiring regs. The switch needs to be converted to a switched fused connection unit ( spur ) with a 1A or 3A only ( the load is tiny ). Of course, what you can do depends on what access you have to do things. You need to lose the massive tail of sockets that are spurred of the double socket, and incorporate them all to form a single ring-final circuit for the kitchen.

Good luck.

 

[guru_bob]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate this should be done professionally, from a legal point of view especially.

The waste disposal has a 20A DP switch as it turns out this is specified in the installation manual (although that is more likely to be luck than the guys actually having read it, looking at the standard of the rest of it).

Chocolate, you're quite right, the issue is access. I realise that bringing everything into the ring would be the best option, but most of the cable is now buried behind tiling, particularly the 1.5 bit to the cooker hood, which is why I think that will have to stay as a spur (can't imagine what the thinking behind that was?). Might be feasible to bring the washer, dishwasher and hob sockets in though. This is all on a 32A MCB by the way.

Cheers

Bob

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate this should be done professionally, from a legal point of view especially.

The waste disposal has a 20A DP switch as it turns out this is specified in the installation manual (although that is more likely to be luck than the guys actually having read it, looking at the standard of the rest of it).

Chocolate, you're quite right, the issue is access. I realise that bringing everything into the ring would be the best option, but most of the cable is now buried behind tiling, particularly the 1.5 bit to the cooker hood, which is why I think that will have to stay as a spur (can't imagine what the thinking behind that was?). Might be feasible to bring the washer, dishwasher and hob sockets in though. This is all on a 32A MCB by the way.

Cheers

Bob

Should the cooker hob not be on a dedicated circuit?

 

[Spudnik]

Any cooking appliance over 2kw should now be on its own circuit.

However, it could be a gas hob with electronic ignition.

 

[guru_bob]

Should have mentioned that the hob is gas, so the load is minimal. I'll check out the load of the other things though.

Cheers

Bob

 

[chocolate]

If the main kitchen ring is on a 32A MCB ( assuming it is wired in 2.5 T&E ), you still have serious implications with all accessories ( sockets, etc ) that are connected into the spur off that double socket.

Could theoretically lead to overheating of cable, etc. ( between that double socket on the ring, and the other accessories connected on the spur ).

Otherwise, replace the double socket outlet ( on the ring ) witgh a dual accessory box to house one single socket and a unswitched fused connection unit ( FCU ). Connect both of these within the ring ( just like the double socket was, but treat as two items rather than one ), and then the spurred circuits are connected to the load side of the unswitched FCU. Now this becomes acceptable within the regulations, BUT provides a limit of 13A to every accessory ( socket, ect ) along that spurred route. So very possibly regular tripping of fuse in FCU due to loading on spurred circuit.