Re: Fitting an electric shower? How hard?

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Hard enough that I wouldn't want to use one that an amateur had installed. Electricity, water ... .not a good combination.

Reply to
pete
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Thought that might be the case. Appox price to get one fitted?

Reply to
paulfoel

High wattage - heavy current - regulations - HIPS - etc

No way.

Reply to
John

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember pete saying something like:

Bullshit.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

Not very, but you need to know what you are doing. There is also the matter of Part P.

Reply to
Farmer Giles

Good tip that. Does it not wobble about though?

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I don't have a use for that particular wheeze, but I did something similar by cutting a 1/2" square drive 6" extension bar in half and welding the two bits into a 3' length of 1/2" water pipe. Great for when you need to get more leverage by clearing bodywork etc.

Steve

Reply to
shazzbat

Not much - the sleeve has two allen screws which hold it pretty tight + the sleeve is a snug fit.

Midge

Reply to
Midge

That's a fair point about effectiveness of electric showers. In the en-suite loo, I put in a power shower (Trevi mixer and Stuart Turner pump) which makes for a pretty good deluge. The pipework for low pressure hot and cold was easily accessible (airing cupboard other side of the stud wall) as was a mains supply for it - so didn't even consider an electric in there.

The only reason I'm putting that Triton electric in the main bathroom is in case anyone is staying and wants a shower at the same time (power shower can empty the hot water tank pretty quick).

- You can wire anything you want under SI2006.

- You do not need to be qualified.

- To install a NEW shower & final circuit is notifiable and you would need to contact BCO.

- To renew an EXISTING shower of the same wattage it is a NON- notifiable job.

You can download SI2006 from ODPM website, might be SI2010 now but the same applies. Readable for a gov't doc except it is written by cash under table civil servants who made a completel dogs breakfast of it whilst parliament merely rubber stamped "P1" and john prescott shagged something on his table at the taxpayers expense. SI2004 was a joke and merely reflected appropriately on the IEE's decline.

Key thing about a new shower is 1) existing suitable supply re DNO fuse to CU space 2) RCD protection 3) MEB & Supplemental uptodate unless all circuits in bathroom have RCD/RCBO protection 4) correct isolator 5) correct size of cable re voltage drop, adjusted CCC) and

6) correct materials and workmanship at installation. Route may require use of 10mm or even 16mm FTE, both of which are cumbersome to work with. It is not a complex nor trivial exercise, it is an important amount of design and often a rather cumbersome install considering a) location b) getting there c) getting everything else done re ventilation. Adding a shower to a bathroom generally requires ventilation to be improved, typically addressed by installing a light/shower activated extractor fan. This requires L1+L2+N isolation (not LNE!) if "externally" triggered by lightswitch.

Additionally "shower" might become "walk in wet room" re say Marmox or rubber-tray by the time you have finished planning (as opposed to wet room due to a leak :-) So lots to consider, most of all perhaps is "electric showers can be like a childs watering can over your head" compared to a pumped thermal-store shower which is "a real shower".

Reply to
Midge

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Yeh. Cold water is there because theres a bath there at the mo.

Distribution unit is about 5-10m away down in the garage. Its a 10 yr old barratt house so I doubt they bothered to leave any space.

Reply to
paulfoel

Thanks for all the advice.

To be honest, I think I'm going to do the plumbing bit myself. Not hard since theres a bath there at the moment so thats easy enought to get cold water there.

Electric wise I'm going to get someone in. I'm 'OK' at wiring/plumbing but not an expert and I dont fancy the combination of water/electric if anything goes wrong.

Reply to
paulfoel

Sounds a good strategy as you are likely to need a new CU or an additional one.

Reply to
John

Yeh. Cold water is there because theres a bath there at the mo.

Distribution unit is about 5-10m away down in the garage. Its a 10 yr old barratt house so I doubt they bothered to leave any space.

Not prepared to go to the garage to check:-) And if you are getting an electrician in there is a price difference if he has to empty a garage to get to a CU.

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

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Nah. CU is accessible!!!! :-)

Reply to
paulfoel

Is your bath cold high enough pressure?

Our house is a similar age and the cold basin taps and supply to the loos are mains pressure, BUT the bath cold is gravity fed from the cold tank, which gives a balanced supply for mixing.

If yours is the same, you will probably find that your head of water is not going to get anywhere near to the minimum pressure rating for an electric shower (typically 1 bar). I *think* a rough guide is 0.1 bar/metre between the bottom of the tank and the shower - which would mean it would need your shower to be 10M below the cold tank to get to 1 bar pressure.

What I can tell you is our bathroom has a shower/mixer tap, and the output from that is pathetic and not enough to wash your hair. However, the good news if your setup is similar, is you will have mains pressure water into your loft to feed your tanks, so you can T into that (or into the basin/loo mains fed cold if that is more convenient).

Midge.

Reply to
Midge

No cold water tank in the loft so i assume its mains fed.

Reply to
paulfoel

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