Inset electric fire - where does the plug go?

Mander

This is probably a very stupid question but I have never seen an electric fire in person (we never had such a thing in the US!).

The existing gas fire is broken and the chimney does not draw fumes/smoke out of the house. It will apparently need a lot of expensive work to repair the chimney, plus the cost of replacing the fire, and I can't afford it. But I am going to either sell or rent the house soon and I want to have a functional fire before I do, so I want to install an inset electric fire instead. The fire surround/hearth is fine so I'm looking for a drop-in replacement.

Anyway, here's the stupid part. How do you plug in an inset fire? Does the cord come out of the back, and if so, how do you get the plug outside of the chimney breast and plugged into an outlet? All the instruction booklets say not to wire it in directly and not to put the outlet inside the chimney breast, so I will need to a new outlet that's close enough to plug it in. Does this mean having a cord dangling out from under the front of the fire, trailing around the hearth and then stuck into a regular outlet?

I'm having trouble visualizing how this works and how to make it look nice.

Owain_Moneysaver

Drill hole in side of chimney breast

Take plug off fire cord, feed cord through hole from the inside, then put the plug back on.

rustyboy21

Its a difficult one, as you are keeping the existing fireplace, so any cabling will be routed around the leg of the surround and then plugged into a wall socket.


The reason why the manufacturers say it is not to be plugged into a socket directly behind the fire, is due to needing somewhere you can isolate the fire. There is nothing wrong with taking the plug off and wiring it into a fused spur socket like this....


http://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-13a-double-pole-switched-fused-connection-unit-white/86116?kpid=86116&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%20Listing%20Ads-_-Sales%20Tracking-_-sales%20tracking%20url&kpid=86116&cm_mmc=Google-_-Shopping%20-%20Lighting-_-Shopping%20-%20Lighting&gclid=Cj0KEQjwrPqnBRD56dGe1o_WlZsBEiQAb5ugty4gByC0pdJcNj4PCw47jJWMgj-Bm3MrbelpnpztAQ8aAhv98P8HAQ


but you must be able to switch it off AWAY from the fire itself.


If you surround is a wodden one, you could pull it away from the wall and feed the wire down the back of it. All the fires have wires that come out of the bottom back of the fire, some with kettle plugs, some hard wired in. If you can choose one with a kettle plug attachment, you can buy longer lengths in the sheds or online. Like this


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Tex-Kettle-Power-Extension-meters/dp/B003U75ZT6


Failing that, as the manufacturer only supplies a lead of about 1m length, you could fit an extension lead close to the fireplace and then connect into that.


As I said, its a hard one, as you are keeping the existing surround. The only other way is to drill right through the side of the chimney breast into the flue and then feed cable through that. Just remember though, if you have any issues with the fire, then you will come up with a possibility of voiding any warranty, as you have ''messed about'' with the cable, so I would look at a fire with a kettle plug attachment first.

jeallen01

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Drill hole in side of chimney breast

Take plug off fire cord, feed cord through hole from the inside, then put the plug back on.

The appliance power cord of a fixed appliance must be wired to a fused-spur outlet, not plugged into a 3-pin socket - but an existing single 3-pin socket can easily be replaced by a fused-spur unit as the size and fixings are the same. Given that the OP is from the US, this needs to be done by a qualified electrician!


PS: the US National Electrical Code (NEC) does not permit, or even conceive of, fused-spur units, but the UK does!

Risteard

jeallen01 wrote: »

The appliance power cord of a fixed appliance must be wired to a fused-spur outlet, not plugged into a 3-pin socket

What Regulation had you in mind for that?

PS: the US National Electrical Code (NEC) does not permit, or even conceive of, fused-spur units, but the UK does!

Fused connection units only exist owing to the ring final circuit which is not used in almost every part of the world.