Electrician Jobs Electric shower trips after 5 minutes

[SparkyChick]

So, looking at the Cara on Tritons website, it appears it's available in 3 flavours... 8.5kW, 9.5kW and 10.5kW.

The best case is it's an 8.5kW unit, but even that will run at around 36A on full load.

Whilst a 30A breaker will take this for quite some time, it should eventually trip, but over time the breaker will suffer the effects and will begin to trip earlier.

If it's 9.5kW unit, it's 39A and a 10.5kW unit would be 44A. That's assuming a supply voltage of 240v (if it's more than that, the current drawn will be slightly higher).

My guess is, it's been upgraded without consideration of the supply.

So in my view you have two options... change the shower unit for a less powerful one or upgrade the supply to one that can handle it (if it's a 9.5kW unit I'd be inclined to use 10mm cable on a 40A breaker). The unfortunate thing is, getting a new breaker for that board (I won't fit second hand ones) is going to be tricky at best, so I would install a separate little consumer unit (such as this:- British General 5-Module 1-Way Populated Shower Consumer Unit - https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-5-module-1-way-populated-shower-consumer-unit/1336j) and run a new supply cable and isolator.

Without seeing the job, the layout etc. (for cable routing) is impossible to give an accurate quote, but half a day plus materials wouldn't be too far wide of the mark.

Sent you a PM with more detail on pricing.

 

[telectrix]

^^^^^. Spot On.

 

[SparkyChick]

@Bernhard Hofmann ,

I've just tried to send you a private message but am unable to. I suspect your profile settings are configured so you don't receive private messages from people.

Send me an email to 'christina at sparkychick dot uk' and I'll send you some indicative pricing.

 

[Pete999]

@Bernhard Hofmann ,

I've just tried to send you a private message but am unable to. I suspect your profile settings are configured so you don't receive private messages from people.

Send me an email to 'christina at sparkychick dot uk' and I'll send you some indicative pricing.

Now the above post indicates why Ladies make good electricians, as well as posting with some really long words that some Males may not understand

 

[Taylortwocities]

@Bernhard Hofmann have your daughter look underneath the shower wall unit. There should be a label with the power rating on it.

@SparkyChick I see the RCD on there is 100mA, so the existing shower isn’t properly protected.
That needs sorting, especially as it’s a rented property.

Looks like a cosmetic job done on the bathroom ahead of sale, without considering the consequences. I’d be interested in seeing the installation certificate for that work

 

[Deleted member 111795]

Installation certificate? You're joking right?

It did appear a lot of "cosmetic" changes were made in a hurry before they bought it.

Thank you all so much for your time and knowledge helping us.

I'm going to email @SparkyChick now and review my profile settings - defaults I haven't looked at changing.

 

[telectrix]

landlord needs to upgrade that CU and retire it to the nursing home for old and knackered equipment. it will then be able to swap reminisces with me and pete 999.

 

[Deleted member 111795]

The suspence must be killing you lot waiting to hear the outcome.

Here's a little update so far...

@SparkyChick sent me a fantastic email; thorough and detailed; more than I could have hoped for. I'm torn between asking her to do the work and going with her suggestion to replace the shower with a combi boiler mixed shower. The combi boiler is on the wall outside the bathroom so it could not be more convenient really. I've arranged for my daughter to get a quote and then we'll see just how much more that'll cost than the cable replacement, and new consumer unit.

Meanwhile events have taken over with my son off to uni tomorrow and work being 10-12 hour days (if only they paid overtime!).

I'll be back when there's more to report.

 

[SparkyChick]

The suspence must be killing you lot waiting to hear the outcome.

Here's a little update so far...

@SparkyChick sent me a fantastic email; thorough and detailed; more than I could have hoped for. I'm torn between asking her to do the work and going with her suggestion to replace the shower with a combi boiler mixed shower. The combi boiler is on the wall outside the bathroom so it could not be more convenient really. I've arranged for my daughter to get a quote and then we'll see just how much more that'll cost than the cable replacement, and new consumer unit.

Meanwhile events have taken over with my son off to uni tomorrow and work being 10-12 hour days (if only they paid overtime!).

I'll be back when there's more to report.

And to clarify for you lot... I didn't suggest replacing the whole consumer unit at this juncture (although that is an option). Just a small shower CU to provide an adequate OCPD and the required RCD protection.

 

[Deleted member 111795]

I can't possibly thank @SparkyChick enough for her help. She went into a lot of detail in her long email to me, explaining the options and issues.

Thanks to her suggestion and outlined costs, my daughter has decided to disable the electric shower and simply fit new bath taps with an integrated shower hose.

I've written to @SparkyChick privately as well to thank her but I'd also like to thank everyone else who offered help here and recommended her.

T H A N K Y O U​

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

So the final word is @SparkyChick should get forum member of the year award for being most helpful and going beyond what is expected of her to help a visitor to the forum. She didnt do the hard sell either.
Maybe we should do end of year forum awards for a laugh?

 

['mr2'gd4u]

So the final word is @SparkyChick should get forum member of the year award for being most helpful and going beyond what is expected of her to help a visitor to the forum. She didnt do the hard sell either.
Maybe we should do end of year forum awards for a laugh?

Stop arse licking

 

[Baddegg]

So the final word is @SparkyChick should get forum member of the year award for being most helpful and going beyond what is expected of her to help a visitor to the forum. She didnt do the hard sell either.
Maybe we should do end of year forum awards for a laugh?

Gets my vote gavin, She’s just spent an hour telling an idiot (me) how to use the forum properly, thanks SC!

 

[SparkyChick]

@Baddegg - Like I said in PM... I've done the same thing from time to time, just not thinking about it

@Gavin John Hyde - Thanks Never go for the hard sell, just lay out the options and let the customer decide