Discuss What Power of Electric Shower Can I Have with 15mm Wide Cable? in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

N

Novice12

Hello,

My last builder's electrician installed wiring ready for the installation of an electric shower.

It is a flatish cable about 15mm wide for the widest dimension and has "2x6+2.5mm 2" (2=squared) marked on it.

When looking for an electrician to wire in a shower to it one told me that it will allow me to fit a 32 Amp shower and that would have been better being a 10mm cable as would have been able to fit better shower.

Is this correct? I thought that the thicker a wire is the more power it can take and therefore I would have thought it would be able to take a wider range of showers than just a 10mm cable.

Thanks in advance for any information about this.
 
The 15mm is not the 'size' of the cable - it is 6mm. The '2'x6+2.5mm' means the cable has 2 6mm live (line and neutral) wires and 1 x 2.5mm earth wire. So your '15mm' cable is capable of carrying LESS current than a 10mm cable.
Hope this makes sense!
Daz
 
Hello,

My last builder's electrician installed wiring ready for the installation of an electric shower.

It is a flatish cable about 15mm wide for the widest dimension and has "2x6+2.5mm 2" (2=squared) marked on it.

When looking for an electrician to wire in a shower to it one told me that it will allow me to fit a 32 Amp shower and that would have been better being a 10mm cable as would have been able to fit better shower.

Is this correct? I thought that the thicker a wire is the more power it can take and therefore I would have thought it would be able to take a wider range of showers than just a 10mm cable.

Thanks in advance for any information about this.
The cable you have had installed is a 6mm2 twin and Earth, do you know how the cable was installed, has it been run in the roof space, how long is the run? these are the things that we take into consideration when planning to install a shower, have you any idea what size (in Kilo Watts KW) you are looking at?

Where exactly are you in the South East?
 
Hello,


When looking for an electrician to wire in a shower to it one told me that it will allow me to fit a 32 Amp shower and that would have been better being a 10mm cable as would have been able to fit better shower.

Is this correct? I thought that the thicker a wire is the more power it can take and therefore I would have thought it would be able to take a wider range of showers than just a 10mm cable.

Thanks in advance for any information about this.



In the case of showers,bigger does not always mean better
The ability of a cable to carry its maximum current is determined by the means of its installation,this can be different from job to job.
The "vast" majority of showers will be fine on the cable size you have currently(6.omm/2.5mm), assuming the method of its installation permits

In my opinion,the larger rated showers (10 and 11 KW monstrosities) that almost certainly require 10mm and above, they have little or no advantage (other than perception) of being better than showers 8 - 9.5 KW which would usually be within the 6/2.5 cables capacity
Yes your range may be restricted slightly but only by the restriction on over hyped power hungry units
 
The 15mm is not the 'size' of the cable - it is 6mm. The '2'x6+2.5mm' means the cable has 2 6mm live (line and neutral) wires and 1 x 2.5mm earth wire. So your '15mm' cable is capable of carrying LESS current than a 10mm cable.
Hope this makes sense!
Daz
That is very helpful, I now understand why the Electrician said this. Thanks
 
The cable you have had installed is a 6mm2 twin and Earth, do you know how the cable was installed, has it been run in the roof space, how long is the run? these are the things that we take into consideration when planning to install a shower, have you any idea what size (in Kilo Watts KW) you are looking at?

Where exactly are you in the South East?

The property is a 1960s built 2-floor house in Cheshunt near Enfield.

I am not sure of the exact length of the run but the cable runs from the consumer unit on ground floor up to the loft. This journey is prety direct I think and part of it is within a stud wall perhaps. In the loft I can see the wire and it ends just above the bathroom ready to be connected to a shower below it.

I don't know what power of shower looking for, I suppose the most powerful one I can get though.

Thanks
 
If you get an electrician to assess the current circuit arrangement they should be able to tell you what size shower is recommended.
 
The property is a 1960s built 2-floor house in Cheshunt near Enfield.

I am not sure of the exact length of the run but the cable runs from the consumer unit on ground floor up to the loft. This journey is prety direct I think and part of it is within a stud wall perhaps. In the loft I can see the wire and it ends just above the bathroom ready to be connected to a shower below it.

I don't know what power of shower looking for, I suppose the most powerful one I can get though.

Thanks
Bit to far for me to travel to I'm afraid
 
When my 10.5kW shower conked out I replaced it with a 7.5kW unit and not even my wife can tell the difference. Except for a lower electric bill. That's a 32amp load or thereabouts. That's what I would go for if I were you.
 
When my 10.5kW shower conked out I replaced it with a 7.5kW unit and not even my wife can tell the difference. Except for a lower electric bill. That's a 32amp load or thereabouts. That's what I would go for if I were you.
Thanks, do you remember what the make and model is?
 
I think he meant that it would be OK.
 

Reply to What Power of Electric Shower Can I Have with 15mm Wide Cable? in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock