Replacing a built-in oven

SiD the Turtle · 6 Oct 2014 at 22:22

So my oven is on the blink, it doesn't hit the requested temperature, and putting it up to max it takes forever to get there. It's a cheapo 'comes with the house' oven and I've been wanting to swap it out eventually, but the question is how. Here's what it looks like:

The whole unit is sitting on legs, I can't seem to take off the wood panel below the oven to see what's in there. Underneath all I can see is the slack from the electric cable (electric oven, no gas supply in the room). If I open the oven door there are screws on either side that I guess will allow me to slide the whole unit out.

Is it as simple as buying a replacement unit? I really don't want to have to start replacing the kitchen cabinets. Could I go full height? Note the air grille on the panel I pulled off, what's it for?

Is this something that's easy to replace or should I be paying for install?

Snaggle · 6 Oct 2014 at 22:32

Standard single oven .. open the door and you should see screws down each side... remove them and pull towards you ... turn of fuse.. remove cable and then fit new oven.. pretty simple job

Danthus · 6 Oct 2014 at 22:34

Yep, should just slide in and out.

pitchfork · 7 Oct 2014 at 08:46

Slide in and out as has been said, built in goods are standard sizing these days.

Only thing to watch would be to get an oven with the same power draw as this current oven to ensure the wiring and fusing needn't be messed with.

SiD the Turtle · 7 Oct 2014 at 09:01

Cheers folks. I'l have a bash tonight to see how it's all put together.

Gaygle · 8 Oct 2014 at 12:01

I bet that one will be plugged in rather than hardwired. Is the oven on its own circuit at the fuse box and does it have a local isolation switch next to the oven?

The genius who wired my house put the hob on its own circuit and gave that a local isolation switch but just put the oven on the main kitchen socket RCD! This meant we has to get an oven that could be plugged in with a regular 13A plug as opposed to one which needed to be hardwired, of which there are a much bigger selection.

SiD the Turtle · 8 Oct 2014 at 12:52

Yes, it's got in own circuit at the fuse box. The oven and hob are on the same switch next to the hob.

The replacement oven I've been looking at is 16 amp, so some thorough investigation is needed before I start buying anything.

Django x2 · 8 Oct 2014 at 14:12

It's probably just the seal that's gone

wazza300 · 8 Oct 2014 at 17:57

open the oven door you should see some screws that hold it into the cabinet,undo them and the whole oven will slide forward and out,you can then disconnect the electrical cable at the back and connect your new oven

SiD the Turtle · 8 Oct 2014 at 18:44

Gaygle said:
I bet that one will be plugged in rather than hardwired. Is the oven on its own circuit at the fuse box and does it have a local isolation switch next to the oven?

So I've checked and you're right. The hob above is hard wired, there's a switch-less socket next to it that the oven is plugged in to, it seems to be a spur off the hard wired hob connection:

The cooker fuse in the main box seems to be rated to 40 amps. I assume though that that's to allow the higher energy usage of the hob, but then you've got a standard socket that will allow only 13 amps.

So (in theory, regs aside) would I be right in saying if I got a standard 13 amp oven, I could just wire it with a plug or hard wire it into that spur, but a 16 amp one would probably require a bit more work?

If it's even slightly complex I'll get a sparky in as this isn't my area of expertise.

b0rn2sk8 · 8 Oct 2014 at 22:07

If the main breaker on the consumer unit is rated to 40a then there should* be cabling to support 40a to that socket. The socket itself may need changing but it's an easy job.

You may need an electrician for the regs though.