When our Victorian semi was tarted-up in the 1980s, the cooker circuit to the kitchen was ripped out but fortunately since we moved in in 2000 the oven we've been using (with the gas hob) has been OK on a 13A plug. That oven is now well past its best before, and the replacement the wife wants is specified as 3.2kW. The fuse rating quoted is 16A.
One of the 32A MCB's in the consumer unit feeds the sockets upstairs and the 4 in the kitchen (but not the rest of the ground floor). The maximum likely load upstairs at any one time is an electric blanket, a clock radio and a vacuum cleaner. In the kitchen, it's kettle, toaster, ordinary front-loading washing machine, bog standard fridge/freezer and the new oven.
Being dependant on my State Pension + benefits, I need to sort out the supply to this oven ASAP without dipping much more into what's left of my savings. Electrician A has quoted ÂŁ270 incl VAT to run a new supply from the consumer unit to a cooker switch in the cupboard alongside the oven (but using mini trunking along the hall skirting rather than diving under the floor). Electrician B has quoted ÂŁ60 incl VAT to add a 20A cooker switch to the existing kitchen ring main, on the basis that in practice we're never going to have all elements of the oven drawing max current at once, and if they ever did, worst case would be the MCB trips, which is no big deal.
I'm obviously keen on Plan B but ... is there a potential snag to it which isn't obvious to me?
One of the 32A MCB's in the consumer unit feeds the sockets upstairs and the 4 in the kitchen (but not the rest of the ground floor). The maximum likely load upstairs at any one time is an electric blanket, a clock radio and a vacuum cleaner. In the kitchen, it's kettle, toaster, ordinary front-loading washing machine, bog standard fridge/freezer and the new oven.
Being dependant on my State Pension + benefits, I need to sort out the supply to this oven ASAP without dipping much more into what's left of my savings. Electrician A has quoted ÂŁ270 incl VAT to run a new supply from the consumer unit to a cooker switch in the cupboard alongside the oven (but using mini trunking along the hall skirting rather than diving under the floor). Electrician B has quoted ÂŁ60 incl VAT to add a 20A cooker switch to the existing kitchen ring main, on the basis that in practice we're never going to have all elements of the oven drawing max current at once, and if they ever did, worst case would be the MCB trips, which is no big deal.
I'm obviously keen on Plan B but ... is there a potential snag to it which isn't obvious to me?
