wiring an A42A Smeg Cooker

[jcm]

A friend kindly gave us her old A42A smeg electric cooker with a gas hob for our new kitchen. An electrician came and sorted out the mains wiring for this 5KW cooker but unfortunately when the cooker is turned on, it trips the circuit and most of our lights go off downstairs....and we've had to resort to using a camping stove !!

Any ideas what the problem may be ?Is it worth us calling out a SMEG expert or should we say bye bye to this oven...?

thanks

 

[chivers67]

To start off what is the amp rating on the circuit that's tripping?

 

[echoes]

If it's taking out lights, then it's likely to be an RCD that's tripping. Can the OP confirm exactly what is tripping: MCB or RCD?

When you say 'switched on' do you mean at the cooker switch, or when you start heating one of the ovens?

 

[jcm]

New circuit board with RCD. Not sure about Amps.
Electrician has put new wiring in for 5kw cooker.

Trips when oven begins to heat up.

Thanks for the help so far.....

 

[riveralt]

New circuit board with RCD. Not sure about Amps.
Electrician has put new wiring in for 5kw cooker.

Trips when oven begins to heat up.

Thanks for the help so far.....

You need to break the problem down to two bits, the circuit and the cooker.

Did the electriician test the circuit and give you a certificate with details of the circuit and test results on? This will identify what tests he has done on the cable, your MCB and your RCD.
You want to identify the earthing system, cable size, the MCB size and RCD trip.

Does the MCB trip at the same time as the RCD?

It could be tripping for several reasons.
Circuit:Your have a faulty MCB (rare) - You have a faulty RCD (rare)
Your cable or MCB could be the wrong size for this cooker - should be min of 4mm cable on 32Amp MCB

Cooker:The old cooker could the fault - why did your friend get rid of it?
Are you sure you have wired the cooker to the cooker connection unit correctly?

 

[ELZ4742]

1. if its the rcd only, potentially, the neutral has been put in the wrong neutral bar.

2. probable an element fault.

3. 5kw / 230 = 22amps mcb rated corect?

 

[Taylortwocities]

If it were in the wrong neutral it would trip as soon as it is switched on. The OP said

Trips when oven begins to heat up.

So a problem with the oven sounds more likely.

 

[ELZ4742]

oops...yup, tiz early!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Any ideas what the problem may be ?

Cooker elements can develop hairline cracks and let moisture in.

Was the cooker in storage for a while?

Do you have any non-RCD ways in the CU? If you do it would be worth temporarily moving the cooker circuit to that side and giving the oven a few cycles of heating up and cooling down, then moving it back to see if it cures it.

If it is the element then on balance it's probably more likely to not be a permanent cure than be one, but it's got to be worth a try. Don't use the socket on the cooker switch or drill into the wall while it's non-RCD.

Is it worth us calling out a SMEG expert or should we say bye bye to this oven...?

Get rid of it?

Your friend has given you a cooker that costs over £1,000 - you'd be mad not to replace a part costing £40-50, or about half that for a non-OEM copy....