2.5mm cable for extra sockets

[ajs123]

I've added 2 extra sockets in my new kitchen both running off separate existing wall sockets. 1 is for kettle and other for dishwasher. Original sockets won't be used due to new kitchen design.
Ran it with 2.5mm cable.
Electrician doing my cooker cable said 2.5mm isn't ok for these sockets, is he right ir will this size cable be ok?
Thank you.

 

[Taylortwocities]

It is ok if the new sockets are incorporated into the ring final circuit (if that is what you have existing).
If you have added one of your sockets to the ring, then that is ok with 2.5mm cable.
If you then added a second socket to the first then that is not ok. Not only is 2.5mm not big enough, but you have created a spur from a spur and that is a hanging offence.

So you electrician may be correct, depending on what you have done. Please explain.

 

[opps]

I get the impression that the OP means that he has added two spurs from two different sockets on the ring. If so, I don't see what is wrong with using 2.5mm but I am not an electrician.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I get the impression that the OP means that he has added two spurs from two different sockets on the ring. If so, I don't see what is wrong with using 2.5mm but I am not an electrician.

Ahh yes. Must learn to read things…
@ajs123 can’t see anything wrong in using 2.5mm.
Did your visiting electrician suggest why he think it was wrong?

Just wondering, why did you need an electrician to connect a simple bit of cooker cable, if you feel competent to install extra sockets?

 

[Sureitsoff?]

perhaps his sparky just wanted to use up the offcut of 4mm in the back of the van..........

 

[mthompson]

Not an electrician either, but is your kitchen ring done with something thicker than 2.5mm and they're suggesting you should match this for the spurs?

 

[EFLImpudence]

I'll hazard a guess and say - "No".

 

[Agile]

And again we must assume that the new spurs are not fused at their connection point to the ring.

There are so many possibilities for something which is not correct.

It reminds me of when I went to a refurbished flat with a new boiler which was not working. The Polish electrician had a "dead" section of the ring main where the boiler was connected. But the ring was connected AT EACH END with a 32A MCB.

So when the faulty section had been repaired the ring would have been supplied with 64A made up of the two 32A !

 

[EFLImpudence]

And again we must assume that the new spurs are not fused at their connection point to the ring.

They don't need to be for just one (single or double) socket.

 

[ajs123]

Needed an electrician as the brand new extension didn’t have a cooker cable so needed to run a 10mm armoured cable outside around the house into the consumer unit with 45A fuse.
Now, the job.
I ran a 2 ft 2.5mm cable from 1 socket for convenience. The existing 2 sockets that this runs off won't be used as they are now behind built in oven.
I then ran another cable from existing plug on other side of kitchen for new dishwasher to be used twice a week.
Used another different socket to run cable to supply built in fridge freezer and kettle, obviously ff on all the time, not kettle. Original sockets again won't be used.
Original kitchen was very poorly designed in relation to sockets. All I've done is extend the originals to a more convenient place, no more power will be used apart from new dishwasher.
He said the 2.5mm will overheat, I believe it's on a 20A fuse.
Thanks for any help

 

[Taylortwocities]

He said the 2.5mm will overheat, I believe it's on a 20A fuse.

He is wrong. 2.5mm² T&E cable is good for up to 27amps. Was this 'electrician' sent by a company to install a cooker, by any chance?

If you employed him, I really suggest that you find another electrician.

 

[ajs123]

No, I employed him direct but now am worried kitchen will catch fire.
My father us a retired electrician, 49 years, said it's ok but perhaps "modern " sparkies are more cautious?
To replace the wiring he said is a days work for £300 including the cable.
The reason I did it this way was due to the fact he wanted another £400 to run a 10mm armoured cable outside to power a built in fridge freezer, outside run around 40ft!

 

[bhm1712]

It is perfectly allowable to run a spur socket from an existing ring final socket in 2.5mm, regardless of whether the existing socket is a single or a double. My understand of what you have done (added 3 single Spurs from 3 different existing sockets) is that you have done just that.

The only unknown here is whether the existing sockets were already Spurs from the ring. If they are, then what you have done is not “allowed” but unlikely to cause any concern if the original sockets are not going to be used because they’re no longer accessible. The issue only arises if you were to move out and somebody redesigns the kitchen and exposes and intends to use the original sockets. However, whether it is morally correct or not and whether it is legal or not is a kind of mute point in that case since unless it could be proved you had done the work then you cannot be held liable for any situation that arises from said scenario.

Can you confirm whether the original sockets were from the ring final circuit ?

 

[EFLImpudence]

No, I employed him direct but now am worried kitchen will catch fire.

It won't. At least not for any of the things you have mentioned.

My father us a retired electrician, 49 years, said it's ok but perhaps "modern " sparkies are more cautious?/

Nope - they are less knowledgeable.

Why don't you trust your Dad?

To replace the wiring he said is a days work for £300 including the cable.
The reason I did it this way was due to the fact he wanted another £400 to run a 10mm armoured cable outside to power a built in fridge freezer, outside run around 40ft!

Ah.

 

[ajs123]

I always trust Dad, that's why I did it as he explained the current draw and what cable is ok etc. But after doing the kitchen I don't want it to catch fire. As I said, dishwasher twice a week off 1 socket, fridge freezer and kettle off another last 1 is microwave and original sockets are obsolete due to their location. It's not as if I'm using the original sockets AND the new ones.
Am I being fleeced?
Thank you