Installing your own oven ?

dinners

dinners

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Phil
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Got delivery of a new oven / cooker today and it's now sat in my kitchen as my wife waits impatiently for me to install it.

No cable etc so old one needs pulling out and new one wired onto the existing cable etc.

Not be too tricky - throw the mains - 3 wires etc but I couldn't do it in daylight today as I was working from home and needed the electricity on for the PC.

Anyway - It seems less and less folk are doing this sort of thing themselves these days.

The back of the oven has a small plate which I need to remove to wire it in but they're the oddest screws I've ever seen. A cross head screw driver doesn't fit and it seems none of my allen keys fit either.

Perhaps there's a warranty issue but there's nothing to help in the instructions.

Does nobody do this anymore ?
 
Are they the sort of star shaped screw heads? They're the tamper proof ones, designed to make you pay an electrician to install it. That's the reason no one does it any more, and of course, you may invalidate the warranty by doing it yourself. Might be worth reading the small print.
 
Could be a torx screw... Also known as a starbit...


There used on cars a lot... Most DIY shops should sell a set of torx screwdrivers!

Other than that I have no idea as I've never wired or touched an oven lol
 
JayD said:
Are they the sort of star shaped screw heads? They're the tamper proof ones, designed to make you pay an electrician to install it. That's the reason no one does it any more, and of course, you may invalidate the warranty by doing it yourself. Might be worth reading the small print.
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Eaxactly the sort of screw heads and exactly the sort of conspiricy I suspected :thumbs: Soft as butter too so they're easy to ruin.

Nothing in the small print either to indicate knackering the warranty. Just a fluffy one liner in big capitals saying 'Only to installed by a trained and experienced person'
 
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dinners said:
Eaxactly the sort of screw heads and exactly the sort of conspiricy I suspected :thumbs:

Nothing in the small print either to indicate knackering the warranty. Just some fluffy thing in big capitals saying 'Only to installed by a trained and experienced person'
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I suspect that the "only to be installed" part may be incriminating in that if you can't produce a certificate to prove it was installed by an electrician, they will say that you've knackered it.
Rip off Britain is about right these days.
 
You can usually buy a driver set with mixed heads at good hardware stores, may also require lugs which use a crimping tool as well. Large loads, so make sure everything is tight as loose connections generate heat. Im a sparky by trade, while it looks easy there are things that are easily overlooked.
 
Big grrr

Could probably get the screws out and replace them afterwards - they're only two little grub screws on a thin plate.

Everything behind that in terms of the wiring looks like normal heavy duty cross heads.

Cost of + installation was massive and it's only a bog standard Zanussi all electric oven.
 
Cuddy said:
You can usually buy a driver set with mixed heads at good hardware stores, may also require lugs which use a crimping tool as well. Large loads, so make sure everything is tight as loose connections generate heat. Im a sparky by trade, while it looks easy there are things that are easily overlooked.
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Could he invalidate a warranty by doing it himself? Is it something you've heard of?
 
The label is to protect them, so you won't sue if you end up with smoking curly hair. If the screws are not too tight, a flat bladed screwdriver will often work, if not torx driver sets are easily had.
 
dinners said:
Got delivery of a new oven / cooker today and it's now sat in my kitchen as my wife waits impatiently for me to install it.

No cable etc so old one needs pulling out and new one wired onto the existing cable etc.

Not be too tricky - throw the mains - 3 wires etc but I couldn't do it in daylight today as I was working from home and needed the electricity on for the PC.

Anyway - It seems less and less folk are doing this sort of thing themselves these days.

The back of the oven has a small plate which I need to remove to wire it in but they're the oddest screws I've ever seen. A cross head screw driver doesn't fit and it seems none of my allen keys fit either.

Perhaps there's a warranty issue but there's nothing to help in the instructions.

Does nobody do this anymore ?
Click to expand...

Kitchen is a reserved/ restricted area. Pretty sure you cannot install an electric cooker yourself without relevant qualifications.

Get a qualified person to do it. Much safer. Unless you have the right test equipment you won't be certain the old cable is even safe to use.
 
JayD said:
Could he invalidate a warranty by doing it himself? Is it something you've heard of?
Click to expand...

I'm not that fussed about the warranty.

It's a a bsic Zanussi £400 oven which I can wire in correctly providing I could undo two silly little grub screws to get into the wiring box at the back of the oven.

I've never had an oven need warranty in the past - the odd element over time but that's chips to replace compared to the + cost of installation these days.
 
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Shame you don't live closer to me Phil or I would have popped round and given you a hand to install it
 
dinners said:
Perhaps there's a warranty issue but there's nothing to help in the instructions.

Does nobody do this anymore ?
Click to expand...

It's not a warranty issue. You might wish to read Part P of the building regulations and the relevant piece of statute which gives it legal force.
 
