No, there has not been any mention of an RCD. That's another potnetial issue, but not the one which we have (yet!) been discussing in this thread. However, given that the OP tells us that the CU was installed by a 'reputable electrician/compnay' only 2 months ago, it seems pretty unlikely that the shower circuit would not have been provided with RCD protection.
I'm not quite sure what you meant by that. In terms of what we know (hopefully there are not other problems we don't know about!), the only thing non-compliant about your CU is having a 32A MCB for an 8.5kW shower- and that would not have been compliant with old regs any more than it is with current ones.
Regulations obviously always evolve. A car which was compliant with all the rules and regulations 10 or 20 years ago could not be lawfully manufactured and sold today. However, just as with cars which complied with old requirements but not current ones, it is usually accepted that the old ones don't necessarily have to be updated simply because the rules have changed.
Possibly. However, as has been explained, it is the way in which the cable is installed (partly in conduit) which produces the (marginal) current non-compliance (6mm² would be fine if just clipped on, or buried in, a wall - even today). It's quite possible that older regs were less demanding.
10mm² cable is not the most pleasant thing tio deal with - it has a habit of knowing where it wants to go, which is not necessarily the same as where you want it to go. As I mentioned before, is there no possibility of simply getting the 6mm² cable out of conduit (and, say, burying it in a wall) - you might want to discuss that with your electrician. The advantage of moving up to 10mm² is 'future proofing', since that cable would be OK would the largest showers around.
'Clipped direct' to a wall or buried in masonry/plaster, 6mm² cable would have a current-carrying capacity of about 47A.
Thanks - that's interesting. As you say, not a lot of change. The OP's interest would, of course, relate to the rating with 'close protection' but partially enclosed in conduit (i.e. to tell him whether his 6mm² cable would 'ever have been compliant' for an 8.5 kW load) - do you know what that was? Also, I suspect that the shower was probably installed post 14th edition (I would guess most likely 16th) - what was the situation then?
Thanks.
I doubt that the conduit would have been in thermal insulation, so it sounds as if the OP's 6mm² cable in conduit would have been OK under 16th ed. - which, as I said, I suspect are the regs under which it was installed.
I had heard there were some small ones.
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