triton electric shower kaput?

[mega_kas]

Hiya - my first post so please be gentle

Moved to a new house about a month ago.

I have a triton t60i 8kw shower (about 2 years old) that is refusing to heat water as well as it used to. The RCD tripped the other day leaving me with a cold water shower. Water pressure has stayed constant.

I reset the RCD and the shower runs but I have to turn it up to '10' to get any warmth. Before 5 was OK. at '10' the outlet pressure drops a bit.

So -
Should I repair? - guseeing maybe heating element or thermal sensors

Or as Triton customer service suggest -
Throw it away and buy a new shower unit?

I'd like to fit a more powerful shower if possible, 9.5 kw? Will I see any difference. Pretty sure I have 10mm cable - it looks beefy and the cu is only 2 years old.

I have a 32A MCB in the CU but could change this for a 40A for about £6
(not sure that the 32A MCB is actually OK for the existing 8kw shower )

The water inlet comes from wall into rear of shower unit via an elbow joint
The electric cable comes in to rear of shower unit.
Both feed in from the right hand side of the unit.

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Steve]

Your shower has 2 heating elements. One has gone kaput.

In all honesty it will be cheaper to fit a new shower. A new 8.5kw will give the same performance as the old 8.5kw one did before.

And it saves upgrading the circuit, which you would have to notify your local building control about and pay their fee for inspection and testing!

 

[mega_kas]

OK - so replace with a new one.

will I actually see any difference paying for a 9.5kw one over the existing 8kw one?

Ideally it'd be good to get a Triton shower with the same form factor so that it is a straight swap - any recomendations?

 

[Cremeegg]

Upgraded from 7.5kW Triton to 9.5kW Triton some years ago when 9.5kW first came out - much better - until the second heating element went after about 18 months. Seems par for the course - plenty of similar comments on here and other fora to confirm this.

 

[Steve]

OK - so replace with a new one.

will I actually see any difference paying for a 9.5kw one over the existing 8kw one?

Ideally it'd be good to get a Triton shower with the same form factor so that it is a straight swap - any recomendations?

Try Tritons customer service people or the tech dept.

Cremeegg, I must add, not ALL Triton 9.5s are doomed to fail after 18 months or a year. Ours has lasted best part of 4 years so far. Good job cos I hate baths

 

[Cremeegg]

Crafty - perhaps I was unlucky but Triton are very helpful.

 

[mega_kas]

Ok - I've just put the new shower in - it's a Triton Jade II 8.5kw.

I had a look at our cabling again and it looks like 6mm to me.
The 10mm cable in B&Q was chunkier and the earth core was made up of multiple strands. My cable has just a single (thick) strand of earth core.

Thefore I didn't want to risk the 9.5kw shower.

Everything is running OK but I'm a little worried that I am running 8.5kw shower with probably 6mm cable and a 32A MCB.

The old 8.0 kw shower (0.5kw less) ran with the same combo for a few years so I think this should be OK too. Unless any of you guru's think otherwise?

It's actually quite hard to find an 8kw or lower shower now.

Cheers

 

[Steve]

It should be ok. The 6mm cable is fine. The shower overloads the MCB by about 4 amps though, which would probably trip it after half an hour plus. In reality you wont be using the shower for that long. I wont recomment you change the MCB because I dont (yet) know the cable route. Give us some details about this. Length, whether it runs in trunking, or insulation and for how long.

 

[mega_kas]

I'm not sure how the cabling suns actually - i'm no expert.
I can see it leave the consumer unit tacked along the wooden stairs then it goes through a stud wall and it comes out at shower end embedded in masonary wall. The length of run is less than 10m.

Were you thinking I could put a 40a MCB in there?

Ta

 

[Steve]

Yes. 6mm is rated at 47 amps optimum, but I cant advocate such a gamble when you dont know the route of the cable. If you're comfortable with it, then do it.

What brand are the other MCBs in the consumer unit? Can we have a photo?

 

[mega_kas]

Here are 3 pics

Crabtree Loadstar CU with RCD and MCBs. Biggest MCB in there is 30A.
Shower circuit is third from right of the green MCBs current a 30a single pole b curve whetever that is.

cable routing along wood from consumer unit.

And my new flash silver shower :lol
Taken with my mobile so not great

 

[Steve]

Very swish! I hope its not really mounted sideways though!!

Its a fairly new CU and you should be able to get a new MCB pretty easily. I think B&Q sell Crabtree Consumer units and spares. You need a B40.

You should know, this job involves removing the front of the consumer unit and exposing the wires inside. You must turn off the incomer main switch on the right hand side to start with. The incoming tails will still be live, so be very aware of this, especially if there is any copper exposed on top of the mainswitch. If there is a switch between the meter and the consumer unit, turn it off. This will completely deaden the consumer unit. Test that the unit is dead by trying a few of the circuits or test for voltage if you have a multimeter.

You have to loosen the 2 screws on the MCB, top and bottom (one grips the busbar and one grips the circuit live core), and lift it out (there may be a clip on the back, im not familiar with crabtree stuff). Then clip the new one in, tighten it up top and bottom again, and refit the cover.


**By the way, I cant see any 30 amp MCBs there. This is an old standard, did you mean 32 amp?

 

[mega_kas]

thanks a lot for the info. I hate working with electricity - it's scary.
I'll have to take the shower out and remount it vertically

Yep 32a not 30a

Do you reckon it'd be ok to switch to a 40a MCB then with my 6mm cable and routing? Alternativley I could just soldier on with the 32a and hope that it doesn't trip often.

 

[RF Lighting]

Personally I'd be tempted to leave thinks as they are for know, and if you do have trouble with the MCB tripping then we can look at how feasable the MCB upgrade would be.

Overloaded MCBs are bad circuit design and not allowed by the regs, but I'd prefer to see this rather than a cable too small for the MCB rating.

 

[Softus]

A new 8.5kw will give the same performance as the old 8.5kw one did before.

And it saves upgrading the circuit...

Even a 10.5kW shower unit wouldn't need a circuit upgrade, but even an 8.5kW unit will require an uprated MCB. That is notifiable work.