My sisters house has a shower circuit in 6mm cable, the shower is 8.5kw, is this cable big enough, she was considering installing a 9.5 but i guess this will be too big?? Should i advise her to get it re-wired?
The current carrying capacity of a cable is not entirely based on it's CSA. Other factors such as length and installation conditions (conduit, trunking, insulation, high ambient temperatures, bunching etc.) alter the maximum amount of current it can carry safely.
6mm² twin and earth clipped direct is good for 47A
8500w / 240v = 35A
9500w / 240v = 40A.
So depending on the factors I mentioned previously, you might be able to fit a 9.5kW shower on the existing cable, then again the same 6mm² t&e might not be suitable for the 8.5kW shower after the derating factors are applied. If you tell us the conditions the shower cable is installed in, we should be able to offer more advice.
You'll probably need to give a bit more info such as the length of the cable run and under what conditions (clipped to the wall, in conduit / trunking, plastered over, run under thermal insulation etc).
A spark will then be able to advise more accurately.
It comes out of shower (upover) plastered over, no conduit or trunking up to loft, over to pull cord, then looks to go down back wall again through plaster bt i dont think there is any trunking, then along under floor boards and down to cu. I would guess over all run is 2.5m of cable under plaster then maybe 8m under boards before dropping into cu.
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