Cooker safety questions

If you are just plugging a new cooker into an existing live gas feed then there should not be a problem. Presumably the gas service is already being used, so the socket must have already been 'tested' ... otherwise it WOULD be wise to call in a registered engineer just to check.

I think most companies supplying cookers will provide an installation service to a pre-existing point, and take the old cooker away either free or for a fee. I doubt they are using gas safe engineers on the vans :)

I'm going to go with "no".

But before replacing the cooker I would pop down to the electricity board shop and ask: are spares available for (this model) and at what price? It may be only the top you need to replace.

A few years ago, their spares service on electric cookers used to be astonishingly good, and surprisingly low priced. And the cookers at the time were designed for quite easy maintenance. The same may not be true today, but I would at least ask.

- Brian

I cann't answer that but you can get a replacement ceramic hob top and fit it yourself. I've used

for spare parts for various household appliances and advice on how to fit them. But the ceramic hob tops are usually expensive items - you don't say its make and model but eg see the bottom of: and the next page:

I don't know how old your property is but if the gas piping was installed when it was town gas it is likely to be iron pipes with screwed connections packed with a sealant that relied on moisture in the gas supply to keep it flexible. Natural gas is dry so will have dried out the joints and if you disturb the piping the sealant cracks and you get leaks.

Alan

In article , Alan Dawes writes

And - you can't be sure (without testing) that the connection point is still actually connected to the gas supply. Our house (ca. 1930 built) had numerous connection points, but some of them have been disconnected over the year as various bits building work necessitated removal of intermediate piping.

David

A cracked surface will allow both water and fat to enter, water is conductive as is burnt fat ie carbon. Therefore I'd suggest replacing the cooker asap. I'm not sure if replacing the top will be economical.

I presume you have a convenient bayonet fitting. Most showrooms charge for fitting to such a connector where they also check for leaks. If the leak-rate is above a level they'll probably leave with the cooker disconnected and gas turned off!

It is legal for you to work on gas, but you must be competent to do so. In your case, a home made manometer would likely suffice to determine leak-rate.

Tricity Marquis. I don't know the model no, but espares don't seem to have any spare tops for tricity/bendix cookers.

but eg

ouch.

I sort-of-want a gas cooker anyway, it seems it won't be that much more expensive than a new hob.

About 20 years. When the flat was being built I paid the gas man who was installing the pipes a fiver to fit a gas fitting, but I was given an electric cooker and never got around to using the gas fitting.

The landlord has the flat inspected by a gas man every year, but afaik they have never inspected the fitting.

but if the gas piping was installed

I don't know for sure what the pipes are made of, you can't see them, but I'd be surprised if they weren't copper.

-- Peter F

We had our supply to the kitchen fitted 20 years ago and it's in copper. Have changed the cooker once since and the gas connection just plugged in so you should be good to go ...

Yes to both, and it doesn't have a RCD or ELCB in circuit.

Thing is, I don't know exactly what the danger is ??

I'm not sure if replacing the top will be economical.

Doesn't look like it.

The gasmen check the pipes for leaks every year, and did so quite recently, so the fitting itself definitely isn't leaking now.

Connect the cooker and check?

Then disconnect, check again? (in case some bampot disconnects the cooker sometime in the future and it leaks then - the bayonet is the right way up, ie facing down, but it is old)

-- Peter F

Might it be worthwhile to replace the bayonet fitting on the pipes?

- Peter Fairbrother

I have to say in your position, I would connect and be damned. If I recall correctly, the O-ring in a micropoint connector is on the flexible side, so if you're using a new flexible pipe connected to the cooker, then the quality of seal will in anycase be governed by the new part.

If in doubt, a keen nose or if paranoid, some diluted washing up liquid on the joints would show up any leak!

I know of people who have had cracked tops for years without a problem. Depends on what's underneath and whether the underlying element is sealed in itself. Also, where the crack is.

If you are really paranoid and depending on the size of the crack, you could use car exhaust flange paste to seal the joint temporarily. Yes, a bodge, but might keep you cooking until the replacement arrives...

Regards,

Chris

No. Put a damp cloth in it and screw it round a bit to remove spiders, webs, dust etc.

Please don'ton't use washing up liquid. It's full of things that encourage the brass in the fitting to crack through stress corrosion. Either use soapy water (from known-to-be-real soap) or better buy some leak detecting fluid. It's not expensive.

N

While not denying this may possibly be correct, I would be interested to know more detail. Highly stressed* drawn brass is known to suffer serious corrosion cracking in the presence of ammonia, and chlorides can cause corrosion cracking under some circumstances, but I'd be interest to know what in washing up liquid might do this - and to what is almost certainly cast brass, much less likely to be in a highly stressed state.

*By which I mean the internal stresses at the grain boundaries caused by the drawing process, not the external stress on the object.

David

Salt is used as a cheap bulking agent in washing up liquid. Perhaps this is what Mike refers to, though I find it hard to believe that the contact time and the concentration would cause any perceptible SCC.

Cliff Coggin.

"electricity board shop"

Was this a delayed posting from over 22 years ago when the electricity boards ceased to exisit?

The last ceramic top I replaced was about 20 years ago (on a Belling) was about

120 quid.

Renamed but not gone, at least round here (and still "the Hydro")

Yeah, the definite problem with ceramic hobs; it's a much bigger chunk to replace. If all else fails, knowing the price is good ammunition for getting the gas stove he really wanted...

- Brian