Electrical testing

Poppy9

Thanks for the advice. Got someone checking today what the wiring is. If it's only 6mm then we would need to put in 10mm but that will cause a problem in getting the wire upto the loft as the cable are buried in the wall I think because we have no trunking upstairs to the loft.

Might be easier and cheaper to just get a new shower of 8.5kw like the old one.

macman

Yes, if it is 6mm that would be the simpler option. Get them to check the RCD too, as regardless of shower rating you do need RCD protection on that circuit.

Poppy9

Can I just ask because I'm curious, next to each button on the main unit is a flip switch if they are knocked off (i.e. light bulb blowing) and then next to that a test button. What's the test button for, when should you use it. Never used it so just wondered it's purpose.

macman

It's for...testing the RCD. Press it and it should trip the circuit out. Good idea to test every 3 months, as RCD's can and do fail.

Poppy9

It was confirmed we had 6mm wiring (he said something about the cable saying 2 * 6mm and 1.5mm earth I think.

So we bought a new 8.5kw shower and it's fitted and working apart from an annoying drip from shower head. Plumber turned pressure down but it made no difference so I've rung Mira and straight away they said they would send out an engineer to fix. She didn't seem to need any details etc. so I wonder if there is a known fault.

macman

6mm 'twin and earth'. So when your original sparky said it allowed for future upgrading, he was telling porkies. It was on the limit.
Hope you got the RCD checked out too.

Poppy9

macman wrote: »

6mm 'twin and earth'. So when your original sparky said it allowed for future upgrading, he was telling porkies. It was on the limit.
Hope you got the RCD checked out too.

Yes the RCD was checked an it was fine.

Thinking back when we first had house rewired we had a 7 or 7.5kw shower which when it broke after about 7 years was replaced with a 8.5kw shower.

I did struggle yesterday to get a 8.5kw shower that was in stock and miras as the inlet for water and power on opposite side with Triton and they didn't want to have to move everything and drill more holes in tiles. Homebase told me that they are having a lot of 9.5kw brought back due to not having sufficent wiring and they usually have to order the lower 8.5kw as for most people it's too much hassle to rewire.

dwarvenassassin

Did you get a Minor works Certificate for the shower replacement?

Regardless of whether it is LABC notifiable, it should have a Minor Works Certificate or an Installation Certificate.

Poppy9

No we didn't need one as it was like for like replacement. I did speak to the LA and electrician about.

Poppy9

Myra came out today to fix the shower. They replaced a valve so no more drip, drip, drip:T . Excellent service off Myra as the engineer gave me a 2 hour slot that was convienent for me and arrived at the beginning of the 2 hour slot.