New house being built, wanted to get a Range but electrician says house is only 63 amps

brimur69

Hi guys, just wondering if anything can be done here. We are building a house and it's nearly done, just sorting out the electrical. We picked out a Rangemaster induction cooker but the electrician says it needs 50 amps and the house is only 63 amp so it's not advisable as we could lose power if the heat exchanger kicked in.

Is this an A rated home issue? I thought most houses had 100 amps coming in? Is there a workaround or should we just look for something that uses less power? Thanks

DublinDilbert

Are you catering for large groups/events? or just want a large induction hob?

Most of these induction hobs can be digitally set to limit the power, so you should be able to set it to 32A (or similar), if you limit the hob it will only load share if you turn everything on at exactly the same time. If you are just using 2-3 rings, you will get the max power.

So yea for an average user on christmas day if you have everything on you might see some load-sharing, but the other 364 days of the year probably not.

highdef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058378406/new-house-being-built-wanted-to-get-a-range-but-electrician-says-house-is-only-63-amps

63 amp is the standard arriving into a domestic house. About 12kw draw for a hob sounds excessive, IMO!

...Ghost...

Not an electrician.

So your MIC will be 12kVA (can confirm with ESB) which will give you an 80A main ESB fuse and that usually means a 63A cut-off. The tails will be 16mm^2.

To get an enhanced supply (16kVa), you need meter tails of 25mm^2 which will give you a 100A ESB fuse and an 80A cut-off fuse. You will also need a fuse-board rated 80-100A. In all likelihood, the cables go to your meter are already sufficient.

In all honesty, a new build with a 63A consumer unit is pretty crappy in this day and age. If I was getting a new build, I would be looking for a 16kVa supply at a minimum.

I just got my supply upgraded to 12kVa from 8kVa in a late 70s build and no work was needed from ESB.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122778083#Comment_122778083

Looking at the specs for a random Rangemaster Induction, the hob draw is max 7.4kW but the entire unit can draw 17kW if all the oven chambers/grills are on as well.

Realistic chances of that happening are low but absolutely not impossible.

the_amazing_raisin

Couple of options I can think of

You can pay ESB Networks to upgrade your supply to 16kVA, this will require a new cable from the meter to the CU and an upgraded fuse in the CU

Another option is a soft starter for your heat pump (I assume that's what you meant by heat exchanger). This device basically slows down the startup of the heat pump so it doesn't produce a large current spike. You may still face a perfect storm if the hob, oven and heat pump all kick on at the same time

Another possibility could be a priority switch between the hob and heat pump. This basically stops one from switching on when the other is on. Probably a bad idea though since your heat pump or hob will lose power which they don't like doing

Its worth investigating if your heat pump has any ability to monitor the power load of the house and self limit. You'll likely want to talk to the manufacturer about this

A final and simpler workaround is to just turn the heating off when cooking. Cheapest solution, but much more hassle

maxamillius

did esb not look for a cert when they upgraded your MIC?

maxamillius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122778109#Comment_122778109

did ESB not look for a cert when upgrading your MIC from 8 to 12?

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122804188#Comment_122804188

Yeah, I had solar installed and as part of that I had my tails upgraded and smart meter installed at the same time ESB were connecting the tails.