I installed my gas oven. Literally 1 push fit connector hose and a mains plug.

We had an issue with a few months later and a tech came round to replace the thermostat under warranty and went ape over the fact I said I installed it when he asked.

I was told that they would do no further work on the oven until a trained gas tech came and reinstalled it.

I asked how much that would cost....

I could buy a new oven for less.

Complete rip off and needless red tape.
 
onomatopoeia said:
It's not a warranty issue. You might wish to read Part P of the building regulations and the relevant piece of statute which gives it legal force.
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Next you'll be telling me I shouldn't have installed our log burning stove myself! :cuckoo:
 
love the way people think money is more important than lives.

You fit the oven wrong house on fire maybe..
as for the gas oven well sorry but....

you may well not have one of these things and i hope nothing goes wrong. but if it does bet your home insurance won't pay out.
 
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gumbo-67 said:
love the way people think money is more important than lives.

You fit the oven wrong house on fire maybe..
as for the gas oven well sorry but....

you may well have one these things correctly and i hope nothing goes wrong. but if it does bet your home insurance won't pay out.
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Prey tell how you can screw up a push fit connector? It's either connected or it isn't. It's really not rocket science.

If its any consolation, I had our friendly gas boiler man check it out and he said, yep its connected. All fine.

:bonk:

It's only been there 5 years mind, so it might still blow up yet.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I installed my gas oven. Literally 1 push fit connector hose and a mains plug.

We had an issue with a few months later and a tech came round to replace the thermostat under warranty and went ape over the fact I said I installed it when he asked.

I was told that they would do no further work on the oven until a trained gas tech came and reinstalled it.

I asked how much that would cost....

I could buy a new oven for less.

Complete rip off and needless red tape.
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Disco man - I'll get back to you on the car front :thumbs:
 
gumbo-67 said:
love the way people think money is more important than lives.

You fit the oven wrong house on fire maybe..
as for the gas oven well sorry but....

you may well not have one these things and i hope nothing goes wrong. but if it does bet your home insurance won't pay out.
Click to expand...

But you can take a table lamp, dishwasher, microwave, outside light and plug it in - service your car yourself etc.

It's all acceptable till somebody tells you otherwise.

A simple plug wired wrong can be a disaster.
 
Tom i agree an i wouldn't know if i could or couldn't as sorry but have been an army wife for that long they did it all that sort of thing an i wouldn't even try.

glad all is well in your case i just think some people myself included may try this thinking oh it easy.. and boom.
 
Who do you think fit these things? Humans! Shock horror, human beings, usually the ones who dropped out (or were kicked out) of school/college and been on a couple of quickie courses when the dole money ran out at that.

People worry far too much about things just because they don't understand them. Your hair straighteners or tea lights are far more dangerous than me fitting an oven!
 
dinners said:
But you can take a table lamp, dishwasher, microwave, outside light and plug it in - service your car yourself etc.

It's all acceptable till somebody tells you otherwise.

A simple plug wired wrong can be a disaster.
Click to expand...

again i agree. the problem is someone is sat waiting to red stamp your claim. I can change a plug ect but have never tried any other wiring.

all i was trying to say is it not better to be safe than sorry?
 
Fair dips will take that. allot of things around the home are not as safe as we would like them to be. doesn't mean that i am going to try and do something that i have to ask questions about.

so who's going to fit their own boiler next? :p:)
 
gumbo-67 said:
again i agree. the problem is someone is sat waiting to red stamp your claim. I can change a plug ect but have never tried any other wiring.

all i was trying to say is it not better to be safe than sorry?
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I agree it's better to be safe than sorry :thumbs: I'm not the sort of guy that thinks he can do everything but it seems the simple things in life are being taken from us. Apart from some shoving and pushing - an oven is like a plug - 3 wires.

Yes there's a chance that the wire (not provided with the appliance) may have a fault but that's true of so many things we already have in the house yet we all seem happy to do ourselves becasue we're 'allowed' to.:bonk:
 
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gumbo-67 said:
love the way people think money is more important than lives.
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That's not it at all, if it was no-one would be allowed to work on their own cars or do anything. People resist being nannied by the state and by the people working in the public sector that enforce the nonsense that the politicians come out with (party in power from 1997 to 2010 was responsible for the particular legislative abomination that is part P). At least I do and I know I'm not alone.

