Electric Showers?
Question:i am buying a new electric shower, ive hard that you need to be very carefull due to the KWt output of the shower as it can be liable to frazzle your wiring if its too high for your supply. Is there any way to determine what output your supply can handle?
Answers:
It's fairly easy to find out.
Check the rating of the circuit breaker installed for the shower. Multiply this value by 230 (mains voltage) and that will give the maximum wattage permissible.
eg Breaker rating 40 amps; 40 x 230 = 9200 watts or 9.2 KW
So in this case purchase a shower rated no more than 9.2 KW.
When wired in correctly electric showers have their own 'mains' fuse/trip switch so it is unlikely that it will 'frazzle' your other electric circuits.
So long as you have 30amp wiring, any eclectic shower will be OK, also make sure your fuse box is rated to take the load. Best thing to do is get an electrician round to check everything.
Fitted correctly with the right cable and breakers you will have no problem.
If all you are doing is replacing an existing shower, then you buy the same kW as before. NEVER EVER change the fuse rating unless you really understand what is going on.
The wires should never frazzle if they are correctly fused. Fuses are there to protect the cable; not the rated load at the end...
Get a qualified electrician to do it. It may be a bit costly but at least it will be done safely, water, electric and a novice don't mix!!
The size of the shower is determined by several factors.
In your case, to work out the maximum shower, divide the kW by 230v. Hence,an 8.5kW (ie 85000W) shower gives 37A. That means that the circuit breaker in your Consumer Unit needs to have a 40A circuit breaker to cope with the load
. And that is assuming that the existing cable is sufficient to take the load.
Check out the correct size of cable as well by using this calculator:
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/technical/ch...
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