Electric oven into 13amp socket.

[meggles]

Daughter is buying a hotpoint-hae60ks-electric-ceramic-cooker. The local council worker she spoke to (Don't know his profession) said it just needs plugging into a 13amp socket. Is this correct? I am doubting it.
Thanks folks
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[lloydy]

Cooker is meant to go to its own dedicated spur. Or do mean a hob?

[clift_d]

You can get a touch under 3kw out of a 13A socket so provided it has a rating below that it should work okay. The key thing to watch is the ring main total which is typically 30A - if she also has electric heaters or a kettle for example running at the same time she could easily exceed this total and trip the breaker.

[lloydy]

Just because it might be ok doesn't mean you should do it. A cooker is meant to be on its own dedicated supply, not as part of the ring main. 32amp rcd/breaker and 6mm cable if I remember what my mate said correctly?..

[clift_d]

Full size cookers have a dedicated spur from the fuse board because the wattage they consume with all the rings and the oven running simultaneously - such as cooking a full Sunday roast, would exceed the total load for a single socket, and possibly the total on the ring main. You can still run a full cooker off a 13A socket but you might need to limit yourself to two rings at any one time, or just the oven on its own. The best solution is to get it wired into the cooker spur as lloydy says - most kitchens will have a dedicated socket in place that can be used.

[lloydy]

we keep on posting at the same time!

[clift_d]

Okay. I've looked up the actual cooker and it's a four ring plus double oven model - around 45A total load with everything running. You will be able to use it off a 13A socket as a stop gap if you limit what you switch on, but you'll really need to get this wired into the cooker spur to use it properly.

[meggles]

In my experience the cooker has always had a separate circuit with 6mm cable and hard wired into the cooker. She is about to move into a council house which has had a new kitchen fitted (no appliances). The Cooker socket/plate has a lead coming out of it into a 13 amp socket. This is where she was told she could plug it in. It doesn't sound right to me. I am guessing that the socket is really for electronic ignition on a gas cooker, or something like that. It's an electric oven with ceramic hob. Easy to overload a 13amp cable I would think.

[meggles]

Thanks clift_d. I reckon that'd be OK if I were doing it 'cos I'd be aware of the risks. Daughter may chance things 'just the once'.... once too many!

[meggles]

Thank you everybody for your input.

[itchyfeet]

Gas cookers need a 13A socket
Electric cookers need a 40A+ breaker and 6mm2/10mm2 cable.
Temporarily wired to a FUSED 13A socket with min 1.5mm2 is safe ( if technically illegal) because the fuse will blow if it's overloaded, but that doesn't help if dinner is half cooked.

[marlinowner]

Need to look at consumer unit and see how that socket is supplied, it may have been added later and still be supplied by dedicated spur, if so it can be removed and the cooker connected in its place.

[meggles]

Think I'll get a spark to look at it. Too much risk with electrickery. My daughter and her family are too precious to take risks.

[clift_d]

Could be that somebody wired a 13A socket into the cooker spur for a gas cooker or similar. If the cooker plate is present then it's like wiring a plug. The cooker usually comes with it's own flex tail and you just wire it in to the cooker plate terminals. Obviously switch off at the breaker first. I'm not sure that it's a job that legally needs an electrician, but I'm happy to be corrected.

[meggles]

I think the fact that it's a council house makes it necessary to employ a qualified person, but I may be wrong.