DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad Electricians

Another week and yet another electrical issue located during a Periodic Inspection.  This is the kind of issue we see on  regular basis. When we removed the oven to test the cooker circuit we found two connections to a single spur which under certain circumstances would be correct. Under this circumstance however all is not good, correct or safe.

These photos highlight the issue of two appliances with different current requirements hooked up incorrectly. What is correct is that the electric hob is wired with a 6mmT&E cable to the cooker connection point. That’s it! Note the LARGE hole that has been cut into the connection cover and that the earth had not been properly sleeved!

The built under oven is a fan assist unit and requires a hookup to a 13amp supply. This is where problems really begin with this installation. The circuit breaker is rated at 32amp which is correct for the hob but not correct for the cooker. The cooker requirement is 13 amp and therefore that is what it should be.  Why the big deal over this?

The big deal is that if a short circuit does happen within the cooker the fuse is double the amperage it should be. So when the fuse should go BANG it doesn’t! That in turn causes metal to vapourise, plastic to burn and the very good possibility that the live side of the circuit could energise the cooker housing. Not good for your heart or your house and in this case it’s a rental property.  As I’ve said before “you wouldn’t want to injure a tenant would you?”

The solution here was to remove the oven from the cooker circuit and plug it in via a 13amp plug instead. The connection cover was easy enough to replace and of course we also placed an earth shield over the exposed earth cable. We tested the circuit and with everything looking safe we put it all back together.

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