I've moved house and have had a full re-wire and new kitchen fitted in Nov 2020, incl a new electric oven and gas hob. The oven is a Bosch HBG675BS1B. We only actually moved into the properly on 21st Dec. On 23rd Dec (not good timing!) the oven stopped functioning and would not power on. The electricity didn't trip off and the cooker switch neon still illuminated (electric ignition of gas hob above still worked).
Miraculously I managed to get a Bosch contractor to come out on Christmas Eve to take a look. He and I were very surprised to find that the oven and hob were actually connected to a double socket behind the appliance, so the 45A DP cooker switch must just be controlling the power to the double socket. I thought that the cooker was wired directly to the cooker switch, but I was wrong. The Bosch contractor said that this is dodgy, and showed me that this is a 3.6Kw oven and so I understand that a 16A current is required. Therefore it would be impossible for a 13A plug/socket to be OK.
The Bosch contractor plugged in some diagnostic tool which was in the shape of a plug to the double socket, I'm afraid I do not know much about what it showed but he said it was showing a lot of red instead of green, and if he shook it about it would go green. The Bosch guy thought that perhaps the wiring in the socket had overheated and the wiring was not sound inside the double socket anymore. When he plugged the oven back in (to the same possibly dodgy socket) for testing it started working again. He has given me a piece of paper to say that he's looked and that its not fitted in accordance with regulations, dangerous and I should not use it until an Electrician has rectified the issue.
As further info, the oven is not on a completely dedicated circuit, instead it is on a dedicated circuit shared by all kitchen sockets. On the EIC it says that the rating is 20A for this kitchen circuit, which to a clueless person like me sounds like its too low for fridge, oven, dishwasher, toaster, kettle. However in reality this is a discrepancy as when I checked the CU I understand that there is really a 32A breaker for this circuit (BG CUCRB32).
The kitchen fitting was done by a builder at the same time as the re-wire, the full re-wire was conducted by a combination of builder and electrician. I was given an EIC for the work with no observations/abnormalities.
I'm going to get in touch with the Builder who arranged all the work, so he can get the electrician in to sort it out (not him). I would like to give them the opportunity to rectify this work. However I just need some advice:
Miraculously I managed to get a Bosch contractor to come out on Christmas Eve to take a look. He and I were very surprised to find that the oven and hob were actually connected to a double socket behind the appliance, so the 45A DP cooker switch must just be controlling the power to the double socket. I thought that the cooker was wired directly to the cooker switch, but I was wrong. The Bosch contractor said that this is dodgy, and showed me that this is a 3.6Kw oven and so I understand that a 16A current is required. Therefore it would be impossible for a 13A plug/socket to be OK.
The Bosch contractor plugged in some diagnostic tool which was in the shape of a plug to the double socket, I'm afraid I do not know much about what it showed but he said it was showing a lot of red instead of green, and if he shook it about it would go green. The Bosch guy thought that perhaps the wiring in the socket had overheated and the wiring was not sound inside the double socket anymore. When he plugged the oven back in (to the same possibly dodgy socket) for testing it started working again. He has given me a piece of paper to say that he's looked and that its not fitted in accordance with regulations, dangerous and I should not use it until an Electrician has rectified the issue.
As further info, the oven is not on a completely dedicated circuit, instead it is on a dedicated circuit shared by all kitchen sockets. On the EIC it says that the rating is 20A for this kitchen circuit, which to a clueless person like me sounds like its too low for fridge, oven, dishwasher, toaster, kettle. However in reality this is a discrepancy as when I checked the CU I understand that there is really a 32A breaker for this circuit (BG CUCRB32).
The kitchen fitting was done by a builder at the same time as the re-wire, the full re-wire was conducted by a combination of builder and electrician. I was given an EIC for the work with no observations/abnormalities.
I'm going to get in touch with the Builder who arranged all the work, so he can get the electrician in to sort it out (not him). I would like to give them the opportunity to rectify this work. However I just need some advice:
- During a full re-wire / new installation should the oven have been put on a dedicated circuit? Or is this just a recommendation and it is acceptable to be on a shared circuit with all kitchen sockets (single electric oven is the only large appliance with high consumption).
- Should the oven have been wired directly to the DP cooker switch? Instead of 13A socket.
- Is it acceptable for the electric ignition of the gas hob to share the cooker switch?
- The NICEIC contractor has signed that reasonable care was taken to design, construct and test the work. Surely this is a lie if it has been wired as above and in the test results table it says 20A rating for kitchen sockets instead of 32A.
- The builder arranged the electric subbie, having seen this should I have some concerns that corners have been cut with the design, construction and testing? I would like to think that no-one would sign something off which wasn't right, as they have nothing to gain from that, but now this issue has put doubts in my mind.
- TL;DR
- Full re-wire conducted, 3.6kw oven connected to 13A socket and signed off as OK, now I need advice on how to follow up.