A project that requires no fear of soot and mortar! The old range was still in the fireplace guarded by a radiator and plasterboard. The radiator was removed. Take care not to damage your boiler and repressurise your system correctly, here is a link for instructions or alternatively employ the services of a plumber.
Plumberparts is a very good channel for information regarding plumbing and heating.
With the radiator off next the plasterboard was removed to reveal the old coal powered range bricked up.
The steel was installed and a solid slate mantlepiece inserted below so that it only has to bear its own weight. All the bricks and soot that were now blocking the install were removed and the remaining brick was pointed with a lime morter.
The old range was removed along with the original hearth (a sandstone flag that will become a step). A damp course was laid and then a concrete base poured. The Chimney was then inspected and swept. A reclaimed pine hearth was laid and oiled. Pipe work to left and right were boxed off in cherry wood to match the reclaimed parquet floor.
Finally some electrical installation can take place! Do not underestimate the amount of remedial work involved with opening up an old fire place. Approximately a hundred bricks and ten sacks of soot were removed.
There was spare way in the consumer unit and so a separate cooker circuit could be installed. The cable used for this installation was 6mm2 twin and earth protected by a 32A type A RCBO. A 45A Crabtree cooker isolator is installed in the cupboard.
Here is a link to the crabtree isolator used. This was chosen due to cooker isolator and plug in one unit. The plug would power the Bosch extractor unit to be installed above the induction range.
A new flex and plug need to be wired into the extractor fan so there is a long enough cable to plug in to the isolator. This is fed up through fire board which was installed to fill any remaining gaps not filled by the mantlepiece. Make sure you have pre drilled your ventilation hole and a hole for your cable. Holes were then drilled for the cables to pass through the chimney stack to the cupboard.
Cables were then routed from the consumer unit in the cellar up to the cupboard in the kitchen, then from the isolator switch in the cupboard to were the cooker sits. Continuity of protective conductors and insulation resistance tests between all conductors is carried out and the results recorded for the installation certificate.
The Belling Kensington range was then hard wired and put into position. The Bosch extractor fan was plugged in.
A further blog will talk about the ventilation in more detail along with the installation of a chimney fan.
A happy customer with the products of a new induction range cooker installation in an old fireplace.
