Home DIY

and, SDS channelling chisel > http://www.screwfix.com/p/armeg-sds-plus-channelling-chisel-30mm/16724

It'll be tricky to plaster down to the work top, but not impossible.

I'd chisel or drill down at an angle as already suggested.

Yeah, the priority here is not carving a big lump out of the work surface.

The bonding coat on these walls has fucking aggregate in it, which makes this sort of job funner than normal.

fixtures and fittings out
install services
plaster
fixtures and fittings in
decorate
surface plates on

I can't spot where I'm going wrong, it's RCD protected, I'm going straight down from the socket, and the cables are correctly rated.

Do I need to put some "mechanical protection" over the cable?

Tiling from work-surface up to about a foot above said surface, plasterwork needs to stop around 11" above work-surface, therefore.

I shall purchase this tomorrow - thanks!

Tiling should make it easy to get it looking good. Just wet the cavity and fill with bonding plaster. It's preferable to fit conduit, and then you can move the cables after plastering. But it's not essential. Not sure if that's mentioned in current regs.

rcd protected - good if 30mA

tightly ty-wrapped cables - not good, thermal derating/capacity issue, or cg (grouping factor) to be factored into sizing calc

cable disappearing under worktop and doing a left turn past an appliance generating heat (oven?) - bad, not complying with safe zone concept

loose lead exiting bottom of fused spur to fixed appliance/equipment - not good, poor practice, requires support and protection

is fused spur off the adjacent two x ring sockets? - how have the loading factors for the rings and radials been calculated, if at all?

capping/conduit not mandatory with rcd, but good practice, especially if retrospective access required to cable ways

The electrician who replaced the consumer unit specified the cable, and ty-wrapped the cables together.

The cable won't be going behind the oven once I've extended the chase behind/below the worktop, it'll go straight down to the socket/spur from which it takes it's power.

We had a look at the boiler cable, and it's a bugger - I'd have chased it into the wall if it could have been done in a straight line, but it can't - hence why it's a surface cable, which will be clipped up neatly once the tiles are on the wall.

Loading factors - you'd have to ask the electrician.

God I love this thread for all the electrical tips!
Yes Dammit that is a gash

What about using a cable saw - can you make a hole below the work surface, feed one end up and then get through the bits that are behind/protected by the work surface?

The cable won't be going behind the oven once I've extended the chase behind/below the worktop, it'll go straight down to the socket/spur from which it takes it's power.

hmm, this reads as if the two sockets and fused outlet above the worktop are extended, either by plug or connector, from an existing circuit (ring/radial) below. Yet there are clearly two cables going into the l/h socket in the picture, inferring a ring circuit. And you say an 'electrician' installed this...

ref. boiler cable - replace with longer length of t&e that is installed as per that pdf above, makes for a much better job, and you're chasing the wall out anyway for a re-plaster..

i'm not going to be asking an electrician anything (i do enough of that in the day job), but i will pass comment when forumgers post up pics of poor installations, because i don't want to read in a few years time that they burnt their kitchen out, or worse.

The visible sockets are part of the ring-main, I'm not sure about the details as I didn't do it.

I could chase down to below the worktop for the boiler cable, that would be pretty straightforward, and would make it a neater job.

Reciprocating cutters, like Fein etc,
recommend;

http://www.saxtonblades.co.uk/

for replacement blades/cutters/gougers etc

fixtures and fittings out
install services
plaster
fixtures and fittings in
decorate
surface plates on

If I ever renovate somewhere again then this will be the order I'll do it in - the reason my flat renovation has taken so long is that we've been living here at the same time.

This was no fun at all.

what's the appliance on the left, looks like either a twin tub washer, or deep fat fryer

also, diable talks sense, you want the fused spur to be readily identifiable with the boiler, and be positioned in the safe zone

None of the above - it's a cooker:

You aren't going to hide the extractor plug inside the hood are you...

You can see the plug/socket- just above the hood, the faux-chimney thing goes over it.

Bad practice. It should be by the side of it and clearly identifiable.

The Sparks installed it there, position was his suggestion.

To switch off the unit for mechanical maintenance you'd have to disassemble the unit.

A switched fused accessory by the side with the flex hidden behind the false wall would be better.