Replace an electric shower please help!!!

[Jay99]

Hey, I have a worcester 24I combination boiler but the flue won't light up, and I need a new one, but I cannot afford it, so now I have to turn somewhere else, and I have a shower, but it blew up a year back and doesn't work, it has its own dedicated fuse box and I wanted to buy a £50 shower from tesco direct and replace it, do you think its a good idea? It has its own pull cord switch and a tap which regulates the water flow, I will post pictures soon, and have a max budget of £100, so what do you think?

All help much appreciated
Thank you.

By the way I'm pretty good with all the electrical stuff (computer builder) and the shower itself has a tap to switch the water on and off so it would be possible for me to replace it without any plumbing or wiring.

 

[cumbriahandyman]

Unless you are replacing like for like, it is quite possible that you might need to lengthen or shorten the plumbing and or electrics.

You also need to ensure that your current wiring is up to taking the new shower.

 

[Jay99]

I have a gainsborough Impulse 9.5Kw since I moved in and it blew up, I tried rewiring it back but the fuse keeps going at the mains, I'm sure I could do the wiring by following the diagram, and the one I'm fitting is only a cheap 8.5kw so it should be able to handle it.

The wiring is the old style red and black wires.

 

[Jay99]

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.j...&ecamp=cse_go&CAWELAID=356642019#BVRRWidgetID
was thinking of buying one of these.

 

[seco services]

I moved in and it blew up, I tried rewiring it back but the fuse keeps going at the mains, I'm sure I could do the wiring by following the diagram, and the one I'm fitting is only a cheap 8.5kw so it should be able to handle it.

The wiring is the old style red and black wires.

So how do you know it's been installed properly in the first place ?

By the way I'm pretty good with all the electrical stuff

But you can't sus why it keeps tripping ?
Could more likely tell you why from here.

I tried rewiring it back but the fuse keeps going at the mains

Rewiring it back. whats that mean in electrical lingo ?

 

[Jay99]

well well when it blew up the black wire came off and was all burnt, so I stripped it and cut off the burnt bits but the fuse always blew when I did, and It was rusting pretty badly so I think that why it blew.
I've included some images below, and If you can sus it out then it'll save me from staying at my mates house to have a shower! Currently at uni and skint, really skint!


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[Jay99]

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[Jay99]

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what I meant by pretty good with the electrical fuse is wiring things up and changing a fuse, thats about it!

 

[bernardgreen]

I'm fitting is only a cheap 8.5kw so it should be able to handle it.

What size are those wires bring power to the shower ?

From the image they do not look like 4mm CSA ( cross sectional area ) let alone 10mm SCA which would almost certainly be needed for safe instlallation of an 8 Kw shower.

Are you sure the shower is blowing the fuse ? Have you checked that the supply cable hasn't melted its insulation somewhere and is now shorted out. ?

 

[Jay99]

I'm not sure what csa they are, they look pretty fat and I don't have a tape measure
Well, when I've managed to get these numbers from the side of the wires supplying power to the radiator, not from the mains.
ul3138 e118906, but the wires that are supplying power to the shower do look quite thin and the red one is all burnt out, but further back its in a grey plastic casing, but no numbers though.

I think its its the red fat wire thats bringing power from the 4 screws has melted, and shorting out.

But because the shower itself has no knob and is a little rusty means that it may be dangerous, so using it is probably a bad Idea, and I certainly don't want to be electrocuted in the shower, but I'm not sure what you think on the mains power leads thickness, there dosen't seem to be anything wrong with it, but still unsure.

 

[seco services]

Personally looking at that heat can condition i'd bin the shower for a new one and get the mains cable upgraded.

 

[Jay99]

if I did replace the shower, would I have to re wire it to the fuse box or just that fat wire connecting it to the 'heat can'?

And would I be able to do it if it didn't involve rewiring because the wire to the mains looks ok, or could the wire to the mains be connected to the cord switch and a cheaper thinner wire used to connect that to the shower?

 

[SirBodger]

It looks to me as though the cables supplying the shower are not large enough. For a 9.5kw shower you would probably need a minimum of 10mm cable. The ones in the last picture look closer to 2.5mm than 10mm. I don't think any shower that heated the water itself would work on that circuit.

@Edit: The rust doesn't look so good in the shower so it might be better to replace the shower also (as suggested earlier). I didn't study the pictures properly first time

 

[seco services]

That mains cable entering shower from pullcord etc looks thin so i would
upgrade to 10mm cable right through to consumer box then you can have what kw shower you want.

 

[Jay99]

looks like the wires supplying the power from the fusebox to the pull cord are big, but from the pull cord to the shower are thin, and the fat one from the thin one to the water heater has burnt out, so when replacing the shower I shall rewire the cord to shower wire. I'm sure the new shower should supply a new version of that melted fat wire, does anyone know if fitting a shower is difficult?
The shower has been working for many years including the one before it not so sure why it exploded, but thanks for you help anyway.