I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

I'm wondering if the power supply to the immersion heater
will be suitable, or if this will have to be replaced?
It is on its own circuit-breaker.

Any views on the merits of this?
The main reason is to give more space,
perhaps for a separate shower.

--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin

It depends on the size of cable, isolators and the circuit breaker. Most immersion circuits I have seen have used 2.5 T&E with 20A switches and 15/16A circuit breakers, as long as your instantaneous heater current draw does not exceed these parameters then I cannot see a problem. In the UK this installation is probably notifiable as the bathroom is considered a special place - do you have Part P in Ireland?

Richard

On 24/07/2015 16:49, Tricky Dicky wrote:
It depends on the size of cable, isolators and the circuit breaker. Most immersion circuits I have seen have used 2.5 T&E with 20A switches and 15/16A circuit breakers, as long as your instantaneous heater current draw does not exceed these parameters then I cannot see a problem. In the UK this installation is probably notifiable as the bathroom is considered a special place - do you have Part P in Ireland?

Richard

20A is only ~5kW, which isn't nearly enough for a shower. 7kW is about
the smallest you can get IIRC, but that's a bit of a dribble. A 10kW
(40A) shower is more reasonable.

Cheers
--
Syd

Syd the OP is talking about running an instant heater for a wash basin not a shower. Mind you the current draw could be similar to an electric shower hence the comment about current draw and cable sizes etc.

Richard

On 24/07/2015 17:13, Tricky Dicky wrote:
Syd the OP is talking about running an instant heater for a wash basin not a shower. Mind you the current draw could be similar to an electric shower hence the comment about current draw and cable sizes etc.

Richard


OP
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.
/OP

I think you misread it and by 'power-shower' I think the OP meant
instant heat electric shower. But you may be right.

Cheers
--
Syd

On Fri, 24 Jul 2015 17:22:48 +0100, Syd Rumpo
wrote:

On 24/07/2015 17:13, Tricky Dicky wrote:
Syd the OP is talking about running an instant heater for a wash basin not a shower. Mind you the current draw could be similar to an electric shower hence the comment about current draw and cable sizes etc.

Richard


OP
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.
/OP

I think you misread it and by 'power-shower' I think the OP meant
instant heat electric shower. But you may be right.

Cheers

If he has hot water storage for the pumped shower why can't he use the
same source (un-pumped) for the basin hot tap?

Unless he *does* mean an electric shower after all, in which case he
will need a new cable to the CU.

Over to you OP.





--

Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Syd Rumpo wrote:

I think you misread it and by 'power-shower' I think the OP meant
instant heat electric shower.

That is what I meant.
I guess that would mean a new wire back to the CU,
which would be rather expensive in my case.


--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin

Tricky Dicky wrote:

do you have Part P in Ireland?

It's not called Part P but I think it is more or less equivalent:
"It is illegal for anyone other than a Registered Electrical Contractor
(REC) to carry out electrical work in your home.
Minor electrical works such as changing switches, sockets or light fittings
are not covered by this legislation."


--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin

Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

I'm wondering if the power supply to the immersion heater
will be suitable, or if this will have to be replaced?
It is on its own circuit-breaker.

Unless you want to wash under one of those tiny heaters that dribbles warm
water over your hands, you present wiring will be completely inadequate.
Existing immersion is probably around 3KW. For an instantaneous heater, 7KW
will sort of work in summer but be miserable in winter.


Any views on the merits of this?

If an immersion heater is your only source of hot water, it's going to be
expensive to upgrade. Lots of new wiring needed.

The main reason is to give more space,
perhaps for a separate shower.

if you have gas, a combi boiler would probably be a better bet for you.

Tim

On 24/07/2015 16:33, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

I'm wondering if the power supply to the immersion heater
will be suitable, or if this will have to be replaced?
It is on its own circuit-breaker.

Any views on the merits of this?
The main reason is to give more space,
perhaps for a separate shower.


Judging by the answers received so far, I think we're all a bit confused
by the terminology you have used - and are unclear as to what you
*actually* want to do.

I'm not sure whether by "immersion heater" you mean that literally, or
the hot tank which it heats. Similarly, I'm not sure whether by "power
shower" you mean a shower booster pump for stored hot water, or
something which heats the water as it passes through. The questions
below should help to clarify the situation.

