Fuse Rating for Oven

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ADKM

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#240080 19-Aug-2018 16:41

Starting to have a 20A circuit breaker on the oven blow quite often.. especially when a George Foreman cooker is also plugged in (to the oven).

It's an older style F&P ceramic all-in-one.... can I determine the correct fuse rating ? What's the opinion about increasing to 25A (although I don't see

any circuit breakers above 20A on line, so maybe 25a fuse wire would do ?)

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#2075858 19-Aug-2018 16:42

Normal oven fuses I thought should be 30 amps

John

richms

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#2075860 19-Aug-2018 16:53

Assuming you mean a range and not just an oven then it would usually be a 32A one but don't just swap it. Might have been a gas range initially and someone swapped for electric and didn't bother to upgrade the wiring. Also outlets on a range will take it over 32A if you're using several elements and plugging in something large. Terrible idea to have them and a good thing they did away with them

Richard rich.ms

ADKM

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#2075862 19-Aug-2018 16:58

Thanks.. I'll keep looking.

gregmcc

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#2075864 19-Aug-2018 17:00

ADKM:

Starting to have a 20A circuit breaker on the oven blow quite often.. especially when a George Foreman cooker is also plugged in (to the oven).

It's an older style F&P ceramic all-in-one.... can I determine the correct fuse rating ? What's the opinion about increasing to 25A (although I don't see

any circuit breakers above 20A on line, so maybe 25a fuse wire would do ?)

The fuse rating is there to protect the cable running through your house to the stove, not the stove, I'm assuming you have plug in circuit beakers, replacing it with a bigger circuit breaker could lead to the cable overheating and melting the insulation off and starting a fire.

If your current circuit breaker is wired in you are not allowed to change it, the exemption for home owners work specifically says no switchboard work is to be done by home owners.

Your best bet, get an electrician out to check it out

Greg

ADKM

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#2075868 19-Aug-2018 17:19

>The fuse rating is there to protect the cable running through your house to the stove, not the stove, I'm assuming you have plug in circuit beakers, replacing it with a bigger circuit breaker could lead to the cable >overheating and melting the insulation off and starting a fire.

I'm mindful of that, but if 30A is the norm it would explain why the 20A keep blowing. Presumably the wiring is up to spec. Late 1970s vintage house.

If your current circuit breaker is wired in you are not allowed to change it, the exemption for home owners work specifically says no switchboard work is to be done by home owners.

They are plug in. I do see (now) 32Amp ones but 25 may be worth trying first.

gregmcc

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#2075873 19-Aug-2018 17:27

I would be pretty sure that because there is a 20A circuit breaker plugged in, the wiring is only 2.5mm2, if you put a 32A circuit breaker, you will for sure cook your wiring.

richms

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#2075880 19-Aug-2018 18:13

ADKM:

I'm mindful of that, but if 30A is the norm it would explain why the 20A keep blowing. Presumably the wiring is up to spec. Late 1970s vintage house.

Probably because the range has been swapped over at some stage as part of a renovation, and the electrics are the one place that people always cheap out on with kitchens since a fancy tap looks so much more impressive than wiring that noone ever sees when browsing houses for sale.

Chances are that when the place was coming up for sale people commented on it having "old fuses" so they just went and got plug in breakers for everything to make it look better than it was, and there is also a good chance that they have been swapped around if they are not tied into the bases since people will swap them to avoid tripping a power circuit that they are trying to run 3 heaters on etc.

Sparky in to assess it all is the best course of action, and if they are still the original 70's breakers with the little red button then they are well past needing to be replaced.

Richard rich.ms

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RunningMan

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#2075883 19-Aug-2018 18:36

ADKM:

They are plug in. I do see (now) 32Amp ones but 25 may be worth trying first.

I know it's bad to use all caps, but DO NOT DO THIS.

As already stated, the fuse or breaker's job is to protect the cable from overload. Do not assume that the cable is rated higher. This is the sort of thing that starts fires and kills people.

nickb800

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#2075886 19-Aug-2018 18:48

gregmcc:
I would be pretty sure that because there is a 20A circuit breaker plugged in, the wiring is only 2.5mm2, if you put a 32A circuit breaker, you will for sure cook your wiring.

I'm normally in the "go forth and diy" camp on these electrical threads, however I completely agree here. I'm not a sparky, though, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

There's probably a 90% chance that someone has just mixed up the breakers as richms says, but that leaves a 10% chance of the cable to your most power hungry appliance being overloaded without useful circuit protection, which is electrical fire territory. You need a sparky to assess the cable and figure out which case it is

Linux

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#2075889 19-Aug-2018 19:08

Oven cable should then be isolated and mega ohm test done and resistance

John

ADKM

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#2075901 19-Aug-2018 20:05

Thanks for the replies. I'll get the wiring looked at to make sure a higher rated fuse is safe.

Rich you are right, they've been changed/swapped as some stage. About half of them are the older type with fuse wire and the others are the 'red button' variety.

I wondered if the 20A one might have replaced a bigger one at some stage...hence asking about the usual rating I can't see the wiring of course, but from the wall to

the oven that's much gruntier than a standard 3 pin wall sockets. Not sure what 2.5mm2 is.

Can these things, as they age, trip at a lower current? Maybe another 20 amp one might solve the problem.

gregmcc

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#2075904 19-Aug-2018 20:15

ADKM:

Thanks for the replies. I'll get the wiring looked at to make sure a higher rated fuse is safe.

Rich you are right, they've been changed/swapped as some stage. About half of them are the older type with fuse wire and the others are the 'red button' variety.

I wondered if the 20A one might have replaced a bigger one at some stage...hence asking about the usual rating I can't see the wiring of course, but from the wall to

the oven that's much gruntier than a standard 3 pin wall sockets. Not sure what 2.5mm2 is.

Can these things, as they age, trip at a lower current? Maybe another 20 amp one might solve the problem.

The red button ones are well known for becoming tired and nuisance tripping, or tripping and not been able to reset.

You won't be able to buy an exact replacement as they havn't been made for 20+ years, but there are other brand plug in replacements available.

ADKM

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#2075906 19-Aug-2018 20:26

Thanks Greg, I see them around and will try a new 20A one first. I'm sure that'll be ok with everyone.

MadEngineer

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#2075949 19-Aug-2018 22:03

Was there a gas oven previously installed? Is there an isolation switch above or near your oven?

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

ADKM

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#2076044 20-Aug-2018 10:23

MadEngineer:

Was there a gas oven previously installed? Is there an isolation switch above or near your oven?

I'm pretty sure the oven is original and yes, there is a isolation switch above in (in the wall).

And we have no gas supply here.

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