new shower

[sonnyboy]

my new shower keeps on tripping my mcb.is it because i have to upgrade the cable or mcb.

[BillyNoMates]

What rating is the shower ?

What rating is the MCB ?

What size and length is the cable ?

Need to know these before an accurate answer can be given.

[stanleyman]

Try using it on low power if possible to establish if it is free from faults, at least on low power. If your new shower is more powerful than the old one then it is more than likely that that the shower supply needs upgrading.

You should not upgrade the MCB without checking the cable is also capable of the new load. Again the chances are it is too small. You may also need a separate fuse box as you may be overloading your consumer unit, this is very common.

As this work is in a bathroom, you should not start without informing building control first, unless you use a self certificating electrician.

[qapmoc]

Hi stanleyman, your comment about building control interests me, As presumably most of the houses in the UK have electrical systems which are a few years old and are probably not documented in any way relating to the existing equipment installed and the size of cables used and the rating of mcb's in place etc...how will anybody know that you have actually changed anything.

[PKStout]

I have just had a new shower put in and the electrician said my main circuit breaker was too old to cope (it was made of bakeolite!) and I had to contact the Electricity board who upgrade for free

[stanleyman]

Hi qapmoc. Nobody will know if you don't sell your house or kill yourself or family. Under proposed legislation a "logbook" of your for sale house will be required documenting all new work.

Even now buyers are asking do you have planning permission for existing buildings or building regs approval for this loft conversion, new conservatory, heating, wiring and new shower. If you can't produce evidence of compliance then it's going to cost you.

If I were looking to buy a house I would go through it with a fine toothcomb if suspected diy work had been carried out so I welcome this. I'm not against people doing their own work provided they know what they are doing and it is checked, sadly this is rarely the case.

I have just spent four days putting right my inlaws new house with dangerous wiring. The conservatory had five power points, one electric heater and electric underfoor heating all on one spur, burnt out lighting wiring, temporary loft and garage wiring and considerable unprotected outside circuits etc. etc. The sellers assured them that it had all been done professionaly, my arse!

The worst case I've come across was when I was installing heating controls. The customer had just bought the house and was proud of the fact that the previous owner had just had it rewired. I took the boards up to find it was all wired in multicoloured single insulated flex!

The next job I refused to do as the owner had removed a dividing and supporting wall causing the ceiling to sag!

My neighbours have been getting shocks in the kitchen after they renewed all the plastic fittings for nice shiny silver ones and wired the tubbledryer into the cooker circuit and god knows what else. It's now going to cost them more to put it right. Diyers are in for a real shock!