need help with electical connection of spa bath

[fingerjabber]

hi all,

just fitted in my new spa bath but not too sure on the electrical side, i thought i would be able to connect it from a fused spur to the flex attached to the pump but reading the instructions it states that a RCB is fitted and the supply line fed by a isolator do i really need these?

i have run the flex from the pump on the bath in the wall into the loft and was gonna make the connections in there. can someone plz give clear instructions on what i need to have and to do, links to screwfix would be ideal

thanks for your help, andy

 

[Lectrician]

Does your Consumer Unit have an RCD incorporated in it already????????? Find this out first, and we can advise.

YES an isolator is needed.

 

[fingerjabber]

lo mate, not quite sure, it has a main trip switch and smaller trip switches for each ring (soz if am bein abit thick but not up to scratch on cu's)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Does the main switch have a button marked "Test"? Or is there a switch half-way down the board which does?

If so you do have an RCD. If it's part way along then you have a split-load board, and you need to find out if the circuit you want to use for the pump is on the RCD side or not.

If it isn't, or if you don't have any RCD, then you should power the pump via an RCD fused spur, like one of these:

If you can find a switched one, that would also do for your isolator, but I'm not sure there is such a beast.

 

[fingerjabber]

hi, no the CU doesn't have any test button on so i will need to get a RCB i've seen the powerbreaker version in BnQ which is same price from there as screwfix so will get this 1.

can i run this RCB from a spur off socket cable with a junction box? any pictures of the isolator that i need and how do i wire this to the RCB?

thanks for your help lads i just wanna be 100%

andy

 

[ban-all-sheds]

hi, no the CU doesn't have any test button on so i will need to get a RCB i've seen the powerbreaker version in BnQ which is same price from there as screwfix so will get this 1.

RCD

can i run this RCB from a spur off socket cable with a junction box?

Better to put it directly onto the ring, but you can use a spur cable as you describe, provided that socket is not itself a spur

any pictures of the isolator that i need

Examples of DP switches (not light switches):

and how do i wire this to the RCB?

T/E will be fine. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to put both accessories next to each other in a dual (not 2-gang) box:

 

[fingerjabber]

thanks alot ban all sheds mate now i know what i need will defo get it sorted on the morro

thanks again pal

andy

 

[fingerjabber]

o just another quicky i'm installin a seperate power shower in the bathroom too could i wire both bath and shower to the RCB/isolator? or should they be seperate? does the shower really need a RCB?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

When you say power shower, do you mean a pumped one, or instant-heat one?

And it's RCD.....

 

[fingerjabber]

hi, its a shower that connects to both hot and cold water and has a pump inside the shower unit, not a mixer shower with the pump installed elsewhere

got the RCD unit and isolator switch today gonna fit this on the spa pump, the instructions for the shower just RECOMENDS a RCD but if i could run both spa pump and the shower from that 1 unit then connect to a seperate FCU because the shower is 3 amp rated, would this be ok?

JB off ring - RCD - isolator - spa
- FCU @ 3amp - shower

thanks again ban all sheds

 

[fingerjabber]

hi ban all sheds, got the spa all wired up and workin fine so just the question above m8:-

"can i run a FCU from the RCD to power the shower?"

thanks again m8

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Those are RCD FCUs, so you might not need a second FCU. What is the rating of the gubbins for the spa bath?

Is the shower over the bath, or is it possible that you could be using the spa and the shower simultaneously?

 

[fingerjabber]

hi m8, the shower is a seperate enclosure, the spa needs 13amp and the shower needs 3 amp thats why i thought to connect it to another FCU with a 3 amp instead of the 13amp

andy

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There's no way to separate the FCU and RCD functions in those units, so both appliances would be coming off the same 13A fuse. This is the wrong value for the shower, and the total load would be too great for the FCU.

So if you want both appliances on an RCD, you'll need two of them.

Alternatives:

1) A small CU with an RCD and two MCBs, one for the batch, and one for the shower.

2) Replace the main MCB for the circuit with an RCBO, and just use a couple of regular FCUs.

 

[Damocles]

Just an observation that isolators (and fuses) are supposed to be accesible. Crawling up ino the attick to switch it off might not be considered an ideal location.
Somewhere nearby but outside the bathroom is a good plan, maybe high up to stop people fiddling with it.