Can you install a cooker yourself or do you need to get a professional to do it?
Posted by idkausernameffs@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 54 comments
So we just bought a new cooker after the old one finally packed up and the gf wants me to install it rather than us pay the installation fee lol. Can you do it yourself or is it something an electrician needs to do?
Embarrassed_Park2212@reddit
I would definitely get a professional in to fit your cooker.
My ex husband fit the electric cooker and many years later the element on the fan oven went so got an electrician to fit the new one and he asked who fitted this cooker in. After I said the ex husband, he said well he's left a wire out and if it had touch any other part of the oven, I would have been electrocuted.
Now whether he did that intentionally......
greylord123@reddit
You don't need a professional. There's only 3 cables. Live, neutral and earth.
Your ex didn't connect the earth.
knight-under-stars@reddit
Yeah you can do it yourself.
If its electric then its not really much different to wiring a plug.
If its gas then its even easier, it's just a collar you pull back and push the pipe into place.
Ben_jah_min@reddit
^dont be this guy.
“It’s even easier…” Sounds like I’d be sticking a massive red sticker your cooker upon inspection…
Pedantichrist@reddit
How can plugging in the gas hose get anyone a red sticker?
Ben_jah_min@reddit
The gas hose doesn’t come pre plumbed for a start and the fact that you’re ignorant to all the other regs that also come along with the installation of a gas appliance
Pedantichrist@reddit
If you are replacing one gas cooker with another, yes it does.
Ben_jah_min@reddit
Guess I’m just making it up, I only do it for a living.🤦♂️
Pedantichrist@reddit
I believe you do, but as a matter of verifiable fact, if I pull out a gas cooker I can pull out the already plumber in hose and push it straight into another cooker.
knight-under-stars@reddit
If I manage to fuck up something that simple I deserve the sticker.
Ben_jah_min@reddit
Consideration for a stability device, clearances, ventilation are the common culprits tbh pal. Idiots using standard ptfe for a gas fitting, the lack of equipment to actually test the installation or their safety devices are a few more. Glad I’m not your neighbour tbh, it’s more than your own house you’ll explode when you’ve ’deserved a big red sticker’ but your ego has prevented you from actually getting it tested by someone that does it for a living…
knight-under-stars@reddit
Ego has nothing to do with it. Its a simple to use bayonet fitting.
Ben_jah_min@reddit
That doesn’t come pre fitted on any cooker and therefore are doing illegal gas work by fitting one. Please stop with this nonsense. Or don’t whatever… just don’t encourage other muppets to do the same.
idkausernameffs@reddit (OP)
Tbh I have no idea how to wire a plug, DIY was never my strong suit 😂😭
sihasihasi@reddit
If you're asking the question here, and don't even know how to wire a plug, then perhaps this is a task best left to the professionals.
knight-under-stars@reddit
It's 3 wires. 30 seconds on Google and you will be able to do it.
V65Pilot@reddit
That said, I've been called to install cookers that someone else has tried to install.....
f8rter@reddit
Nothing like a cooker circuit to find out the consequences of fcuking it up
Ryansdad123@reddit
This is correct the fitting is designed to be changed by the customer
Emotional-Ebb8321@reddit
If it's gas, you need an engineer. Anything else, you might need help moving it into position, but otherwise is literally just plug it in and turn on the power switch.
seemsung@reddit
Not necessarily if there's a fast connector. It is designed to be replaceable by the customer. If you are not renting, gas safety cert is not a legal requirement.
Emotional-Ebb8321@reddit
Well, technically you can install a gas cooker yourself. But unless you can show that the person who installed it had appropriate certification, there's a good chance it will invalidate your home insurance. Which might be something to think about if you like having home insurance.
But yeah, yolo the hell out of it if you like saving money on certifications.
seemsung@reddit
All I said it's not a legal requirement, not that it's a good idea. Get off your high horse :)
Emotional-Ebb8321@reddit
Well since you raised that, it actually is a legal requirement. You would in fact be breaking the law if you installed it yourself. However, it's unlikely that anyone would bring charges against you for doing your own work unqualified.
Pedantichrist@reddit
That covers fitting a fast connector. If one outs already in place then attaching it to a cooker is not covered, I believe.
