Cable behind gas cooker

[Saycheese5]

Hi,

I'm planning to fit a socket on the side of the cooker and an extractor hood above it. I want to connect a 2.5 mm cable from what was the immersion heater switch to a 1 gang socket and from there run a 1.5 mm cable horizontally and then vertically behind the cooker and up to the hood. I will need to create a chase first and then plaster over it mostly with sand and cement. Two questions:

1. I have no idea if I have a ring or radial circuit and on how to check it. Does it matter which circuit I have before proceeding with the work?

2. I know cables get hot and can cause cracks in the plaster, especially in such a hot zone. I'm thinking I could create a conduit by using a section of a 15 mm copper pipe, flatten it a bit, pass the cable through it and then plaster over it behind the cooker. Is this a good idea or am I being a bit silly?

Thanks for you advice.

 

[flameport]

1. Yes, it matters a lot. It is probably a radial.

2. If cable gets hot enough to crack plaster, it has been grossly overloaded, totally ruined and must be replaced after the cause of the overload has been found and removed.
If you want to put the cable in conduit, then buy the proper thing - do not use copper tube.
If it's in the wall under plaster, conduit is not required anyway.

 

[Saycheese5]

1. Yes, it matters a lot. It is probably a radial.

In what I plan to do, would I need to install the cables differently if it was a ring circuit? I don't really want to check two live wires but all I can see on the consumer unit is 32A.

 

[JohnW2]

2. I know cables get hot and can cause cracks in the plaster, especially in such a hot zone. I'm thinking I could create a conduit by using a section of a 15 mm copper pipe, flatten it a bit, pass the cable through it and then plaster over it behind the cooker. Is this a good idea or am I being a bit silly?

"A bit silly", I would say In general, enclosing a buried cable in conduit causes it to get hotter for a given current flow. If the cable is simply buried in plaster, it is in good thermal contact with that plaster, which conducts away heat. If cable is within conduit (even proper conduit) there will be air around it, acting to some extent as a thermal insulator, thereby reducing heat loss from the cable. That might keep the wall/plaster a little cooler, but it's not so good for the cable!

Kind Regards, John