Gas/Electric cookers, no electric supply, HELP!!

jaime123

Hi all,,

I moved into my house 2 weeks ago but needed to find a cooker as one wasnt left in the house (as i expected)

I have been looking at cookers in currys, comet, on the internet but all cookers now seem to need a three pin socket at least for connection.

In the space where the cooker is going, there is a gas supply but no electric socket. I would run an extension lead under the carpet but i have only got laminate.

I have been told that gas cookers used to have a battery in them for the spark, rather than the spark needing the three pin plug.

It seems like the only option for me is to route a new socket to the space by the cooker, but this means digging out plaster, ripping off tiles and isnt really a viable option due to budget.

Can anyone please help and advise what i could do as im fed up of microwave food!!

Thanks

SailorSam

When they're fitting cookers the socket for them is often hidden away under the units, Take out a drawer or look inside a cupboard. Where the cooker is see can you see where a hole has been drilled in a unit where the cable could have gone through.

Jaynne

Any fridges or freezers may have an undercounter socket and would be easier to run an extension lead from under the cabinets.

Ben84

Using an extension lead for the controls and light bulb in a gas cooker is fine as they're low wattage, but it's a bad option for an electric cooker which will regularly be using large amounts of electricity for extended periods of time. Anything high wattage, like an electric fire or cooker should be plugged directly in to a socket.

Also, before you buy an electric cooker to use with a regular socket you should consider how suitable your electrical supply is. I'm not too comfortable with the advice you can use electric cookers on the socket circuit anyway as often houses already have electrical circuits which are being strained with the many devices we have today. For example, our four bedroom house was wired in the 1960s and has one fuse supplying a circuit that feeds all the sockets in the house and a spur for the immersion heater. Every room already has extension leads and those cubes - adding an electric cooker would really strain it.

Anyway, if you need to, adding a fused individual supply for an electric cooker doesn't have to mean removing tiles or plaster - you can probably run a cable from the fuse box to under the floor and drop it down from the ceiling above the cooker in conduit.

muckybutt

Any new circuit in a kitchen also requires it being installed and signed off by a Part P registered electrician to comply with building regs.