New cooker circuit without replacing fusebox?

[DIY10291]

Thanks for encouraging me to investigate what circuits are already in place, all! Here's the (slightly weird) outcome:

First 30A: living room sockets and downstairs hallway socket
15A: central heating pump in upstairs airing cupboard, kitchen extractor fan, fridge-freezer and heat pump tumble dryer
Second 30A: all upstairs wiring + other side of kitchen (kettle, washing machine and dishwasher)
Third 30A: looks like it was intended to be a cooker circuit! But the wire terminates as a normal socket which is being used by the microwave. Unfortunately this circuit seems to have been borrowed by the induction heater in the airing cupboard too.

This seems like it might be good news..? Would an electrician be allowed to reroute things a little and swap the socket for a cooker control box, or would he have to update the fusebox if working on the existing system? E.g. if we can change it so that the 15A is just the heating pump + induction heater (if that's not too much for 15A), and put the fridge-freezer, kitchen extractor fan and tumble dryer on the 30A with the other side of the kitchen + upstairs (if that's not too much for 30A).

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

This seems like it might be good news..? Would an electrician be allowed to reroute things a little and swap the socket for a cooker control box, or would he have to update the fusebox if working on the existing system?

Possibly..

E.g. if we can change it so that the 15A is just the heating pump + induction heater (if that's not too much for 15A), and put the fridge-freezer, kitchen extractor fan and tumble dryer on the 30A with the other side of the kitchen + upstairs (if that's not too much for 30A).

That would need to be investigated, on site, by someone qualified.

 

[ericmark]

1) My mother had a resistive hob put in, due to her pacemaker not complying, so when we moved in to look after her, we got a stand alone 2 kW induction hob from Lidi which was far faster than the resistive hob and ample for most of our needs, we have a cooker with a 2.8, 3, 3, and 3.7 kW heating areas if set on boost, but the boost is never used, other than boiling water it will just burn food, so in real use the hobs at max are 1.4, 1.5, 1.5, and 1.85 kW and in the main used at 70% max, and rare all 4 used at the same time, so yes a 3 kW hob with 4 heat areas will work OK, and if you select one which has the option of being configured you can reset it at a latter date to use more power.

2) Fitting new cable cost depends on how neat it is, we had a new 3 kW supply for our freezers run in steel wire armour (SWA) around the outside of the house, due to no access to under floor. Not what we wanted, but to drop ceiling was too expensive, so if your willing to have cables around outside of house or in trunking the cost goes down.

3) I also had a Wylex board like yours in my homes, I felt I wanted RCD protection so got in one house a RCD feeding the Wylex fuse boxes and the fuses swapped for MCB (miniature circuit beakers) and this house renewed fuse-board for a consumer unit with all RCBO's and SPD and likely at some point you will be forced to do the same, as it is nothing can be changed on the installation from the fuse-box as no new wiring can be added without RCD protection, I fitted RCD's back in the 90's when son became a radio ham to protect him. Today we look at the changes, like LED lamps, and we know these really need a surge protection device (SPD) without it your LED's may need changing more often. When looking at many electrical items today, they stipulate the use of a RCD, from central heating boiler, to the TV. So you are going to need a new consumer unit at some point, so what ever you do, it is only a stop gap.

It seems you have a reasonable electrician willing to find ways around the high expense, with the induction hob you can turn it off as fast as lifting a pan with right controls, knobs are best, no fiddling selecting with multi touches, but some do have one touch off, mother had a very poor one, had to get it removed again, as the touch controls were slow to use, and could not see them when sitting in a wheel chair, do get a demo before buying, we had not thought about the problems with touch controls until it was too late. Look at them where a child's eye would be, can a child see when it is hot, if not reject it. Not saying a child should use it, but they do need to see when it is hot, as said knobs are best.

 

[Rodders53]

My son copes with a 13A plug in 4 burner induction hob with his family of four.

Not all 4 can be on max at the same time of course, but it works for him.

I think with just two of us I have only once had all 4 burners in use at the same time, and that was likely when someone was staying with us.

That rewirable fuseboard really needs updating though. I rewired my first home back in 1980 that looked like that! At least the late in-laws bungalow had Wylex plug in MCBs when we sold it.

 

[DIY10291]

If the price of £600 includes VAT ,it's not overly expensive for London. I would be inclined to upgrade the fuse board for a new consumer unit ,you have no RCD protection on any of your circuits ,an upgrade is well overdue, particularly if there are existing faults on the installation that need attention.
Have you ever had an EICR done ,(an inspection/ report basically) ?

Thanks. Includes VAT, and haven't had an EICR before. The quote was £600 to do it with a new separate CU for the cooker, or £1600 (+ extra if the testing brings up more issues, which is likely) to do it with a new CU (12-way RCBO - is this big enough?) Is this reasonable too? I got a good vibe from this guy so am tempted to just go with him if these quotes sound reasonable (I thought the 600 was twice what it should be, but people here who know more than me are disagreeing) - I always find it a pain getting people to turn up, having to be home that day for the quote etc.