Cooker placement query

[ChrisBrails]

Morning all, not sure where to put this so I decided on general DIY, maybe a mod or administrator could move if need be.

Basically me and my girlfriend have moved into a new rented property and we are unsure as to whether or not the propsed location of our (soon to be purchased) freestanding over with hob would be safe.

We want to put the oven underneath here...

As I'm aware, you can't place a hob directly underneath a socket.
I presume the socket has been moved over to allow the previous tennant to put their oven there as there's no other place an oven would really fit.
The oven would fit under the blank but would be a few inches away from the socket.

Behind the blank socket cover, the mains wires are wired into a terminal/chocolate block and come out through the trunking and into the new socket but the wires under the blank (where the oven would be) are live active wires.

Would it be safe to put our oven under here or would that just be the same as placing it under an actual socket?

Hope that makes sense.
I'm sure you can all look forward to some.more questions from me as I don't have much experience with DIY and refuse to pay someone for a job I can do myself with some advice
(I'm not going to install the oven/hob myself, don't worry. I'll pay either a gas safe engineer or an electrician to do that one for me at least.)

 

[foxhole]

So is it gas hob /electric oven?.How wide?
If so your installer can let you know if it's a suitable location, photo is too close to give accurate opinion.

 

[ChrisBrails]

Thanks for your reply.
It will more than likely be a gas hob, but may settle for electric if my girlfriend agrees to take up cooking lessons. Hate using anything but gas myself, but it she helps out with cooking it's not a problem haha.

The cooker would be approx 23.5 inches in width and the space from the worktop to the socket is around 29 inches. So there would be approx 5/5.5 inches between the end of the hob and the socket.

Sorry for the close up, still getting used to my new phone.

EDIT:
Is there any way to tell if a gas outlet is operational myself? Or does it need to be checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer?
One of the 2 contractors who've been out to do various jobs have told us that the outlet has been sealed off and we would need to use an electric over AND hob but the other one told us it is fine to use.
Neither offered to test the pipe for us.

 

[foxhole]

Gas may be capped, but simple task to correct. Unlikely it's totally disconnected unless the property has been empty for a while.
A raised splashback covering the socket positions and cable would be a good idea to protect them and give you a surface which is easy to clean.
Ideal situation would be to have cable sunk into the wall.

 

[ChrisBrails]

Landlady won't move any sockets for us or sink into wall. Described it as a 'home improvement' rather than a repair.
The hob will have a glass cover on the top anyway which is lifted for access to the hob when in use, so the socket would be covered.
Just didn't want to pay somebody to come out and tell us we couldn't put an oven there.

Thanks for your help.

 

[jtonline]

I may be wrong, but I think an installer would classify the blanking plate and cabling in plastic trunking as combustible materials & therefore not suitable directly above the gas hob of a dual-fuel or gas cooker.

If you decide to buy an electric freestanding cooker, check whatever you're considering is suitable for connection to a 13A plug socket. In your situation you don't want a double oven that requires hardwiring into a cooker point. It's easy to get carried away with design & features when you're in the shop & overlook that requirement

 

[ChrisBrails]

Most of the dual fuel ones we saw had a 13amp connection so we should be okay. I'll keep it in mind to check though.
You're probably right about the combustible materials, suppose we'll have to see what happens. There's nowhere else for an oven and hob to go so if it can't be fitted there I'll have to speak with the letting agent/landlady about them paying to move the socket.
Wouldn't be fair to expect us to pay for their fault.

 

[jtonline]

There may have been a gas cooker there & then when a new cooker was installed it wouldn't meet current regulations so the gas was capped off & the socket moved to allow installation of an electric one.

If an all electric one goes in there then I doubt you'll be able to convince your landlady to alter things just so you can have a dual fuel. But it's worth a try

 

[ChrisBrails]

Wouldn't an all electric one need hardwiring like you said in your previous post?

One with an electric oven, grill and 4 ring hob would be more than 13amps I presume?
If that's the case she'd surely have to pay for us to have the oven hardwired.
I'll have to find out which is cheaper and try to convince her to pay haha

 

[ChrisBrails]

Thanks for your help everyone. We decided to go with a gas oven in the end. Had an electrician out to check the placement under the blanking plate, he said its fine under there.

 

[jtonline]

Thanks for the update. Good to hear it all went according to plan. Hope you both enjoy your new property.