supply to elecreic fire

[geetee]

hi, i am going to fit an electric fire in place of an old gas fire. I have the 'builders opening' and on the side of the chimney breast is a switched fcu. I intend to let the FCU supply a double socket (to power both the fire and the built-in surround led lighting). It seems the obvious place to locate the double socket is somewhere in the builders opening - would this be ok ?...is this normal practice ?.....the reason I ask is because a) i'm not an electrician, B) the chimney is still open (to allow airflow; there will be a vent on the other side of the chimney breast). Even though the chimney has just been swept there will still be some bits of dust/soot falling down; is this ok. I suppose i'm asking because in a sense the double socket would effectively be outside (open to the elements - well air anyway), as will the back of the electric fire (is this normal practice too). Anyway, I won't waffle on any longer. Any fireplace fitters/electricians out there would surely point me in the right direction. TIA

 

[Doc Hudson]

Welcome to the forum geetee, do you know what the switched FCU is/was used to supply? Is it connected to the socket circuit? Occasionally you can think accessories are on one circuit but someone previously had actually joined it to a different circuit. Assuming it is all ok on a socket circuit I would probably bring the fire supply flex & your lighting supply flex though to a accessible socket or FCU somewhere in the room, rather than behind the fire. Connections and joints should be accessible for later inspection and testing. Unless the fire is easily removable to access the socket.

Doc H.

 

[geetee]

Thanks for the welcome. The FCU is newly fitted and is now part of the ring circuit. Yes I first thought of wiring the fire and surround-lighting straight into the FCU, but didn't really want to cut off the plugs as it might invalidate their warranties. But I also don't really want them plugged into a socket which is visible. If I decided to wire them both straight into the FCU, can they both be wired in there ? (i hope they don't need an FCU each).

 

[steptoe]

Hi geetee,

this is possibly OK, as long as you leave the fire in such a way it can be removed, remember you will need access if a fuse in the plug blows or similar,

Im not so sure as to why the opening hasnt been bricked up though, I do quite a lot of these for the council and they are usually bricked up with a fused spur beside the fire.

any more Qs please ask.