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[***woody***]

My kitchen is being rewired, and am being given conflicting opinions from electricians regarding the positioning of the cooker socket. Can someone else advise . . . ?

The feed is 6mm on a 32 amp MCB; the cooker socket is 400mm from the cooker and 1250mm high. Directly underneath is a 6mm spur into a double socket 700mm high. This will also be 400mm from the cooker. The cooker itself is gas but the electrician explained that if the cooker was ever replaced for an electric one the double socket would be a better option than a single, and suitable for most hobs/ovens. The wiring has been laid but not yet connected to the circuit board.

Another electrician has explained that the spur needs to be moved, replaced by a single socket; it must be directly behind the cooker, and as near to the floor as possible. This involves lowering the spur but also running a 6mm cable down and then horizontally for 400mm.

The first electrician has refuted this explaining that a/ 6mm cables (especially) must never be run horizontally b/ there is no regulation on the height of the spur but generally the higher the better (eg: flooding) c/ it can be a double socket d/ the spur has to be accessible without moving the cooker

Now I'm unsure.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[kbrownie]

Hi woody,
Is this cooker socket, A cooker socket with an isolation switch on or just a socket that may one day have a cooker plugged into it and is this circuit purely for a cooker/hob?
KB

[m7ohn]

I'm not a qualified electrician but from asking around and doing research i would not be happy with this configuration.

The siting of the cooker control unit sounds fine but the 6mm2 spur off it is a no no to a 13 amp double socket. You would never be able to plug an electric cooker into that anyhow they require hard wiring. Unless it was just a separate oven then they come with a 13amp plug fitted but a spur off a cooker control unit it not good practice. A separate electric hob will almost always require hard wiring.

For your current sitiuation you could have an integral socket on your cooker control unit and use this socket for your gas cooker.

For future requirements of a full electric cooker you would need to run a length of 6mm2 cable from your cooker control unit to a cooker connection unit placed behind the new cooker low down on the wall.

If it was going to be a separate electric hob and electric oven then you would hard wire the hob to the cooker connection unit and have a socket adjacent it wired from the connection unit with 2.5mm2 cable for the oven to plug into to. This would be a bettter option even for your gas cooker because the plug would be hidden behing the cooker and not hanging down the wall from the cooker control unit integral socket. The connection unit would of course be redundant at this time - just powering up your socket next to it.

As for cable routing - not sure but i would run vertically down to floor then across 400mm then vertically back up and encase the cable in metal capping before plastering over.

That's how i would go but i would always seek the advice of a qualified electrcian before proceeding and then know the law about DIY wiring.

Marcus

[ericmark]

Neither are totally right or totally wrong. The outlet would normally be behind the cooker and the switch as you have it and because to do it the cable goes first vertical the horizontal it needs to be protected with earth metallic protection able to stop anyone in error nailing into it or be surface not buried (although still protected). Since the standard outlet fits a single socket box you need to fit a single socket box but you could use one of the special double sockets that fit a single box. The cable if behind normal capping has to be vertical or horizontal not both. It is because both are required that the problem arises. Since steel capping is put on with nails one can’t really consider this as adequate protection. It would need to be conduit. I think both are being a bit pedantic.

[kuzz]

If the cable is run "in zone" or more than 50mm deep it does not need to be in conduit or have any other mechanical protection. Capping it would be highly recommended but only as it makes it easier to plaster & you can pull down it at a later date.
And why does it keep cropping up that you can't run cables horizontally? of course you can! If i wire a cooker outlet i always go straight down (in zone with the cooker control) then across (in zone with the outlet) It's going diagonal between the two you cant do.

Just to confim:

Cables must be installed in a zone within 150 mm from the top of the wall or partition or
within 150 mm of an angle formed by two adjoining walls or partitions.
Where the cable is connected to a point, accessory or switchgear on any
surface of the wall or partition, the cable may be installed in a zone either
horizontally or vertically, to the point, accessory or switchgear. Where the
location of the accessory, point or switchgear can be determined from the
reverse side, a zone formed on one side of a wall of 100 mm thickness or
less or partition of 100 mm thickness or less extends to the reverse side.

[m7ohn]

does the 150mm zone extend up from the floor level too?

so to get from the cooker control unit to the cooker connection you'd have to go vertically up the wall to the zone at the ceiling before going horizontal then down again to the cooker connection unit?can u go down to the floor?

sockets,switches etc are out of the 150mm zone, so how does that work?

[***woody***]

Thanks for your responses and advice given - greatly appreciated.