Any Electricians Out There For A Bit Of Advice?

[soapnumpty]

I am having trouble with my immersion which is just plugged into a socket and the plug keeps overheating. Can I spur off of the double plug socket and put a switch spur next to it and wire the immersion in to this? I believe you can run an electrical cable from the socket to the load of the spur and the immersion goes into the feed ? Would I need to change the fuse amp as well ? Thank you.

[malagabob]

What size cable is the box supplied with. It's not part of the house ring main is it Could be a fire hazard if the supply cable is to small. Supply should be direct from the consumer box with correct fuse rating A qualified lekie will correct me if I am wrong.

[Hymie]

The fixed immersion heater should not be wired via a plug, even though at 3kW it will be drawing just under 13A. You can do what you propose; with the ring main good for 30/32A there should be spare capacity for the other socket outlets on the ring.

You could even consider fitting something like this, giving you the option of timing the heater.
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p42879#item_detail

Ideally you should include a fused spur, with the fuse rating as recommended by the immersion heater manufacturer.

[mastercraft]

STOP! Wrong way around. Probably best if you get a qualified person to do it. Home insurance will be void if anything goes wrong...if done by a uncertified person.

[The Builder]

I agree with the others, Soapy. A fused spur (13A fuse) is perfectly Ok and safe, but not the best way. A dedicated immersion circuit is much better.

Your socket ring will be either 30A or 32A. An immersion is likely to come on quite often. Add a kettle/electric fire/washer/dryer, and the circuit is likely to be well loaded. This will depend on how you're wired up. It's good practice to put such things as a utility room or immersion on their own circuits.

Don't use a standard 13A socket. The plug will get very warm, and you'll likely start to see scortching around the pin entries on the socket itself.

What a lot of people don't realise is that, even if a 32A ring circuit is running with a 32-35A load, it may well be vulnerable. This may be just being a bit fussy, but if the load is "off-centre" in the ring (most of the load being near the end of one leg as it enters the consumer unit), then it can push that end of the leg towards overload.

Let's not lose sleep over this, but it does explain why dedicated circuits are preferable.

[soapnumpty]

Thanks all for your replies. My husband is going to get the professionals in!