Plumber or electrician?

badmemory

My electric shower is broken & my normal plumber/electrician is not answering messages.  So do I need to find an electrician or a plumber.  Cold showers are definitely not my idea of fun so it getting urgent.

danrv

Usually a plumber for an electric shower. Good ones will have electrical knowledge for fitting these.

diystarter7

danrv said:

Usually a plumber for an electric shower. Good ones will have electrical knowledge for fitting these.

Hi

Sorry, I disagree. My understanding is if you are to do it by the book, then either an electrician (qualified) with plumbing knowledge ie like for like etc or new - or a plumber but  then a qualified electrician has to check the electrics.


Thanks

ThisIsWeird

BM, are you hoping to have it replaced or repaired? These are quite different things.

But, to answer your Q, you'll need a mix of the two skills! Call up a couple of each trade, and ask them - some will be perfectly happy to do both tasks, others will say a categoric 'non'. If it's a like-fir-like swap, then it's one of the simplest jobs for each one to also do the 'other'. 

I'd suggest to initially focus on a sparky, certainly for the diagnosis, as it's more likely to be electrical than plumbing.

danrv

diystarter7 said:

danrv said:

Usually a plumber for an electric shower. Good ones will have electrical knowledge for fitting these.

Hi

Sorry, I disagree. My understanding is if you are to do it by the book, then either an electrician (qualified) with plumbing knowledge ie like for like etc or new - or a plumber but  then a qualified electrician has to check the electrics.


Thanks

Maybe by the book but I’ve never had a qualified electrician check a plumber’s electrical work.
Yes, electricians can fit showers too.
Either way it’s a fairly straightforward job if fitting like for like. Both electrical and water connections being easy to fit. 

mi-key

A lot of plumbers won't deal with electrical stuff as they don't have the skills.

I would get an electrician, it is unlikely to be a plumbing issue anyway as plumbing wise the only thing that normally goes wrong is leaks, pretty much everything else that goes wrong with them is electrical. 

badmemory

It is just a straight swap.  Thanks everyone.

Keep_pedalling

diystarter7 said:

danrv said:

Usually a plumber for an electric shower. Good ones will have electrical knowledge for fitting these.

Hi

Sorry, I disagree. My understanding is if you are to do it by the book, then either an electrician (qualified) with plumbing knowledge ie like for like etc or new - or a plumber but  then a qualified electrician has to check the electrics.


Thanks

An electrician is not required for a simple swap out of one shower for another, this is not notifiable work. 

molerat

For a swap out it depends if you are replacing like for like.  If the new shower needs 10mm cable and you only have old 6mm then a whole different issue.

danrv

molerat said:

For a swap out it depends if you are replacing like for like.  If the new shower needs 10mm cable and you only have old 6mm then a whole different issue.

Yes. I’m fitting like for like 8.5kw on old 6mm cable.  Any larger then I’d need 10mm.

badmemory

I'm replacing an 8.5 with an 8.5, hopefully I've now got someone coming to price up later today.