Just been told to introduce myself.....

[ulrichburke]

HI! I'm a disabled guy, Cerebral Palsy, Hydrocephalus, Dyspraxia and Asperger's, who's been put into (basically) a one-room flat, there is a second room but it's far too cold for general use. So I just keep this room warm with a lovely plug-in heater - it looks a bit like a radiator but it's got a fan on the front as well - I found it by a bin and it works a dream. Heating's never worked here, so I just use it to keep this room warm and sleep on my couch. Feels safer, I can keep an eye on my stuff and make sure it doesn't get stolen any more.

Got a Baby Belling-type stove that plugs into an ordinary socket, got a full-on cooker but at a Mexican standoff about getting it wired in. Housing Association say that's down to me. Fair enough. I book a guy to come and do it - and he says he can't because he's not on the Housing Association roster. So I ask their guys to come and do it and they say they can only accept payment through the Housing Association. So I offer to go to the Housing Association office and chuck money at them and they say they can't work like that, when they're doing kitchen upgrades, they'll let me know and someone will wire my cooker in then.

It's been 3 years thus far....!! So I'm guessing, unless someone understands regs. a lot better than I do, I'm stuck with the Belling-type. (Incidentally, how dangerous IS it to just wire it in myself? I mean the wire-in socket's just sitting there, it looks like an oversized plug, I know I said in my intro. I need a manual to change a lightbulb but I can do plugs, would it be OK to just turn the mains off, shove the wires in place, screw them down and turn the mains back on again?) Looks easy enough but haven't liked to try it, Just Incase!

Anyway, why I'm here is because I've been using the Baby Belling-type to heat water on, as kettles instantly blow the mains. The SMALL ring was working fine, the big ring was instant mains-blow. Then this morning, it swapped round. Small ring, instant mains-blow, big ring, working fine again. No idea why. Only thing in common is they've both mainly been used to boil water for tea on. For cooking, I live on microwave (which always works a dream, never blows anything) and oven. And soup, which IS saucepan-on-working-hob. Last 2 kettles started blowing the mains. The last one worked for a couple of months before doing it, the one before was doing it ever since I bought it, so I kicked up a fuss and got a refund. No idea REALLY if it was the kettle or the circuit. Brand-new kettle, though. Oddly, the last one was a kettle I found dumpe where I found my lovely heater, also dumped (and two perfectly good vacuum-cleaners, also dumped - and - you won't believe this - a full set of Meissen chinaware. Unchipped. 12-person set. That stuff's worth HUNDREDS and it was out by a street bin! It's AMAZING what people chuck out!)

Dunno why the hobs have switched round again. And the small one WAS making strange knocking sounds if water got on it. No idea what they were but if you touched the saucepan's handle, you could really feel the vibration. Big one never did that, it just suddenly started blowing mains. It's stopped doing that now, but the small one's started. Weird!

Vacuum-cleaners and heater, never had any problems.

Anyway, that's why I'm here!

Yours respectfully

Chris, who's gotta go feed his pet seagull now!

 

[littlespark]

Welcome to the forum.

Not having a great time with housing association… but that’s by-the-by.

If you’re taking electrical appliance from skips, then I’m afraid they are likely not to work and could be downright dangerous. There is a reason things like this get thrown away!
Unless you can get someone to test them with the appropriate equipment (known as PAT testing), you’re taking a risk using them.

A word with citizens advice may be in order as I am certain any habitable room must have heating…
I also don’t see the problem with anyone connecting up your cooker.
If there’s a specific cooker switch on the wall, and a cooker outlet plate, then an electrician should connect it whether HA property or not.
I can see there may be issues if it’s not as straight forward, but there should be systems in place to help you out.

 

[ulrichburke]

Welcome to the forum.

Not having a great time with housing association… but that’s by-the-by.

If you’re taking electrical appliance from skips, then I’m afraid they are likely not to work and could be downright dangerous. There is a reason things like this get thrown away!
Unless you can get someone to test them with the appropriate equipment (known as PAT testing), you’re taking a risk using them.

A word with citizens advice may be in order as I am certain any habitable room must have heating…
I also don’t see the problem with anyone connecting up your cooker.
If there’s a specific cooker switch on the wall, and a cooker outlet plate, then an electrician should connect it whether HA property or not.
I can see there may be issues if it’s not as straight forward, but there should be systems in place to help you out.

Dear Littlespark.

Thanks for your lovely quick response!

Never heard of Pat testing, is that Pat as in Patent, to make sure the patent isn't out of date? Bit vague on that one. The Baby Belling-type's not THAT old so its patent should be OK, it's about 4 years old to me, the other guy'd bought it new a few years earlier, so say 6-8 years old tops. Not sure how long patents last.

Didn't make myself clear, didn't get the Belling-type cooker as chucked-out, I actually bought that from an online ad. The heater was chucked out for sure, but it's never caused me any problems. The microwave was second-hand but I bought it at a guy's house and it's always worked fine. (The vacuum cleaners have always worked like a dream., one of them's a Dyson would you believe!)

The cooker nobody will wire in for me was a gift from a lady I helped move home. She said she had a brand-new cooker in her new place - she's fairly wealthy - and so she gave me her old one. I'd not seen it working, true, but she's got pots of dough, I've no reason to distrust her when she says it doesn't work.

Bit puzzled as to what the knocking was on the smaller ring when I put the saucepan on it. And why the bigger ring used to work, then started knocking the power out so I switched to the smaller, which worked for ages, now it's started knocking the power out and the bigger ring's working again! While everyone's not wanting to wire the proper cooker in, what do I do? It looks pretty straightforwards - just shoving the ends of the wires into the special socket in the wall and screwing 'em in place - do I just do it myself, do I get someone else to do it and risk the wrath of the housing association - if anything goes wrong down the line, they could blame me for using someone not on their roster, they've done that with other tenants plenty of times to get out of paying for stuff - I don't know if I've got any leverage anywhere to force 'em into doing it, or do I just look for a new Baby Belling-type cooker?

What would you do?

Yours puzzledly - with thanks -

Chris.

 

[littlespark]

PAT stands for Portable Appliance Testing, but it covers any electrical equipment that can be plugged in…

I am concerned that your housing association is not giving you the level of service you should be entitled to concerning heating and cooking facilities.

 

[ulrichburke]

PAT stands for Portable Appliance Testing, but it covers any electrical equipment that can be plugged in…

I am concerned that your housing association is not giving you the level of service you should be entitled to concerning heating and cooking facilities.

Dear Littlespark.

It's better than it used to be, didn't even have a cooker for the first year or so, just a microwave and a kettle. Then I got the Baby Belling, which just runs on an ordinary plug, then I got the full-on cooker from the lady which I can't get wired in.

Bit of a long story really but I'm down here on sufferance, the cops moved me from where I was because I was getting beaten up and robbed so much they got tired of responding. So if I gave the housing a hard time, they could find a reason to kick me out - they're good at doing that, they do it with other guys all the time - but this place doesn't have a reason to rehouse me so I'd just be street homeless again. No real idea where I stand, just have this feeling that if I rocked the boat and won this round, they'd find something a little farther down the line to boot me over. I've done the street homeless thing but it's not fun.

Do you think I should just shove the wires in the holes in the cooker socket myself - it looks just like an oversized plug and I can do plugs - and keep my fingers crossed, save all the hassle?

Yours respectfully

Chris.

 

[littlespark]

No. I don’t think you should attempt any electrical work yourself.

I would, however, seek help from citizens advice, social work department and the housing association.
These types of people have a job to do, and part of that job is to help people like you.

I cannot say any more.
Perhaps other members of the forum who have read this will have a better idea of next steps.