Under plinth heater wiring

[cam123]

Hi all,

Any advice on this would be much appreciated!

I'm currently having a new kitchen fitted (nearly finished now) and have had a complete re-wire done. I have isolation switches for dishwasher/washing machine/lights/ oven etc etc on a board that looks like nasa as you walk into the room, and all the appliances have the respective (double) sockets that they plug in behind their cupboards.

My problem is that i have since decided that the kitchen needs additional heat and have bought a myson kickspace heater (electric fan only), thinking that i could simply plug it into the spare side of the double socket which is currently used by the washing machine.

Now i realise that this was rather naive of me, as it doesn't work.

The heater says it needs a 10amp switched socket, so my question is could i just move it so that it reaches to the oven or microwave or dishwasher or fridge freeer socket so that it has the correct output or are these also different to what the heater needs? Or do i have to give it its own run to the consumer unit?

Cheers!

Cameron

 

[bongos]

The heater says it needs a 10amp switched socket, so my question is could i just move it so that it reaches to the oven or microwave or dishwasher or fridge freeer socket so that it has the correct output or are these also different to what the heater needs?

What wattage is the unit? The electric Myson Kickspace fans on this site say 1, 2 or 3kW. You say 10A - which equates to 2.3kW?

do i have to give it its own run to the consumer unit?

Not necessarily. You can hardwire/plug in upto 3kW on a 13A fuse. But this will potentially use up alot of your circuit capacity which can be problematic - especially in the kitchen.

Anything above 2kW should ideally have its own supply.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Now i realise that this was rather naive of me, as it doesn't work.

Why not?

It should do. The washing machine works, doesn't it?

 

[cam123]

Thanks for the speedy responses.

It didn't entirely not work, rather, it came on for about 10 seconds and then went off.

I think the washing machine is on it's own loop, and the heater is 1Kw or 2Kw on boost. So it would be those two things and nothing else.

Does it look like the heater might be faulty then?

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

did anything else switch off when the heater did?
did you have to reset any trip?
if so, what was the rating of the trip?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Was the washing machine on at the time?

Does it still work?

Are there fuses in your isolator panel?

 

[cam123]

Thanks all - the problem is now sorted out. Turns out that we were being total idiots and hadn't taken a panel off the front of the machine which meant that it just instantly overheated. Cheers to whoever said "why not?" !!

 

[Steve]

Are you aware the capacity of a double socket is 13 amps TOTAL?

This means if you have a washing machine, oven, microwave, or dishwasher etc plugged into a double socket, you shouldnt plug another high wattage appliance into it too.

I hope this ISNT what you have done . . .

Please reply.

 

[electronicsuk]

Are you aware the capacity of a double socket is 13 amps TOTAL?

I think we've been down this road before, and came to the conclusion that the 13A limit is a bit of a fallacy. It varies between manufacturers, but IIRC it was the case that most of them specified total loads well in excess of 13A.

In any case, the more important point is that you may start taking out fuses if you try and run the washing machine and plinth heater at the same time, assuming the double socket is fed by an FCU or grid fuse carrier.