9.5 kw shower on 6mm ?

[telectrix]

what's wrong with a watering can on a pivot, pulled with wet string (10mm wet string, of course)

 

[ezzzekiel]

Found plenty of 9kw showers fed with 2.5 and never been a problem

 

[Guitarist]

Found plenty of 9kw showers fed with 2.5 and never been a problem

Don't tell the DIY'ers that....

 

[Mark_Burgess]

just been to a job , saw that the shower 9.5 kw is on 6mm t&e the cable goes in the wall and under floor boards ,No insulation, to the board (A cable run of no more than 10 m) . I said downgrade the shower to 8.5 max. Is it really necessary ? never quite sure , its borderline to me .

I have a feeling you will be told, "well it has worked like this for ages, and we have never had a problem!"

 

[Lester Lecky]

To give yourself piece of mind, just do a full cable calculation and find out what the current carrying capacity of the cable is. In most installations i have found Insulation (Ci) and cable grouping (Cg) at least affect the cable capacity. These figures often make the current carrying capacity requirement much higher than that offered by a 6mm cable.
Depends on how precise you want to be! I have only seen a couple of heat damaged 6mm cables in my time caused by overloading. One was very bad at the consumer unit - a house full of females - shower on A LOT and for long periods.
I always go on the side of caution to cover my ---. So would always point out issue and recommend a downgrade of shower or upgrade of cable! Up to the customer then and you can sleep at night!

 

[nick611]

i think thats right, its bang on the limit. but i would be ok with it if it seems to be holding up. keep it on the 40 and tell them they are pushing there luck. whatever happend to the super 7 shower ??? 10.5 kw crazy !!!

 

[Genlight]

point out issue and recommend a downgrade of shower or upgrade of cable! Up to the customer then and you can sleep at night!

I have to agree Lester, my test is "what would I say to the coroner if the worst happens?"

Roger

 

[SPARTYKUS]

And the other little addition is, it may well be on the limit on a 40A, but 1.13 x 40 is over 45A......

I've seen a 6mm2 cable melting on a 10.8kW shower, again as prev poster mentions where it connects at the neutral bar. Always wonder if it was a loose conn (can't tell when all melted).

 

[SPARTYKUS]

I also doubt that they will be having the shower running at full whack, not unless they have skin like leather.

Honestly don't understand these shower unit being 9.5 TO 10.5KW, The shower unit that i currently have in China is 4.2 or 4.6KW (do they do this sort of rating size in the UK??) and i can't have the thermostat turned up more than half way.

So what's the story with these Mega Watt shower units that seem to abound in the UK?? ...lol!!!

Yeah but doesn't China run at 650 Volts :chinese:

 

[Guest55]

I see the good old 9.5kw shower on 6mm conundrum is still rumbling on after 4 pages lol.
Not in the least bit surprised
Anyways im off for a shower now , 8.5kw wired in 4mm if anyones interested.
If im not back assume the worst

 

[Guitarist]

It's no good people shouting about how a cable should be ok because the shower "should" only on for 10 mins. It's either suitable for the OCPD or it's not for goodness sake.
Really can't see what the argument is.

 

[paul_griff]

Until he resets the mcb.
strewth.

Reset the MCB while wet and naked, sounds dangerous and embarrassing !

 

[bilge rat]

Agree with richard , showers rarely used longer than 5-10 mins , too short a time for cable to heat up.

Some people like to have sex in the shower. Could upset your 5-10minute rule. They would have to get out every 20 mins to turn the mcb back on. Dangerous with wet hands hurrying to get back:rolleyes2:

 

[Ponty Massive]

I was always of the understanding, the higher the kw rating of the shower, doesn't mean it gets hotter, just allows more water to flow at the required temperature.
The lower the power rating the less amount of energy it has to heat the water so it flows slower to maintain the temperature.

 

[Guest55]

Reset the MCB while wet and naked, sounds dangerous and embarrassing !

Good grief.

 

[Guest55]

Some people like to have sex in the shower. Could upset your 5-10minute rule. They would have to get out every 20 mins to turn the mcb back on. Dangerous with wet hands hurrying to get back:rolleyes2:

*bangs head against wall.

 

[Guest111]

remember a few years back one of the sheds was doing 10.5kw showers for about £45 well a bloke fitted one on 6mm replacing his old 7.5kw cable ran on outside wall of house and it melted it from one end to the other,guy was well peed off.asked for a price and said the cost of cable alone was more than cost of shower,got quite funny about it so I told him that my shower worked fine so either way it didnt bother me if he had it fixed or not.lol

 

[mickys86]

remember a few years back one of the sheds was doing 10.5kw showers for about £45 well a bloke fitted one on 6mm replacing his old 7.5kw cable ran on outside wall of house and it melted it from one end to the other,guy was well peed off.asked for a price and said the cost of cable alone was more than cost of shower,got quite funny about it so I told him that my shower worked fine so either way it didnt bother me if he had it fixed or not.lol

Nice answer haha. Not your fault his DIY went belly up!

 

[Guitarist]

I was always of the understanding, the higher the kw rating of the shower, doesn't mean it gets hotter, just allows more water to flow at the required temperature.
The lower the power rating the less amount of energy it has to heat the water so it flows slower to maintain the temperature.

Indeed mate, higher rating means better flow as power is fixed and temp is controlled by throttling water flow. Downside of a lower rated shower is on a winters morning when the water entering the unit isn't much above freezing... :christmaswindow:

 

[Moses]

9.5KW shower at 240V takes 39.6A

9.5KW shower takes 37.9A at 230V

40A Circuit Breaker will hold indefinitely for a 9.5KW shower.

Will not trip what ever you have to do in the shower.