1970 Tricity oven, re-use the oven point?

[Money pit]

Hi. I’m new to the site and forum so excuse if this is uninformed/ repeat post.

We bought a house, hence username! The kitchen is the original 1970s complete with built in Tricity oven and separate grill. The grill works but not the oven.

As a temporary fix until the kitchen is thoroughly updated we wondered about just replacing the oven/ grill unit as the kitchen unit size is metric and likely to be able to transfer to a new unit eventually. Hopefully.

It occurred to me that the oven point might be too out of date for an electrician to be happy to fit a temporary oven before we have a new kitchen and possibly rewire the house.

Any thoughts?

[evingar]

I think it really depends on the condition of the switch gear. If it's OK (not physically damaged or encased in cooking grease) I don't think the age should be an issue. I'm sure someone conversant with part<whatever it is now> will be along to give a definitive answer

[Station X]

We need a picture of the oven point. However any decision as to whether to use it would rest with the electrician doing the work.

[Lancs Lad]

That's just what I was about to say, but Graham got there first!

Yes, pictures please. We like pictures ��

[The Philpott]

The electrician could turn the job down if the switch is less than a certain distance from the oven/cooker. (Can't remember but i think it is a Metre...?) This is one to watch as you could still get lumbered with the callout charge.

Dave

[G6Tanuki]

Does the "oven point" have an integral 13A socket?

If so, assuming you choose a temporary oven of suitable rating you could simply plug it into the 13A socket. Remember that you can use 'diversity' here - you're unlikely to be both grilling and ovening at the same time! if you use a decent quality 13A plugb it should handle it OK: I ran a 4-ring/oven/grill cooker off a 13A socket for some time while I was rebuilding my kitchen and never blew the 13A fuse.

[Refugee]

I fitted a new built in oven before last Christmas.
It was rated at 2KW maximum and 800W running.
I wired it to a good quality 13 amp plug and it has been fine.
The hob is gas.

[paulsherwin]

I bought a mini oven for about £50 about a year ago. It was bought as a stopgap as the regulo thermostat on my main gas oven had started to misbehave (since fixed). I've found it very useful for roasting small joints, cooking oven chips and pizzas etc. without the need to heat up the main oven. It will roast a medium sized chicken. It just plugs into a standard power socket.

[Herald1360]

Ditto-ish.

I recently bought a freestanding dual fuel gas hob electric oven cooker. It came with the usual fitted 13A plug mains lead. This conveniently reached to the 13A socket above the cooker from which the old gas cooker's mains feed for its ignition unit was fed.

2kW is a common rating for ovens and well within reasonable quality 13A plug/socket capabilities.

[Money pit]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try with the photos.

[steptoesyard]

You will need to check the size of the cabinet, I got bitten by this. A few years ago my grandparents still had their Belling built in double oven from the 1970`s, and as I couldn`t repair it they bought a new one. I volunteered to go over and do the swap for them, esy job I though...............

Nope, the old one was 100mm taller than the new one, and very slightly narrower! Not good, so just check the dimensions first

[Bazz4CQJ]

Is there potential for a 'chain reaction' here, where you ask an electrician to look at the cooker outlet, but then he questions the earthing connections and says he also needs to see if the Consumer Unit meets the present codes... and it may not do, and suddenly there is serious "mission creep". The idea of some kind of mini-oven may be attractive as low-cost way to get started.

A friend and his wife have just bought their first house; it's an oldish semi and needs quite a lot of work doing on it. He showed me some pictures of the "wiring" in the kitchen which had emerged only after they moved in and started to explore. IIRC, it looked as if someone had connected a pair of twin-gang wall sockets (i.e 4 sockets) via concealed flex to a single thirteen amp plug which was in just about the only "real" socket in the room. Probably worked like that for 20 or 30 years!

B

[Herald1360]

In the pictures area, possibly the most useful one to have would be a picture of where and how the existing oven picks up its mains supply. The only cooker related switch in the pics is above the hob- does that control both or just the hob?

AFAIK a non compliant existing Consumer Unit doesn't have to be replaced- as long as there's nothing wrong with the original installation anyway.

If the flex mentioned was at least 1.5 sqmm decent quality and a decent quality plug was fused at 13A there's no particular hazard resulting, whatever the rights and wrongs might be. It's just a multiway extension lead

[Lancs Lad]

That looks like an MK cooker switch, so it's of decent quality.

Seems wrong for it to be right over the hob like that, though. A hot pan on that rear left ring could easily touch it, or it could have endured quite prolonged periods of being engulfed by hot steam from a boiling pan.

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by Lancs Lad

Seems wrong for it to be right over the hob like that, though. A hot pan on that rear left ring could easily touch it, or it could have endured quite prolonged periods of being engulfed by hot steam from a boiling pan.

Indeed: but it is the 'traditional' placement! Current-edition IEE wiring regulations now specify the placement of the isolator-switch so you shouldn't have to lean over the hob to access it. But there's no need to change an existing installation if it is still electrically safe.

(it's ages since I used the isolator on my cooker: switching off at the wall means further time will be wasted resetting the clock)

[broadgage]

It is PROBABLY OK for re-use, but only an experienced electrician can determine this for certain.
If the cooker switch is damaged or defective, then replacements are cheap.
Replacing the wiring TO the cooker switch starts to get expensive.

As above, beware of "mission creep" when what sounds like a relatively simple and affordable job turns into a hugely expensive saga.

I agree that a table top oven sounds attractive as an alternative.

[evingar]

The switch on my installation is identical to that one shown on your picture. I have just had a new consumer unit put in and the rest of the house wiring, inspected and signed off as OK.
The only work I had done was replacement of the bathroom spot lights to the correct and up-to-date IP standard. Bottom line I guess is the guy was happy with my cooker switch as a bit of hardware, but as has been mentioned, the location of it behind the hob on your installation seems completely daft and I doubt complies with modern thinking .

[Dave Moll]

Originally Posted by Lancs Lad

Seems wrong for it to be right over the hob like that, though.

Also, I would be easy to burn oneself if swiching off (or back on) while the rings are still hot. As already said though, as long as there is no requirement to replace the wiring to the switch, this should not be subject to retrospective compliance.

Behind the oven unit (hidden until the unit is moved) there should be a wiring-in point from which a length of twin & earth should go to the oven unit itself. If this cable currently goes straight into the wall (as I have seen on some older installations - probably earlier than this though), that cable will need to be terminated as described above, with a separate length to the oven unit.

[Richard]

What's wrong with the existing oven?

An easier solution may be to fix it.

Richard.

[paulsherwin]

It's 48 years old, so spares may be a problem. It does look attractive though, and I would try to save it if it were mine.