Average kW of a Shower

[Peter F]

Following recent helpful advice on this group on destroying my house I come to you bearing another question...

If, as part of a house rewire the electrician was asked to put in a feed for a shower, what size cable and capacity MCB would you reasonably expect? Cable run is about 15m

What do folk reckon the average/minimum rated shower would be?

What size shower could be run from 6mm cable? What size shower could be run from a 32A MCB on aformentioned 6mm?

I think you can see where this is going!

Thanks for any advice, Peter

[David Hansen]

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 13:26:55 -0000 someone who may be "Peter F" wrote this:-

For an instant electric shower it depends on the power of the shower. The larger this is the better the shower will be. 32A may just be alright where mains water is relatively hot, but 35A+ is far better.

[Set Square]

On the basis that *no* electric shower is much cop - and that anything under

10kW is no use whatsoever, I would plan for 10.5kW. This will require about 45 amps at 230v - so use a 50 amp breaker and 10 sq.mm cable.

You can buy 8 kW showers - but I wouldn't bother!

According to

a 6 sq.mm cable is ok for about 38 amps (8.7 kW) if it's in a conduit on the wall and not thermally insulated - but a 32A breaker will limit you to about 7.3 kW.

[J]

I've got an 8.5kW shower, and find it perfectly fine. Admitadly, it's nothing compared to a power shower, but it is certainly better than the old

6.5kW one at my Dad's house :)

depends what you're used to.

My brother has very high water preasure throughout his house, and using the shower there is like using a jet wash :)

[Set Square]

Presumably as in *cold* jet wash if it's an electric shower?!