Andy Wade wrote in message ...
gna03633 wrote:

I have a 8.5kw electric shower which has stopped working, looking in the
fuse box the Wylex (push in type, not mcb) carrier and fuse are burnt!

The shower was fitted many years ago by Southern Electric, so I can only
assume the cable is correct.

I'd assume no such thing...

Should I be concerned about this?

Yes. Such overheating should not occur and if not attended to could
become a fire risk. Possible causes:

- loose terminal screw on live wire coming out of top of fuseway,
- loose screw within fuse carrier (if re-wireable type),
- circuit wired with grossly undersized cable,
- loose fuse contact spring in consumer unit,
- 30 A (red) fuse installed (8.5 kW shower needs a 45 A (green) fuse).

I can easily replace the fuse and hopefully catridge, but it has
scortched some of the bit the fuse plugs into - can this be replaced.

Yes, the "scorched bit that the fuse plugs into" is just a plastic
shroud which (a) keeps fingers away from the live busbar when the fuse
is out and (b) prevents the casual (ab)user plugging 30 A fuses into 5 A
circuits (notice how the width of the slots is graded). Undo the screw
in the centre and it will just pull out - this exposes the live busbar,
so turn off the power at the big switch first, unless you really know
what you're doing. If you go to an electrical wholesaler and buy a new
Wylex fuse assembly this shroud comes as part of it.

Having checked the terminal screws, offer the the new fuse carrier up to
the fuseholder without the shroud in place first (power off) and make
sure that the contacts are tight. The previous overheating may have
annealed the contact springs to the point where the fuse is a loose fit.
If this is the case you may have no alternative but to replace the
whole consumer unit (in which case consider upgrading to a modern split
load MCB unit). If you fit a new fuse assembly into loose contacts it
will just burn again...

HTH


I'm concerned by most of the advice in this thread - not just the
above. There coule be a live to earth fault and no bathroom bonding
for all we know. Following any of the advice here could kill you.

You need to find out what the fault is, not start guessing. An
electric shower is not something to muck about with.


NT