I'm fairly sure that when this house was rewired that the cable from the consumer unit to the cooker point was 6mm, but recent discussion here has discussed 10mm and even 16mm.
Has the standard changed over the years?
Had recently fitted two 6mm supplies for me and I got the impression it was fairly standard. That was for a separate hob and oven though so depending on your meaning/intention of the term 'cooker point' things might be different?
^^^
That should be *Adam* not *Had* (bloody phone)
6mm is normal but it does depend on cable routing. Perhaps newer homes have more likelihood the cable is running in insulation. 4mm is the minimum cable size for a 32A radial :-)
Owain
The cable size depends on the cooker kW or current rating, the cicuit length and the installation conditions e.g under insulation or clipped direct.
There is probably a wider availability of more powerful cookers (or hob / oven combinations) than in the past.
However 6mm^2 is a fairly common choice in most cases. Note also that you can apply fairly generous diversity adjustments to cookers in a domestic situation, and that tends to lower the design load quite a bit.
See:
Thanks.
Interesting Wiki, especially the chapter on electronics repair.
I would have said quite the opposite. It's quite common for an oven to be low enough power to use a standard plug.
Cookers cover a wide range. Some are fine on 2.5mm or 1.5mm, some demand 6mm. 10 & 16 square mm are a bit OTT for domestic kit, though I'm sure you'll find sufficiently extravagant cookers if you look.
NT
But now multi-ring, multi-oven ?range? cookers are fashionable...
Tim
True, but its not usually the oven that is the main load with separate components. Hobs with a maximum demand of 7kW are not uncommon. Whereas that would have been very high for a complete "electric cooker" of the 70's
These things go in cycles.
The Aga like range things seem to come into vogue every few years, to be replaced by separate hobs an ovens for a while.
I actually like the range style, in fact we looked seriously at an Aga but decided they were more suited to old houses and ones which were ?built around? the kitchen almost. I even had the surveyor check the kitchen floor would take the weight before we bought the house. Senior Management wanted a sleek modern hob and oven so we ended up with an induction hob and a couple of fan ovens, one is also a microwave etc. Both have grills. The induction hob is excellent. In retrospect, I wish we?d gone for the 6 ring although now there are (mostly) only two of us at home 4 is fine. When everyone is here etc just having the 4 can require some shuffling of pans etc.
Eldest bought a house which has a very nice looking range style cooker in it. I?m not sure of the make but AKAIK they are happy with it. They needed to replace the glass on the door (it got broken when cleaning it) but, other than that, it has been no trouble.
I think some of the ?combi? ovens are on the border line for being suitable to be plugged into a socket.
I recall when we were buying our kitchen, the company checking if the one we had selected required an extra spur or could run from a socket.
We?ve also got a stand alone combi, which we bought before the new kitchen but still works, and it runs off a normal socket.
Get a bluetooth keyboard. Brian
I've a Belling that was given to me in early '80s; it had 4x2kW radiant rings on the hob. One is now 1100W. I rarely use more than one at a time - just as well, as it's on a 30A MCB. The cable isn't all that long and is in mini-trunking and above the ceiling, so I could get away with a 40A MCB. It has a standard oven and two grill elements, so the whole load is over 40A by a bit.
So if you assume a max load of 40A and apply diversity - take 10A of the actual load, then 30% of the remainder you get 10 + 0.3 x 30 = 19A, So in reality a 32A circuit will be fine. (a 32A MCB will likely carry 40A indefinitely[1])
[1]
That triggers a memory from over 40 years ago; when considering the fuses to be fitted to electronic assemblies.
It went something along the lines of buy American fuses and they're guaranteed to blow at the rated current, but British fuses are guaranteed to withstand the rated current!
Indeed - I consulted that when I was changing an MCB. As I use most of the elements from not a lot to close to never I try to remember to turn them on once a year to keep them dry. That's when I have to be careful - diversity doesn't apply! Usually do 2 rings, grill, oven - preferably on a frosty morning so that the heat is useful.
Some cookers got chunkier - in particular induction and the concept of the Range cooker. The latter in induction mode can pull frightening amounts of power.
I'm not sure I remember diversity after cleaning the hob.
It's on a 13 amp plug (temporarily since 2016). Hasn't blown yet though.
Owain
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