Shower lash up

[South Spark]

I was called into a property where I was told that the shower fuse had blown. On investigation it turned out that a 9.8 KW shower was connected with 10mm T+E but only as far as the nearest fused spur on the upstairs ring main. They'd used a 45A cooker switch to terminate the 10mm then switched to 2.5 to connect into the supply side of the fused spur (which is powering a kind of sit down jacuzzi and seems to be correctly installed). They'd even done it in the old colours!

Apparently this work was done last August - I've taken photos - the 2.5 in the old colours was melted and fused together - it blew the RCD at the consumer unit and the tenants just haven't touched the shower since it started smoking.

1) What chance is there that the shower unit is still functional - should I tell her that she needs that swapping and will need a plumber?

2) What recourse does she have against the shower installers?

 

[cook1e]

i would also check in other sockets on the ring for heat damage, maybe the cables have gone brittle

martin

 

[bwm730]

At least it blew the MCB/RCD. Just returned from a callout where the shower stopped working due to a broken isolation switch. Went to turn off the supply in the main consumer unit and couldn't find the shower fuse. Therefore turned off the 100amp main switch and guess what, the shower isolation switch still had 240v on the supply side. Undone the consumer unit cover and found the 6mm shower supply cable had been piggy backed off the incoming meter tails and no inline RCD. The only protection for the shower was the DNO fuse. Apparently the shower was installed by a plumber last year and he got an "electrician" in to connect the wiring, no certificates as usual. How do these people sleep at night ?

 

[londonlec]

Stanley FatMax slotted screwdriver: universal screwdriver, key, floor bar, basher...