It is not difficult or dangerous to connect up an electric cooker (an electric oven without a hob will usually be on a normal 13A plug as ovens draw much less current than hobs, so can be just plugged in) unless you don't know anything about electricity. I did it myself 15 years ago when I replaced the kitchen at the old house, it's only Ohm's law to work out if the existing cable is suitable and a screwdriver to connect it to the back of the cooker. It is not putting a man on the moon :(


Gas at the wall in a kitchen is on a bayonet fitting, plug in and twist and it locks and seals. New gas cookers are usually supplied without the pipe between the bayonet and cooker nowadays, which is where you need someone with the leak test equipment as the cooker end is on a tapered thread rather than a bayonet, so needs to be tested for leaks.
 
can't you get the missus to install it? I mean let's face it.. who's gonna be using the bloody thing :shrug:
 
Please i do understand this. i don't know facts and all that i will admit, but not everyone is a good as the next person and it can go wrong. i can wire a plug and do a few other things. would i try doing an oven no i wouldn't. Now anyone who "knows" they can do fine but then i still do think that some people do put money before lives, but would seem not on this thread.
 
dinners said:
. Apart from some shoving and pushing - an oven is like a plug - 3 wires.
Click to expand...

You should check that the existing cable in the kitchen is suitable for the current draw of the cooker you are installing.

I wouldn't disuade you from performing the installation though. I assume you'll be on the phone to Local Authority Building Control to notify them, since it's classed as "notifiable work" under Part P, of course. :naughty:
 
leftcurl said:
can't you get the missus to install it? I mean let's face it.. who's gonna be using the bloody thing :shrug:
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I was so close to saying that earlier but I held back - she is full term with the baby after all LOL
 
onomatopoeia said:
You should check that the existing cable in the kitchen is suitable for the current draw of the cooker you are installing.

I wouldn't disuade you from performing the installation though. I assume you'll be on the phone to Local Authority Building Control to notify them, since it's classed as "notifiable work" under Part P, of course. :naughty:
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Like for like replacement.

As for the notification - of course :rules:
 
onomatopoeia said:
You should check that the existing cable in the kitchen is suitable for the current draw of the cooker you are installing.

I wouldn't disuade you from performing the installation though. I assume you'll be on the phone to Local Authority Building Control to notify them, since it's classed as "notifiable work" under Part P, of course. :naughty:
Click to expand...

It's not notifiable - even though it's in a kitchen it comes under repairs, replacement and maintenance. But for a definitive answer the OP could contact his local authority's building control dept. Plus from April this year a lot of these regs are being removed.
 
Started off with not knowing the type of screws on the back of a cooker. Ends up with having to notify building control. Scaremongering at it's best. Some of you have lost the plot. All you need in this instance is common sense. :bonk:
 
A new install electric oven might be best done by a pro, but replacing with a similar unit is simple enough, literally no more challenging than fitting a plug.
 
gumbo-67 said:
Please i do understand this. i don't know facts and all that i will admit, but not everyone is a good as the next person and it can go wrong. i can wire a plug and do a few other things. would i try doing an oven no i wouldn't. Now anyone who "knows" they can do fine but then i still do think that some people do put money before lives, but would seem not on this thread.
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The fact is, that when you wire a plug yourself, you are not at any more risk than if you had wired up a modern built in electric oven, because they both run off the same supply.
I would not attempt anything connected with the gas supply, and I would not touch 30 Amp electrics (most hobs run off a 30 Amp supply).
I just wired in our new electric oven, and I followed the following procedure:

Read the instruction booklet and study the wiring diagram
Throw the main power switch on the consumer unit - not just the specific one for the oven switch. Check that the power is off by trying a few lights/appliances.
Undo two screws and pull out existing oven they are very light.
With the oven on the floor, remove the cable from its mounting point. It is common for the steel panel to be held in place by Torx or Hex screws, and the terminal wires held in place by large crosshead screws.
On our Neff oven, the cable had to be fed through a plastic outer guard (with a lock nut to prebent the cable being pulled out). You may have to cut the individual wires to size in order that they reach and fit the terminals without stretching or bunching. After attaching the wires, give them a bit of a pull to make sure that they are secure - the terminal bolts MUST be done up tight. When you are satisfied that all is secure, then replace the security panel and lock the cable in place (if your oven has this device).
With the oven on the floor, turn the power on and switch the oven socket on - the display light should come on immediately.

I ALWAYS DO A FURTHER CHECK - USING AN ELECTRICIANS SCREWDRIVER I TOUCH VARIOUS POINTS ON THE BACK OF THE OVEN AND AROUND THE SIDES. IF THE SCREWDRIVER LIGHTS UP, THEN THE OVEN IS LIVE AND THE POWER MUST BE SWITCHED OFF IMMEDIATELY AND THEN YOU MUST CALL AN ELECTRICIAN.

Hoping that I am not tempting fate, the above has never happened, but with electricity you can never be too careful.
 
dekeyboy said:
Some of you have lost the plot. All you need in this instance is common sense. :bonk:
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No! What you need is the knowledge required to do the job.
There are many things that can go wrong and do go wrong ... unless you know what you are doing and have the necessary tools and testing equipment get an experienced person in to do it.
There is a vast difference in changing a plug and wiring an oven, even though the principle is the same.
Electricity can and does, kill!
 
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