Removing a whirlpool bath

Horizon81

Has anyone ever removed a whirlpool bath before? I'm looking to buy a property which has one of these fitted but it's old and I'd want to replace it with a regular bath.

It's more the electrical side of things I'm bothered about. I guess the pumps are connected to the mains power somehow, so would I need an electrician in to remove these wires properly? Where are they likely to feed to? Another room? Under the floorboard? Or chased upwards?

mikey72

Anywhere under the bath.
It should connect from an rcb somewhere to the pump.


If you're not sure, get an electrician in to disconnect it and make safe.

Horizon81

I know the wires will be under the bath - linked to the pump and the control switch on the top of the bath, but where do they go from there? Where is the rcb likely to be? Wall mounted under the bath? I didn't think the mains ring in houses included bathrooms, so I'm curious as to where the wiring will join the main ring.

phill99

The pumps are under the bath and attached to it. There wil be a 13amp fused spur. If its an unswitched fused spur, it can be in the bathroom, if its switched it has to be outside the bathroom(maybe in the hallway or adjacent bedrrom). As long as you pull the fuse out of the fused spur, you will be perfectly safe to disconnect the wire. Once that is done, just remove the bath as normal.

Horizon81

phill99 wrote: »

The pumps are under the bath and attached to it. There wil be a 13amp fused spur. If its an unswitched fused spur, it can be in the bathroom, if its switched it has to be outside the bathroom(maybe in the hallway or adjacent bedrrom). As long as you pull the fuse out of the fused spur, you will be perfectly safe to disconnect the wire. Once that is done, just remove the bath as normal.

Once the wire is disconnected and the bath is out, then what do you do with the wire to make it safe? Surely it will have to be fully removed.

googler

Do you know where the consumer unit for the house is? If so, then to be double safe, you should either switch off at the consumer unit (disabling ALL the electrics in the house) or disable the circuit that controls the whirlpool.

Then, with the switch adjacent to the bath switched off as well, you can safely remove the wiring connected to the pumps. The wiring between the switch adjacent and the pumps can be removed, and you can safely leave the feed wiring (between the consumer unit and the switch) in place.

Unless you're absolutely clear about this, you should probably get an electrician to do it.

mikey72

It should have a switched fused spur somewhere, and should be able to be isolated. If it hasn't got one, it's not fitted correctly, and you need someone to make it safe.
If it has, just taking the fuse out isn't acceptable to make it safe.
Ideally the wiring needs removing leading under the bath.