Question About The Electrical Feed for A Shower???

[Pete E]

Just a quick general question about the Regs ect concerning electric showers...

I am tracing some redundant but still live wiring in my house, more out of interest in how it has been wired than any other reason.

The house was built in the 90's and has the old colour wiring scheme.

When built, it had a hot water tank and immersion and an electric shower in the main upstairs bathroom, plus a second electric shower ensuit in the main bedroom.

At a later date, most of this was removed and a combi boil was fitted and the showers are now part of that system.

I have found the radial that fed the original immersion and it is still live but having traced it, I suspect the same radial was then used to feed the electric shower in the main bathroom?

Just wondering if that was a common/permissible method given the amount of potential current draw?

Regards,

Peter

 

[Pete999]

Just a quick general question about the Regs ect concerning electric showers...

I am tracing some redundant but still live wiring in my house, more out of interest in how it has been wired than any other reason.

The house was built in the 90's and has the old colour wiring scheme.

When built, it had a hot water tank and immersion and an electric shower in the main upstairs bathroom, plus a second electric shower ensuit in the main bedroom.

At a later date, most of this was removed and a combi boil was fitted and the showers are now part of that system.

I have found the radial that fed the original immersion and it is still live but having traced it, I suspect the same radial was then used to feed the electric shower in the main bathroom?

Just wondering if that was a common/permissible method given the amount of potential current draw?

Regards,

Peter

What size is the cable that was used to feed the Immersion? Sorry Pete just remembered you are a DIYer, and may not know different cable sizes.
I would imagine the cable is 2.5mm2, and unless the instaler was a complete moron, I doubt very much that this cable fed the shower (assuming it was an instant hot water type shower) much to small for an electric shower feed, if it was a power shower, your assumption may be right.

 

[Taylortwocities]

There are a lot of factors here, including whatever was fine by the boiler installers. Answers can only be determined by an electrician on site.

 

[Pete E]

What size is the cable that was used to feed the Immersion? Sorry Pete just remembered you are a DIYer, and may not know different cable sizes.
I would imagine the cable is 2.5mm2, and unless the instaler was a complete moron, I doubt very much that this cable fed the shower (assuming it was an instant hot water type shower) much to small for an electric shower feed, if it was a power shower, your assumption may be right.

I am pretty sure the immersion was 2.5mm, but without taking the cover off the JB, I am not 100% certain.

What got me thinking was if the immersion feed is still live, I wonder what they did with the feeds to the showers once those showers were removed?

I would like to think everything was disconnected and the cable removed, but I do wonder if they were also left live but "buried" in the walls??

As I I say, I was just pondering what had gone on and whether the work had been done properly...

So today then, on a new installation/new build, would an instant hot water shower be fed via its own radial or do they still feed them off the upstairs ring?

Regards,

Peter

 

[Pete999]

An instantaneous Shower would be, or should be fed on it's own circuit, and NOT fed from a RFC

 

[Taylortwocities]

What got me thinking was if the immersion feed is still live, I wonder what they did with the feeds to the showers once those showers were removed?

Hard to tell. If they did it properly, they should have disconnected them at the consumer unit.. What are the MCBs in the consumer unit, post a photo.

So today then, on a new installation/new build, would an instant hot water shower be fed via its own radial or do they still feed them off the upstairs ring?

If it is an instant electric shower that is fed from the cold water mains supply, then it can ONLY be a radial circuit of at least 32amps. It will not be from a ring final.

 

[telectrix]

a power shower is different. electrically it only uses a small pump under 5A, so would be normally fed from the RFC.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I assume not, as he has a combi boiler and specifically asked about an

instant hot water

 

[Pete E]

If it is an instant electric shower that is fed from the cold water mains supply, then it can ONLY be a radial circuit of at least 32amps. It will not be from a ring final.

An instantaneous Shower would be, or should be fed on it's own circuit, and NOT fed from a RFC

Thanks gents, I thought that might be the case, but wasn't sure...

I had a look at the labelling on the CU and there is no mentions of showers, so I am hoping they will have been removed properly so to speak...

 

[dmxtothemax]

How much power you can pull on that circuit depends upon mainly two factors
1 - size of the cable
2 - the circuit that feeds it and it's capacity.
Does it have it's own dedicated breaker/fuse ?
Or are there other things on that circuit ?

 

[gazdkw82]

Some pictures would be useful. Have you tried turning your circuit breakers off one by one until you loose the power to your shower? Once you know which breaker it is you can then gain more of an idea on which circuit it's on and the details of that circuit

 

[Pete E]

Some pictures would be useful. Have you tried turning your circuit breakers off one by one until you loose the power to your shower? Once you know which breaker it is you can then gain more of an idea on which circuit it's on and the details of that circuit

Thanks for the reply, but my question was "hypothetical" and related to the feeds for two electric showers which have been removed by the previous owner.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I do find it so useful to actually read the thread, before replying to it

 

[Toneyz]

Do you still have any old shower pull cords or isolation switches for the showers? as an electric shower could of been disconnected from there. The cable from the immersion heater circuit could have fed shower pumps to give water pressure to the showers.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Do you still have any old shower pull cords or isolation switches for the showers? as an electric shower could of been disconnected from there. The cable from the immersion heater circuit could have fed shower pumps to give water pressure to the showers.

read the effin original post. That’s the one at the top numbered #1

most of this was removed and a combi boil was fitted and the showers are now part of that .

 

[Toneyz]

read the effin original post. That’s the one at the top numbered #1

Maybe correct me if I have interpreted the post wrong but you don't need to be so rude about it.

 

[Pete E]

Maybe correct me if I have interpreted the post wrong but you don't need to be so rude about it.

Thanks for taking the time to reply...I actually never thought about checking the loft around where any switches would have been...I will see if there is any redundant wiring up there....

 

[gazdkw82]

Thanks for the reply, but my question was "hypothetical" and related to the feeds for two electric showers which have been removed by the previous owner.

Ah ok. The best way to identify circuits that are not labelled is by taking the front of the consumer unit off. You will need an electrician to do this

 

[Pete E]

I got up in the loft last night and had a look around under the insulation and was able to find where the switches had been from the remains of holes and plugs ect...

Scouting around further and knowing where the showers would have been I was again able to find holes down into the partition wall...It looks like all the cabling was recovered so I am going to call it good and leave things at that...

 

[telectrix]

you don't need the showers anyway. the sheep are all half drowned in the rain.