Location of cooker hood fused spur?

[Steve]

Hi folks I`m fitting a new cooker hood and the instructions just state a "electric supply should be permanently connected via a double pole switched fused spur outlet" but does not say where this can/can`t be fitted and I wondered if it could be fitted actually inside the hood-ceiling ducting?. I live in a bungalow and my intention is for the exhaust 120mm pipe to go up through the ceiling across and down through the eaves about 1.5 to 2 m in length altogether and the hood to ceiling bit is covered by a stainless steel duct 250mm wide by 180mm deep and looks like there would be enough room to cover a fused spur as well as the flexible pipe. Would this be permitted under regs or does it have to visible?. Cheers Steve

[Andrew Gabriel]

Doesn't have to be obviously visible (it's not for emergency switching), but it needs to be accessible without dismantling any of the hood first. I put them on the wall behind an adjacent cupboard, with a cutout in the back to gain access.

[ARWadsworth]

In which case it could go in the loft.

I put them on the wall behind an adjacent

Similar to what I normally do, although I prefer to mount the spur at the back on top of the cupboard (if there is a cornice to hide it) or on the side of the cupboard if it is inside.

Adam

[Al]

I toyed with the idea of putting it behind the chimney decor, but ended up just putting it on the wall next to a double socket. Then again, I was re-tiling. Looks OK to me, but then I'm just a humble engineer!

Al

[Steve]

Thanks for the replies all. The cooker hood is on a wall by itself so no cupboards to conceal it.I think Adams suggestion about putting the spur in the loft would be just the thing as the cable has to come from the loft in the first place so cheers for that. Thanks again Steve

[Andrew Gabriel]

Strictly speaking, the isolating switch must be of a type which can be locked in the off position if it's far enough away from the appliance that it isn't under the direct control of the person working on the appliance (which would certainly be the case if it's in a different room). I can't imagine anyone's going to get upset in this case, but I doubt future owners of the house will find it either, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't have a clue what it was for.

[ARWadsworth]

I can imagine a bit of head scratching for the future owners. The switch could be engraved for a few quid, or just labelled up with permanent marker. If it saves damage to the kitchen decor it is still a reasonable option.

On the point of lockable switches I was asked by an NIC inspector to change an unswitched fused spur that powered a burgular alarm to a switched fused spur and use a lock to keep it in the on position to prevent accidental switching.

Adam