Fitting cooker point

[mrtell]

Fitting cooker point in a kitchen with no apparent existing point.
On inspection of consumer unit their appears to be a 6mm cable supported by 5 amp fuse, on pulling the fuse I only loose wall lights in the kitchen and outside lighting, on closer inspection when cover removed on kitchen wall I have a (what appears to be) 6mm connected to connecters and then all the wall lights and outdoor lighting connected to it.
Does this sound like an existing cooker point?
If so how can i confirm the cable is 6mm, compare with 6mm from shop?
also should the fuse be 30 or 45 amp?
and should the cable from the cooker to the outlet be the same 6mm or should i use 4mm butyl or something else?
thankyou

 

[davy_owen_88]

Get a small length of cable from a shop to compare, or you could just measure it and compare to the dimensions here.

Another point to make is: don't assume anything! Unless you can verify the 6mm runs from the cooker point to the consumer unit don't even think of upgrading the fuse.

In my old house I had a 5A fuse supplying what looked like a 2.5mm radial in the kitchen, after ripping up the floorboards I found the 2.5mm stopped after about a metre and was twisted onto some 1.5mm lighting cable with electrical tape - but strangely at the consumer unit it was 2.5mm again... the idiot had done it in whatever cable he had lying around. Had I assumed it was OK and upgraded to a 20A MCB it could have been very dangerous - well more dangerous than before...

The MCB you fit is determined by the power rating of the oven - do you know what rating your oven is?

As above, the cable used from cooker point to cooker needs to be suitably protected by the MCB you chose.

 

[industryspark]

if ive read your post correctly it sounds like someone has previously done away with the cooker point and used it to power lighting (hence fusing down to 5A) but have left the 6mm cooker circuit cable in place.

so you probably had a cooker point yes which origanally had a (probably) 32A fuse in its fuseway.

are you wanting to fit a cooker now?

is there a cooker conrol unit where the 6mm and lights connect up in the kitchen? (or could there have been?)

you could potentially do away with the lights and utilise the circuit for the cooker again but you would have to be able to test the circuit for bs7671 compliance first and after.

also part p comes into effect here as its the kitchen.

you should be able to tell visually if its 6mm by comparison,

maybe best to get a spark in to be honest, sounds a simple enough job.

 

[mrtell]

So perhaps to be sure I should reroute 6 mm from Consumer Unit to cooker point.
30 Amp fuse?
and the same 6mm cable from cooker outlet to cooker or 4 mm Butyl?
thanks

 

[davy_owen_88]

So perhaps to be sure I should reroute 6 mm from Consumer Unit to cooker point.
30 Amp fuse?
and the same 6mm cable from cooker outlet to cooker or 4 mm Butyl?
thanks

There's no need to re-route the cable, if you are getting an electrician in to fit the cooker switch then he can verify it's 6mm and whether that is actually sufficient for the load of the cooker.

Like I said in my first post, I can't tell you if a certain cable or MCB is suitable until you tell us the power consumption of the cooker.

 

[mrtell]

The whole idea was not to get an electrician in but do the job myself.
I have rewired a full house in the past and had it checked, that was about 20 years ago now and i know things have changed but i believe fitting a new cooker point is much the same as it always was.

6mm cable if going over 12 metres and 10 mm for very long installations.
30 amp fuse.
cooker switch.
and cooker outlet plate.
The only thing that i am told has changed is that instead of using 6mm twin and earth from cooker outlet to cooker i should use Butyl 2.5mm which is heat resistant, what suprises me is that why use 2.5 when 4mm is available?
current regs so i am told
thanks

 

[davy_owen_88]

The whole idea was not to get an electrician in but do the job myself.
I have rewired a full house in the past and had it checked, that was about 20 years ago now and i know things have changed but i believe fitting a new cooker point is much the same as it always was.

Ah, in that case since the work is in a kitchen it is notifiable.

6mm cable if going over 12 metres and 10 mm for very long installations.

The CSA of the cable you chose isn't totally dependant on the length of the cable run. The cooker could be 1 metre away from the CU but if its drawing 60A at full load, 6mm^2 isn't going to do the job.

The only thing that i am told has changed is that instead of using 6mm twin and earth from cooker outlet to cooker i should use Butyl 2.5mm which is heat resistant, what suprises me is that why use 2.5 when 4mm is available?
current regs so i am told
thanks

The reason for cables being given maximum current ratings is to prevent the cable producing so much heat that the insulation is damaged. Since Butyl can withstand higher temperatures it can safely carry more current. But, 2.5mm might not be enough if your cooker is particularly power hungry. Which brings me back to my point about the cooker power usage.

Until you know what that is you can NOT do anything. You will be wasting your time by putting in brand new 6mm cable and buying 2.5mm Butyl if you then intend to install a 14kW hob/oven.

 

[securespark]

The CSA of the cable you chose isn't totally dependant on the length of the cable run. The cooker could be 1 metre away from the CU but if its drawing 60A at full load, 6mm^2 isn't going to do the job.

It will if you apply diversity...

 

[davy_owen_88]

It will if you apply diversity...

I had a funny feeling after I wrote it that someone would bring up diversity.

You are of course totally correct, but I was mainly trying to make my point that until he knows the total load he shouldn't run the cables.