Gas Oven Installation

• Single built-in ovens: Fitted under the worktop, often beneath a hob, or at eye level in a tall housing unit.
• Built-in double ovens: A main oven and a smaller top oven or grill, fitted in a tall housing unit at eye level.
• Built-under double ovens: A lower-height double oven designed to fit beneath a worktop.

Before you order, we check the oven is made for the type of gas you have (natural gas or LPG) and that its dimensions match your housing unit.

The cabinet does as much work as the oven. A built-in gas oven needs:

• A housing unit designed for a built-in oven: The right internal width, height and depth, strong enough for the oven's weight, with a solid shelf or rails that sit level.
• Ventilation gaps: Gas ovens need air for the burner and to let heat escape. Manufacturers specify gaps or openings, typically at the back of the unit and through the plinth or the shelf below. Blocking them can overheat the cabinet or affect how the burner burns.
• Access to the isolation valve: The gas supply should have an isolation valve that can be reached without pulling the oven out, usually in the next cupboard.

An older housing unit may need adjusting or replacing. During a kitchen renovation, the housing, gas point and socket are planned together before the units go in.

A built-in oven does not usually use the long cooker hose and bayonet point you see behind a freestanding cooker. The manufacturer's instructions set the connection, which is normally either:

• A rigid connection: Copper pipe made up to the oven's gas inlet, with the isolation valve close by.
• An approved flexible hose: A short appliance hose where the manufacturer allows one, routed so it is not kinked, stretched or touching hot surfaces once the oven is pushed home.

If the existing supply is in the wrong place, too small for the oven, or missing altogether, the pipework is altered first through our gas plumbing service.

Almost every built-in gas oven also needs electricity for its ignition, light, fan or clock. Most plug into a socket or connect to a switched fused connection unit (a fused spur), so the oven can be switched off without pulling it out. Some models are hard-wired. Either way, the switch or socket should sit in an accessible place, such as the next cupboard or above the worktop, not hidden behind the oven.

If a new socket or fused spur is needed, it is installed and tested to the wiring regulations, BS 7671. Any new circuit is certified through one of the routes the building regulations allow, through our domestic electrical installation service.

Yes, as long as both appliances allow it. Many single built-in ovens are designed to sit under a worktop with a hob above. We check:

• that the oven's instructions permit installation under a hob, and which hob types;
• that the hob's underside and the worktop leave the clearance the oven needs;
• that the hob's gas connection and the oven's ventilation do not clash in the space between them;
• that each appliance has its own gas connection, with an accessible isolation valve.

1. 1

   Tightness test: the gas installation is tested before and after connection.

2. 2

   Fixing: the oven is screwed into the housing unit through its side trims, so it cannot tip or slide out when the door is opened.

3. 3

   Burner and pressure checks: the oven and grill burners are lit and the gas pressure and flames are checked.

4. 4

   Safety devices: the flame supervision device is tested, so the gas shuts off if the flame goes out.

5. 5

   Handover: we show you how to light and use the oven, and where the isolation valve is.

Landlords should make sure a new oven is included in their next landlord gas safety certificate check.

• Gas to electric: An electric oven is not gas work, but the old gas oven must still be disconnected and the gas supply capped and tested by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Larger electric ovens may need their own circuit, installed through our domestic electrical installation service.
• Electric to gas: A gas supply has to reach the housing unit, which usually means new pipework.

Yes. Connecting, disconnecting or capping off a gas oven is gas work, and anyone doing it as part of a business must be on the Gas Safe Register. A kitchen fitter who is not registered must leave the gas connection to a Gas Safe registered engineer.