Electric cooker arcing in connection box.

[yknivag]

Hi, yesterday I swapped my working standalone electric cooker into my partners flat in place of their working standalone cooker.

Simple job, I simply disconnected both at the appliance and reconnected them in the same way in the opposite properties.

However my oven in my partners kitchen is causing sparks to fly (quite literally!) in the connection box on the wall. The cable that goes from there back to the isolator switch is arcing to the metal back box.

This happens whenever the isolator is turned on, even if the appliance itself is turned off.

Could this be an appliance fault? It was working perfectly in my kitchen before the move.

Or is it more likely to be a cabling issue in the connection box?

Partner's electrics are on an old style fuse box so no MCB/RCD but the fuse hasn't blown. The appliance has never tripped the MCB or RCD when it was in my kitchen. Could it have been damaged in the move?

Any advice much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[telectrix]

i would think that there's a bad connection where it is arcing. probably aggravated when you pulled the cooker out and gave the cable a tug. my advice is to first, isolate it ( turn the CU main switch off just in case it's been wrongly labelled ). then open the box and have a look. probably find that the end of 1 or more conductors is damaged/. if in doubt, call an electrician. it's only a basic call-out fee. around £40 if it were me, and you'd also have the benefit of the circuit being properly tested to ensure it's safety.

 

[Hawk]

A qualified electrician can sort the problem. Any unqualified person shouldn't be touching electrics.

 

[Badged01]

Any unqualified person shouldn't be touching electrics.

Is that a legal requirement or a personal opinion?

 

[yknivag]

i would think that there's a bad connection where it is arcing. probably aggravated when you pulled the cooker out and gave the cable a tug. my advice is to first, isolate it ( turn the CU main switch off just in case it's been wrongly labelled ). then open the box and have a look. probably find that the end of 1 or more conductors is damaged/. if in doubt, call an electrician. it's only a basic call-out fee. around £40 if it were me, and you'd also have the benefit of the circuit being properly tested to ensure it's safety.

Thank you telectrix. When I got back to have another look I disconnected the cooker and switched the circuit on with no load connected: this still caused sparking at the wall box.

Whilst the most obvious reason would be a loose conductor, in fact it was a burning live shorting to the pattress at the gromit.

Very good service from a local professional replaced the cooker outlet further up the cable. Job done in new two hours from callout despite the bank holiday!

A qualified electrician can sort the problem. Any unqualified person shouldn't be touching electrics.

Why ever not? This is the same crazy mentality that led to people having to do a half day course in changing light bulbs!