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Hi there!

I've just been gifted with an electric hob/oven. I already have a cooker circuit from the consumer unit with a wall switch. I've never done anything like this before, although I am always mindful of safety. My trouble lies in the wall switch. The box has a switch for the cooker and then another, normal wall switch and three-prong socket.

When I took the cover off the wall box, I could see where the cooker cable should be attached, although there didn't seem to be space for the earth wire. Also, there were two sets of wires from the consumer box, two live and two neutral. One set goes to the top of the plug system, for the socket and one set goes to the bottom, for the cooker. The wires for the cooker are held in by those screws like you get in plugs. Do I just need to have the live wires from the cooker and the consumer box stuck together, and the same with the neutral? What about the earth wire?

Here's a picture of the box and the screw things you get in plugs. Do I just need to connect the wires together inside one of these?

Hi Walkingbeard,

Welcome to the forum.

The cooker connection unit you describe sounds similar to one of these-

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro ... 6&ts=91108

It is a combined cooker control unit and socket, yours may be older than this obviously! I am not sure if they make them like you have described, where there is a seperate cable feeding the socket?

Just before we go any further I will just point you to the new rules page

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/new%20rules.htm

Do I just need to have the live wires from the cooker and the consumer box stuck together, and the same with the neutral? What about the earth wire?

NO- there is a double pole switch that seperates both live and Neutral. If like you say the wires from the consumer unit are wired to the bottom, then the cooker will need wiring to the other live and neutral terminals, that could be at the top of the enclosure. You cannot wire both lives and Neutrals to the same terminals or else the switch will not disconnect the supply!

The Earth wire needs connecting to the existing earth wire that is inside of the enclosure, there is no switched connection for the earth- it is permanent.


I don't suppose you can post a picture can you?