Do you:
a) want to get rid of your hot cylinder - heated by an immersion heater
- and install an electric shower which takes mains cold water and heats
it in "real time", or
b) want to retain your hot cylinder - heated by some other means (gas?)
- and simply use the existing immersion heater wiring to power a booster
pump to give you more flow to the shower?

If the answer is (b), there shouldn't be a problem. However, if the
answer is (a), it's extremely unlikely that a circuit designed for a
(3kW?) immersion heater will be adequate for a (10kW?) electric shower.

If your motivation is to create extra space, I rather suspect that the
answer is (a)!
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On Friday, 24 July 2015 16:33:05 UTC+1, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

I'm wondering if the power supply to the immersion heater
will be suitable, or if this will have to be replaced?
It is on its own circuit-breaker.

for a hot tap water heater, yes.
to power an electric shower, debateable but probably no.

Any views on the merits of this?
The main reason is to give more space,
perhaps for a separate shower.


NT

wrote in news:b709006c-2a46-442d-83dc-
:

On Friday, 24 July 2015 16:33:05 UTC+1, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

I'm wondering if the power supply to the immersion heater
will be suitable, or if this will have to be replaced?
It is on its own circuit-breaker.

for a hot tap water heater, yes.
to power an electric shower, debateable but probably no.

Any views on the merits of this?
The main reason is to give more space,
perhaps for a separate shower.


NT

Power Shower is the accepted term for a pump to give additional flow to an
existing hot mixed with cold water supply.

On 24/07/2015 19:22, DerbyBorn wrote:
wrote in news:b709006c-2a46-442d-83dc-
:

On Friday, 24 July 2015 16:33:05 UTC+1, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

I'm wondering if the power supply to the immersion heater
will be suitable, or if this will have to be replaced?
It is on its own circuit-breaker.

for a hot tap water heater, yes.
to power an electric shower, debateable but probably no.

Any views on the merits of this?
The main reason is to give more space,
perhaps for a separate shower.


NT

Power Shower is the accepted term for a pump to give additional flow to an
existing hot mixed with cold water supply.

Indeed. And Immersion Heater is the accepted term for the electrical
element which fits inside a hot water cylinder to heat the water.

But I suspect that the OP is talking about an electrically heated shower
and a hot water cylinder. [See my earlier post seeking clarification].
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On Friday, 24 July 2015 19:22:05 UTC+1, DerbyBorn wrote:
nt wrote in news:b709006c-2a46-442d-83dc-
:

On Friday, 24 July 2015 16:33:05 UTC+1, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

I'm wondering if the power supply to the immersion heater
will be suitable, or if this will have to be replaced?
It is on its own circuit-breaker.

for a hot tap water heater, yes.
to power an electric shower, debateable but probably no.

Any views on the merits of this?
The main reason is to give more space,
perhaps for a separate shower.

Power Shower is the accepted term for a pump to give additional flow to an
existing hot mixed with cold water supply.

it is, but that doesn't make sense here


NT

On 7/24/2015 4:33 PM, Timothy Murphy wrote:

I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.

I take it you mean an electric shower rather than a power shower (the
latter does not heat the water, just pumps it for greater pressure /
flow rate)?

I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

You could use the immersion heater feed for that.

I'm wondering if the power supply to the immersion heater
will be suitable,

Nope, not a chance.

or if this will have to be replaced?
It is on its own circuit-breaker.

Added to, you will need the exiting feed for your inline basin heater...

Any views on the merits of this?
The main reason is to give more space,
perhaps for a separate shower.

Could you cite the cylinder somewhere else? (loft even)

Could you use a combination boiler?


--
Cheers,

John.

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On Friday, 24 July 2015 16:33:05 UTC+1, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm thinking of doing away with the immersion heater
in my bathroom, and getting a power-shower in its place.
I'll also have to get a small heater for the wash-basin.

You could use something like this which will do a shower and a basin:

http://www.fastlec.co.uk/redring-pow...eater-45793201

Not 'warrantied' for baths or 'large kitchen sinks'.

Owain