Installing Electric Shower

[willing]

I have installed a shower unit and connected the electrics to the heater spur which is fused and has a switch. I used the same thickness wiring that is used on the inside of the shower unit. With the shower on low setting and the fan heater on it works A1 OK. On the high shower setting only (No fan heater) the shower fuses after ten minutes. Any advice? The shower rating is 7200 watts. (7.2kw) Max

 

[Bahco]

Have you used the correct size cable?

Should be 6 mm for 7.5 kw shower. Fuse rating may be too low.

I would be concerned that you have shared a feed and maybe not used a designated RCD

Suggest you get a spark in to check your installation

 

[Paul Barker]

This is a trick question right?

Shower needs seperate spur, cheapoest is buy mcb unit with rcd protection and place it next to CU, supplied from it's own tails.

Convension is now to use 10mm tne for all electric showers. Though strictly speaking 6mm shopuld do you depending on distance. As it's a new installation I would use 10mm.

4mm minimum but needs looking up in osg, bonding need to be taken from shower to every extraneous metal part in your shower/bathroom.

Double pole isolation to be provided.

Qualification neede to do the job and test and inspection certification needed.

 

[willing]

Many thanks to Paul Barker and Bahco, will call in the professionals.

 

[Adam_151]

Many thanks to Paul Barker and Bahco, will call in the professionals.

Its a sparky you need, not a plumber btw , though a part P registered plumber would do I suppose

 

[divadoll_1]

I was told not to upgrade my 6mm to 10mm for my existing 7kw shower as I didnt know when I would be replacing it....it would leave the cabling too big for the installation. This would have been ok if the mcb was still 32 though surely??? because its the fusing rating that should be the first to go???

 

[Adam_151]

divadoll_1 , you are right, no problem uprating the cabling even though you dont know when you are going to upgrade the shower, the only slight possible issue is the cable might be difficult to terminate in the terminals of an old 7kw shower

 

[peteleeds]

Similar problem when I installed a new shower. I upgraded from a 8.5kw to a 10.4kw shower and the fuse wasnt big enough (the cable was the right thickness though).

Worth checking something that simple.