1

I have a kitchen remodelling going under way recently. The renovator subcontracted an electrician to install new power outlets and wiring for the kitchen.

As part of the renovation, it will:

  1. Add a new induction cooktop.

  2. Replace my existing electric oven with a bigger one.

Here are their electrical characteristics:

Induction cooktop

Connected load 11.1 KW

Maximum current rating 46 Amps

Oven

Connected load 3.6 KW

Maximum current rating 15 Amps

The electricians came in and did some work. After they left, I realise they did not add any new circuit breaker to the existing circuit breaker box. As matter of fact, I don't know which circuit is used for the induction cooktop.

I live in Sydney, Australia.

I just want to know: Assuming they reuse one of the circuit to host both the cooktop and oven, is it safe? All the switches are of the same model: Clipsal RCBE220/30S except for the solar panel one.

circuit breaker box

wiring

enter image description here

Improve this question
2
  • Well, in North America, a circuit sharing a cooktop and oven is specifically allowed with a whole section just for that. A complex calculation is done to determine the required circuit size (since cooktop "burners" aren't all maxed out at once). However we would need more than a 20A circuit for a combo Find out which breakers the cooktop and oven are on. Assume nothing. Turn off each breaker, checking if the cooktop and oven have switched off. I'm guessing a C20 is a 20A breaker.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Sep 15, 2022 at 23:54
  • The two different cables coming out of the wall are an indicator (to me) that they are likely connected to two different circuits, however, they could be joined at a box in the wall somewhere, though that would (to me) make less sense. The best thing to do is ask your contractor what happened. If he doesn't know, he'll ask the electrical sub. If he asks why, well, "it's my house, I need to know", and "just in case I ever need to turn it off", should be sufficient reason.
    – FreeMan
    Commented Sep 16, 2022 at 12:25

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

You're not going to get 11KW through a 20A breaker (only almost half that so it's fine for the oven) .

My guess is that this is the rough-in and the sparky will be coming back to install a larger possibly two or three phase breaker for the induction cooktop.

The existing breaker hasn't been disabled, that's a worry unless it has instead been disconnected (highly likely)

If there are two cables installed there will two breakers, there is no good reason to to run two cable from one location to a single breaker, and plenty of good reasons not to.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.