Electrician question

Soldato
Joined
1 Jun 2005
Posts
5,152
Location
Kent
I have a question I'm hoping an electrician may be able to answer. A few hours ago I went to turn on my cooker hoods light and a bulb blew and flipped the circuit breaker that it's on. I replaced the bulbs with spares I had from the last time it happened and reset the circuit breaker but the lights and fan of the cooker hood don't work.

All other sockets in the kitchen work, and the switch that the cooker hood is wired into I've checked the fuse with a multimeter and that still has conductivity so isn't blown, and I couldn't see any sort of fuse in the cooker hood itself.

The cooker hood is a Caple model F3 60 INOX SL. The only manual I could find only was a stupid 2 page PDF of a photo of the manual (which I don't seem to have myself) and only talks about things like washing the metal filter, and replacing the carbon filter etc... no info on what to do if it completely stops working after a blown bulb.

So if anyone has any clue as to what the problem might be and any way to solve I would appreciate it. Thanks.
 
Permabanned
Joined
5 Jun 2010
Posts
15,459
What size fuse was it?

What tends to happen is a 13 amp fuse is used instead of a 3 amp. When the bulb blows instead of taking out the fuse it takes out the circuit board in the hood.

You can just resolder the track on the board and it should work again.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Feb 2010
Posts
13,249
Location
London
Put your phone inside the hood and take a photo of the bulb sockets. I wonder if there's some damage from arcing. I just had exactly the same thing happen a few weeks back. Removed the bulbs and one of them was pretty much melted!

I removed the bulbs and the extractor is now working but looks like I will have to get another hood. :(
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
1 Jun 2005
Posts
5,152
Location
Kent
What size fuse was it?

What tends to happen is a 13 amp fuse is used instead of a 3 amp. When the bulb blows instead of taking out the fuse it takes out the circuit board in the hood.

You can just resolder the track on the board and it should work again.

The wall switch thing that it's wired to is a 13 amp fuse, which a multimeter shows is still working (and I even swapped the fuse for another of the same type anyway before I checked if the fuse was actually blown just in case). It was wired up by an electrician so I would assume all the fuses would be the correct ones.
 
Permabanned
Joined
5 Jun 2010
Posts
15,459
The wall switch thing that it's wired to is a 13 amp fuse, which a multimeter shows is still working. It was wired up by an electrician so I would assume all the fuses would be the correct ones.

That was my point, the fuse is fine because it may have taken the board out.
 
Associate
Joined
7 Feb 2010
Posts
553
I'd bet that there is a fused spur then a socket fitted around or behind the cooker hood that is connected to the fused spur.

You'll need to check the fuse in the cooker hood plug, as this is probably the one that would blow first


Edit: I realise my explanation is not very clear, so here's a diagram!

cooker20hood.jpg
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
Joined
1 Jun 2005
Posts
5,152
Location
Kent
Put your phone inside the hood and take a photo of the bulb sockets. I wonder if there's some damage from arcing. I just had exactly the same thing happen a few weeks back. Removed the bulbs and one of them was pretty much melted!

I removed the bulbs and the extractor is now working but looks like I will have to get another hood. :(

I just checked and there doesn't seem to be any damage although when it blew it was enough to shatter the glass of the bulb. I tried to remove the bulbs and then turn on the fan but still no luck.


I'd bet that there is a fused spur then a socket fitted around or behind the cooker hood that is connected to the fused spur.

You'll need to check the fuse in the cooker hood plug, as this is probably the one that would blow first

From what I remember when the cooker hood was installed, the wire from the fused spur comes out the wall just above the cooker hood fan and I can't remember (nor can I get a visual of) if the wires were directly connected to the cooker hood or if there was some sort of connector/socket between the two.
 
Associate
Joined
7 Feb 2010
Posts
553
From what I remember when the cooker hood was installed, the wire from the fused spur comes out the wall just above the cooker hood fan and I can't remember (nor can I get a visual of) if the wires were directly connected to the cooker hood or if there was some sort of connector/socket between the two.

It should either have an electrical flex outlet (a faceplate with a hole in it) allowing the cooker hood to be hard wired in, or, more likely, a socket - where I think you'll find the plug with blown fuse - it's worth a look
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2011
Posts
2,743
Location
London
Your cooker point should be on its own circuit with a type B32 MCB if 17th edition will also be protected by an RCD, any idea what edition your CCU is? check that its not tripped and the correct rating.

If thats OK I would guess you look at the fused cooker hood.

RCD.jpg

Abit like this
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
2,568
Location
Earth
Most cooker hoods are double insulated so don't have an earth, as others have said you could find a plug top behind chimney with a 3 or 5 amp fuse in it. Frequently see installers shove a 13amp on the fused spur but when it fails it takes out the lower rated one.
Most of our hoods have a kettle lead from socket to connection block usually on fan housing and i'll either run a fly lead or run a volt stick along it to see if there's potential.
 
Back
Top Bottom