Emotional-Ebb8321@reddit
You are allowed to unplug and plug back in the same cooker without an engineer. But you can't plug in a new cooker by yourself. Part of the new cooker installation process is checking the new device for gas leaks. An installation job is not just plug and play, even when there is a fast connector.
Pedantichrist@reddit
I do not think that is true with cookers. The legislation you showed certainly did not appear to need to show that. Do you have more legislation to hand?
seemsung@reddit
I stand corrected.
HowCanYouBanAJoke@reddit
Now kiss.
Runaroundheadless@reddit
👍😂
idkausernameffs@reddit (OP)
Is it that simple?
Pedantichrist@reddit
If you already have an electric cooker off the same wattage then it is easy.
If not then get someone in.
If it is gas then definitely do it yourself, you just plug the pipe in. You cannot go wrong with a collar fitting. If it is not in right then it will not work, and if it works then it is in right.
Al-Calavicci@reddit
Despite previous replies I wouldn’t be pissing about with gas. Electricity if you wire a plug you you wire a cooker.
idkausernameffs@reddit (OP)
Yeah it's electric.
Gellert@reddit
Was the old one electric? Were they roughly the same power rating?
It's not quite as simple as just plugging it in. Electric cookers draw quite a bit of power, are typically in a larger breaker and use a larger power cable. It probably sounds stupid but before you do anything make sure the main breaker is powered off, isolator to if you have one.
astromech_dj@reddit
You have to make sure the circuit breaker it’s on can handle the current. We had to upgrade ours because it was set up on a low amperage fuse switch.
DaveBeBad@reddit
Last 2 ovens I bought came with a plug already fitted. Unscrew from the unit, slide old one out, unplug from wall. Plug new one in, slide in, check it works, then screw into unit.
10 minutes work. You might need some help to lift
Runaroundheadless@reddit
Aye. New days. Peezy. About 30 min all in with tea break and discussion about how it can not be this easy.
KeyserSoze0000@reddit
You can do it yourself, make sure you get the correct wire/cable, mine didn't come with one.
idkausernameffs@reddit (OP)
They don't come with the wire!?
ravenshill@reddit
The last integrated electric cooker I bought had a terminal block at the back and needed to be connected directed to the power cable by stripping the wires back (like wiring a plug, as others have said). This meant I could use the existing cable that had been connected to the old cooker.
KeyserSoze0000@reddit
Mine didn't.
The manual will tell you what wire/cable you need if it does not come with one.
Jezbod@reddit
Remember some cookers wire in to a switched unfused spur, which needs to be isolated at the panel before you do any work. 30 amps will give you the last jolt of your life...
If the switch is fused, remove the fuse to do the work, as far as I know...I use gas.
Far-Bug-6985@reddit
My dads an electrician and wired mine so that if the cooker and separate gas hob were both on, it gave you a shock, so I’d save your money and cock it up yourself tbh
NoVermicelli3192@reddit
Prepare to die.
MercatorLondon@reddit
Make sure you have right Power Wattage for that cooker. And the right fuse box.
Your wiring in the wall may be not sufficient for the more modern hobs.
But if you need to learn about this I would just pay that £60 installation fee.
1HeyMattJ@reddit
If you know what you’re doing you can otherwise I’d get someone who does know what they’re doing.
No-Tap3230@reddit
We bought our house from DIY "experts" who had wired in the cooker themselves. The on/off switch started to make a ticking sound and was warm to the touch. So my advice is to get someone else to do it.
Rocky-bar@reddit
It's quite easy, but as you aren't capable of wiring a plug, you should probably get someone else to do it, rather than fucking it up set the thing alight.
RoyofBungay@reddit
Electric cooker - I would get an electrician to install the cooker and a kill switch where possible.
f8rter@reddit
“Cooker”?????
If gas is involved you need a GasSafe verified installer. Illegal to do otherwise
Electricity just reconnect to existing spurs or socket, proving loadings are not higher
Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit
If it’s gas you’ll need a gas fitter if it’s lec you can do it yourself. I’ve got a built in double oven and I’m on my third one. We just buy them second hand off gumtree coz I’m not buying a new one till my extension is finished
Breakwaterbot@reddit
You can do it yourself if it's electric
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