The 30 amp cooker (a cautionary tale)

In all the many hours I spent scouring online reviews and technical specifications for cookers, as well as visiting actual real world appliance suppliers, it never once occurred to me to check the amperage required. More fool me.

I found a lovely Stoves cooker (DF600SIDOM, above) that seemed to fulfill my criteria of being energy efficient, attractive and dual fuel. It arrived, but then sat in my living room for several weeks, unpacked but unmoving, gathering dust. When it finally came time to install it, the builder noticed that it required 30 amp wiring. It seems that standard wiring into a home is 15 amp, and that was all I had. As you can imagine, plugging a 30 amp appliance into 15 amp wiring is bad news of the highest order. A phrase something like ‘burning out the wiring’ was used. Bad.

I had two choices. Either send back the cooker and try to find one which could work off the 15 amp ring main, or have a 30 amp cable wired all the way from the fuse box, over 10m away under floorboards which had only just been fixed down. I couldn’t bear to send back the cooker, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t find an alternative I was as happy with. So I went for the latter option, and paid my builder/electrician a whole day’s rates to redo the wiring. The cooker suddenly seemed like less of a bargain, I can tell you.

There is a happy ending to this cautionary tale in that I am very pleased with the cooker, how it looks and how it works. However, don’t be like fixingitup – remember to check that your electrics can handle whatever you need to plug into them!

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DIY courses; Home Jane; your recommendations

I’m currently writing up a lengthy post on sanding floorboards, with pictures and everything, but in the meantime I wanted to share a recommendation.

Having always thought of myself as being rather good at DIY, I’ve recently come to realise that I was mostly just enthusiastic rather than genuinely skillful. Since I was moving into a new place which needed a lot of work, and was doing it on my own, I wanted to be able to do at least some of the smaller jobs myself. I also wanted to know enough to have meaningful conversations with builders, plumbers and so on, and hopefully avoid getting ripped off by unscrupulous cowboys.

When I saw that Home Jane were running a four week DIY course in SE1, then, I immediately signed up. Called ‘Tools for the Terrified’, it promised to be fairly hands on, and to cover woodworking, decorating, plumbing and wiring. Now, not being particularly terrified of tools, more just a bit inexperienced, I worried that it would be too basic or patronising. I was wrong.

I was wrong on a couple of counts. Firstly, it *was* fairly basic, but it just made me realise how much of the basics I didn’t actually know. I didn’t really know something as simple as the correct way to paint a wall, or how the plumbing system in a house works. I didn’t really know what I could or couldn’t legally do to the wiring in a house (as it turns out, there *isn’t* very much you are allowed to do), or how the electrics are normally set up.

I was also wrong because the workshop tutors and Home Jane team were great, very helpful, very clear, and always willing to answer questions. Not at all patronising. The class sizes are small, so you’ll need to get in there quick when they do run another one, though unfortunately there is no sign on their website that they have anything planned soon. Keep an eye on their news page, or send them an email if you want to find out more.

Still in the same borough, Southwark council also seem to be offering woodworking courses amongst other things, though I can’t vouch for them. Have you tried one of their courses?

For outside of London, a quick google search seems to bring up loads of different options. Could also search specifically for woodwork, plumbing or decorating. Have you tried any of these courses? Any other recommendations?

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