How hot should my shower get?

[Ramekin]

We recently had a new bathroom fitted and I now have an Aqualisa Vitalise SLX shower. It's very fancy, but sometimes when showering around 43c it will trip the circuit breaker. It seems to be that the unit's overheat sensor is shutting down a heating element and the resulting surge is tripping the breaker.

I can see a route to solving the circuit breaker/rcd, but it's the max temperature that worries me. Aqualisa reckon the max inside temperature of the unit is 45c, which would lead to a water temperature a bit lower, but I want a hotter shower!

Had anyone else experience this, and can anyone recommend an electric shower that will run at say 45c with no problem.

Thanks in advance.

 

[muggles]

What power rating is the SLX in kW and what is the rating of your MCB in amps?

 

[Ramekin]

Sorry for delay, reply notification was turned off for some reason.

SLX is 8.5KW. The guy that installed it fitted separate breaker from the main consumer unit - photo attached.

Looks like 63A RCD and 50A MCB if I read it right. It's the switch on the left that trips.

Thanks.

 

[Dan Robinson]

So. . Bugger all flow rate with next to no temperature rise

Think I'd rather smell.

 

[Servotech]

Sorry for delay, reply notification was turned off for some reason.

SLX is 8.5KW. The guy that installed it fitted separate breaker from the main consumer unit - photo attached.

Looks like 63A RCD and 50A MCB if I read it right. It's the switch on the left that trips.

Thanks.

Although 8.5 is very powerful it will struggle in winter to deliver a hot shower. The thermal cut out is a device to prevent scalding and the fact that it is regularly operating on a 8.5 KW shower would indicate a poor water flow rate causing the overheat (so this needs looking at firstly). I think this what Dan is also telling you in is own way.

 

[Ramekin]

Thanks for that, will investigate. It does have a low flow warning, but it's never been displayed. Happily it's under warranty and the installer isn't running away (yet) so all is not lost.

 

[Ramekin]

Just to update anyone that might be interested (a small group I should think), we got the Aqualisa engineer in, he checked and then replaced the shower and it still tripped. He then checked the installation and confirmed it was ok. He reckoned changing the RCD might work as he's come across this in the past. We, and the electrician that originally fitted the shower, were sceptical, but the electrician duly changed the RCD and the shower now works fine.

The breakout fuse box (or whatever it's called was brand new) but the electrician reckoned the RCD he took out looked older than the one he replaced it with. Maybe a Friday afternoon job.