Wiring new hob

isitintheregs · Nov 26, 2008

Slightly unrelated but this has interested me for some time as I am seeing it more and more.
1 The "hob" is the bit on top and on checking Hotpoint's website could draw up to 7.2 kW.
2 The bit below the worktop is an oven and very often is supplied with a fitted 13amp plug.
3 A cooker is usually a stand alone appliance, hob & oven as one unit and if all electric is supplied by a single cable and on average could draw around 11kW.

This is the bit that tickles me. When hob and oven are installed as seperate units the hob quite rightly is connected to the cooker point while the oven is pluged into the nearest below worktop socket (think granite worktops). Come the day that the oven contacts weld together and the joint is in flames inside it, where do you turn the damn thing off! Comments from those in the testing and inspecting world would be most appreciated.

Ps I must add that the above is not a practice I follow myself but have had to deal with twice now.

Jurassic Spark · Nov 26, 2008

@ Fred West.

I've been installing ovens and hobs in 6mm for nigh on forty years and have NEVER had any problems.

jeremy · Nov 26, 2008

Bits I'm not sure about; what size breaker on the 6mm between breaker and CCU? Can Isolater switches be hidden in cupboards? I don't use HR cable when connecting outlet to cooker as i tend to fit cookers into pretty flammable cupboards. maybe the hob manufacturers are covering their ar5es

Fred West · Nov 27, 2008

Spark. Only forty years?So you are still a boy yet.You might have had no problems but you can not possible tell if some of your early work has not gone up in smoke by now.
We are talking about a modern ceramic hob here,times have changed since every kitchen in the land had a Belling.
I can not see the problem in using the correct cable.XLPE cable is not that expensive,easy to get and little bit easy to handle.That extra 20 degrees of protection could be vital in preventing a hydrogen chloride blacked-out kitchen.
As for Jeremy he admits he never reads installation instructions.so he does not have a clue as to what cable to us.Then comes up with same lame excuse about the hob not being installed in a combustible area.What rubbish!Perhaps he does not realize that the radiated heat from around the hob is the reason for fitting HR cable.
There are a few references on this forum about appearing before the beak for one reason or another.You should think about this the next time when you can't really be bothered to do the job properly.