Electric built in oven - is it safe to plug it in instead of hardwiring it?

frank_olaf

Hi,

I need a new oven and have found one on AO that comes with a plug attached and has an electrical connection of 2.85KW and a Fuse Rating of 13 amps. Based on this, it seems like I can just plug the oven into a normal socket and it will work.

My question is, would you recommend this or is it better to have it hardwired? I've read in a few places that having it plugged in isn't ideal because an oven can be one for multiple hours at a time and that level of load should be placed on a dedicated circuit (see comment #7 here, https://community.screwfix.com/threads/advice-please-can-i-plug-in-a-single-electric-oven.143467/).

Thanks for any advice.

TadleyBaggie

I'd always want an oven on it's on circuit as it could be taking in excess of 10 amps when it use. So if it is on the same circuit as other appliances that heat (e.g. dishwasher, washing machine, dryer) you could end up pulling quite a load from the circuit.

coffeehound

The guy's comment on the other forum suggests using a socket that is installed on the dedicated cooker circuit, rather than just any socket on a ring main.  That sounds like a good solution as it would avoid overloading a ring main circuit, plus it would retain the 13 amp fuse in the plug to protect the cooker's flex.

frank_olaf

My knowledge of electronics is very basic so I don't fully understand what this means but my old oven was wired into a socket but in the fuse box it was on the same fuse as lots of other things, so when that fuse tripped, the oven would go off but so would the phone, the lights in the living room and all the plugs in the living room.

Does that mean it wasn't on its own circuit anyway, so plugging a new oven directly into a socket would be the same thing? 

Thanks

coffeehound

That does sound like a bad situation if the lights are also on the same circuit as sockets as that goes against the regulations.  It sounds like the wiring was not done by a qualified electrician

TadleyBaggie

If ceiling lights and socket connected items were going off at the same time, it couldn't be an MCB, as lighting circuit and ring main( should) would be using separate MCBs. Might have been the common RCD that was tripping...

Carrot007

coffeehound said:

That does sound like a bad situation if the lights are also on the same circuit as sockets as that goes against the regulations.  It sounds like the wiring was not done by a qualified electrician

Presumably same rcd not circuit.

Ebe_Scrooge

If it's 2.85 KW that's getting damned close to the limit for a standard 13-amp circuit.  Plug a kettle into the same circuit at the same time as the oven is on and you'll probably find the circuit breaker trips.  So yes, you could just plug it into the ring main - but it'll be far better to have it on its own circuit.

What's your existing oven plugged into? If it's a gas oven then you may well find it's plugged into a standard socket, as you only need a little bit of juice to power the ignition.  But if it's electric, I'd be surprised if it's not on its own circuit already.

TadleyBaggie

Ebe_Scrooge said:

If it's 2.85 KW that's getting damned close to the limit for a standard 13-amp circuit.  

I think you are getting confused between ratings of circuits and individual sockets. All my ring circuits are rated at 32 Amps, sockets at 13 Amps. In theory you could overload a circuit by loading 3 sockets.

frank_olaf

The old oven is an electric one. I've attached a picture of the socket (but hard to see because there is a gas pipe in front of it )

I've also attached a picture of the fuse box. The one in the red rectangle is the one that tripped.

TadleyBaggie

Clearly an RCD which will protect multiple circuits.

Technically that is not a fuse box (there are no fuses), it's a distribution box.