Cooker/Hob Circuit

Ano

ther alternative would be to get the mystery 'electrician mate' to answer your questions?
Another alternative would be to just tell the truth and say you have no idea how to do the job..
Ps don't bother messing about with electricity

 

..."regs state a 32A breaker can take up to 15A"...hmm.

Why 10mm for cooker?

 

And he's level 3

He's level 3???

 

I assume the "15amp" you refer to is actually the KW permissible on a 32amp breaker after using the (rather outdated) domestic cooker diversity recommendation.

While this rule does work well, and there is rarely a problem with overload circuits with typical domestic installations, having two circuits would be preferable, especially if they're already in place!

 

Unless your circuit is extremely long then distance for voltage drop is not an issue. A standard cooker circuit, 32A mcb/RCBO on 6mm2 T&E is good for 15kW. Why waste money on very expensive 10mm2 cable?

 

Expensive? I picked up a drum of 10mm in a DIY shed clearout for £5 ...

 

Jammy sod. Was it red and black insulated?

 

Unfortunately, it was, but served well when required. The remainder is sitting here for disposal - will probably get more for the scrap copper than I paid.

 

Can still be used as long as you sleeve the ends brown/blue.

 

Always a point of discussion ... various opinions say:

Use it and sleeve the ends
Can only be used to extend or supplement old installations
Cannot be used
&c

http://electrical.theiet.org/wiring-regulations/cable-colours/index.cfm, second paragraph is worth a read.

 

Could wiring in a log cabin be classed as "supplementing an old installation"? Asking for a friend...

 

Now for the benefit of Leesparky in kent, this is an absolute classic case of how stupid the profession is when it comes to trivial matters like cable colours. My approach is that cable colours are obvious as to what they are. So, I would have absolutely no hesitation whatsoever adding a red and black cable to a circuit that is wired in red and black cable (if I actually owned any red and black) because electricity doesn't care what colour cable it runs in. It is so bloody obvious to me at least, clearly not the IET, what colour of cable means. I agree that for multi-phase circuits it is important to avoid confusion between phases and neutral, but on a single phase circuit it is ridiculously trivial and does nothing whatsoever to aid safety. Sleeving it to match is required just because the Regs say it. If I saw a black cable in the same terminal as a blue one, and a red cable in the same terminal as a brown one, then it is clear to me what it means. The IET appear to think it necessary to tell you, holding mommies hands for the intellectually challenged amongst the throngs is needed. Because that's how petty they are. Blue for neutral has been used in flexes for years. I wonder how confused people got plugging things in to sockets with red and black cables inside. Must have been hell for them. You see the IET invent Regulations for the sake of being petty minded and to try to take all control away from the installer.

Where colour identification is important is quite obvious to everyone apart from the IET. Take the humble 3-core and earth cable, 6243Y, which is grey, black and brown. Worthy of sleeving, and its grey sleeved blue for those idiots who use the black 'because that's what the neutral used to be (bless their cotton socks).' And the same goes for three core SWA where black is sleeved g/y for the earth and grey sleeved blue for the neutral. You see even though there are rules people still make up their own. It is so common in the trade.

The cable colours 'thing' is different to all electricians keen to do their own thing.

 

The issue with regulations is that they become more and more prescriptive, to the point where they spell out every little nuance in minute detail and leave no room for applying common sense or taking a risk based view.

I much prefer principle based regulations, but then not everyone is able to work out whether certain measures uphold the principle so have to be told what to do...hence the prescriptive approach. There's also the question of understanding risk have having a risk appetite which various between people; regulations have to consider the lowest common denominator and demonstrate safety at every level otherwise someone will get sued.

I will *cough* My friend will be using red/black cabling for this application since he has quite a bit in stock, there is the option of sleeving this brown/blue (which may be done now or when it comes to being signed off by his competent, qualified and registered cousin). Sleeving makes sense at the CU end since there will also be 3 way SWA which itself will be sleeved appropriately and this will avoid too much confusion. The CU will of course have the wee yellow sticker warning of different cable colours.

 

If you wire your new cabin in the old colour cables it will not comply with BS7671.
The use of using the old colours was stopped in April 2006 to comply with BS7671.
Your cousin would be signing an EIC which was not worth the paper it was written on, as it would not comply.
I am only pointing out the facts if you try to get it signed off.

 

I'm not an electrician, so can't comment on what your electrician says. What i am though is a kitchen fitter, so feel well qualified to say that removing the flex and plug from an induction hob (that came with it fitted) absolutely invalidates any warranty that came with the hob. It had a plug fitted with a 13amp fuse, so why would anyone think that wiring it direct to a cooker circuit would be safe ?

 

Thanks Deleted member 11267, I checked with my cousin and he said its a shame not to use up perfectly good old cable, but have to use new stuff, that's the way it is. Time to get in some new T&E then!!

 

There is an option on an Electrical Certificate to list deviations from the regulations and the reasons for it. I being a sensible type of chap wouldn't see that using red and black instead of blue and brown would pose a significant risk to safety, in fact, it would not pose any risk whatsoever. IMHO it would be acceptable to state on the certificate that old cable was used in order to save on money and that there was no risk to safety. A perfectly reasonable thing to do but watch the venomous attack on me for daring to say this.