new kitchen nightmare!!!!

BADPENNY_2

Hi,

Hoping somebody can give me some advise. We had a new kithchen and appliances fitted last week by a small local company. We are happy with the kitchen however upon using the hob for the 1st time last saturday it blew all the electrics in the house, my oh checked the obvious, fuse, plug ect but couldn't find anything wrong and it continues to blow all the electrics even when the plug isn't swithched on. As this happened on sat we couldn't report it to the company until tues due to the bank hol. In the meantime we discovered that the freezer was faulty as all our food defrosted in it. On thursday the kitchen company sent out the guy who fitted the kitchen and he agreed that the freezer ws definatly faulty but was baffeld as to what was wrong with the hob. He checked the electrics ect and said that it wasn't a fault with the fit ect but proberbly a fault with the unit. He then said that the appliances come with a warrenty and that we need to get in touch with the manufacturer. Surely this is incorrect, I thought that when you purchased items you had a contract with the supplier not the manufactrer. I could understand if the items had ben installed for a while but they havn't worked from day 1. can somebody please advise as I am fuming!:mad:.

thanks,

arcon5

Your contract and rights are with the retailer, not the manufacturer.

So you can remind them of their obligations under SOGA and have them deal with it all -- but all they will do is contact the manufacturer on your behalf so sometimes it is easier to deal with the manufacturer yourself.

If you want the store to do it, insist they recify the faults as per their legal obligations and don't let them fob you off with this 'contact the manufacturer' nonsense.

shaun_from_Africa

One point to remember is despite what the retailer may tell you, your legal rights in this instance entitle you to either a full refund or replacment units and you don't have to allow them to attempt a repair.

This is because the goods were faulty upon purchase/installation and as such, you are legally entitled to reject them.
If they were to have become faulty at a later date then the remedy is up to the retailer to decide on.

Optimist

They fitted a new hob and didn't test it ? I am of the opinion there is a requirement to issue a Part P certificate when electrical work is done to a kitchen or at the least a minor works certificate. Did this happen ?

As others have said your issue is with the retailer.

bris

You dont need a part p certificate for a plug in appliance.

Optimist

bris wrote: »

You dont need a part p certificate for a plug in appliance.

If it is a new kitchen there is a good possibility that electrical work is required not just plugging in a new appliance.

My new kitchen came with a Part P certificate.

shaun_from_Africa

Badpenny,

Do you happen to know the power rating of the hob? (This will be on a dataplate somewhere on it, or if you can't see it, somewhere in the instruction manual.
The maximum power rating for anything plugged in is about 3KW (this equates to about 13 amps), and many hobs will easily exceed this.
The one I have in my kitchen is a 4 ring ceramic hob and the total power required if I have all 4 hobs on the go is 8.3KW.
Even 2 rings would be enough to trip the power if it was to be plugged in instead of being hard wired.

I know this wouldn't explain why the power trips even with it turned off (unless one of the wires overheated and has burnt insulation causing this to happen), but it would be worth making sure that it is designed to be plugged in.

Markee

Optimist wrote: »

If it is a new kitchen there is a good possibility that electrical work is required not just plugging in a new appliance.

My new kitchen came with a Part P certificate.

Part P testing is on the electrical installation and not appliances (that's covered by Portable Appliance Testing or PAT - you have probably seen stickers on equipment at work, not relevant in domestic dwellings though) so normally appliances are unplugged or isolated when testing is carried out. So, you could have a situation where you have a perfectly safe electrical installation covered with a Part P cert, but have a faulty appliance.

It's a little surprising the installers didn't at least carry out a functional test on the hob etc on completion...

Optimist

Markee wrote: »

Part P testing is on the electrical installation and not appliances (that's covered by Portable Appliance Testing or PAT - you have probably seen stickers on equipment at work, not relevant in domestic dwellings though) so normally appliances are unplugged or isolated when testing is carried out. So, you could have a situation where you have a perfectly safe electrical installation covered with a Part P cert, but have a faulty appliance.

It's a little surprising the installers didn't at least carry out a functional test on the hob etc on completion...

I obviously implied that Part P was required for plugging in new electrical appliances not electrical work in the kitchen although rereading it I am not sure how I gave that impression, but as I am not an electrician maybe that is how it read.

The question was relating to the entire instillation not just the hob as leaving a hob without checking that it works seems somewhat shoddy which would reflect in the rest of the work.

Part P will apply mainly to dwelling houses and flats including gardens and outbuildings such as sheds, detached garages and greenhouses.

• Small jobs such as provision of a socket-outlet or a light switch on an existing circuit will not need to be notified to Building Control (although there will be some exceptions for high risk areas such as kitchens and bathrooms).
• All work that involves adding a new circuit to a dwelling, or electrical work in kitchens and bathrooms or in 'special locations' (see table) will need to be either notified to Building Control with a building regulation application or carried out by a competent person who is registered with a Part P Self-Certification Scheme.