Blown fuse for the shower...

[HH]

Hi!

Firstly, I must stress I do not have any knowledge in this field so please bear with me.

Just yesterday, whilst having a shower there was a large bang and the shower went off. Even I know that the most probable cause was the fuse so I went to have a look. The remains of the fuse was sticking out of the main box with bits of plastic lying about. Having investigated a little further I now know that the fuse was a 30amp and my shower, a 9.5kw requires a 45amp fuse. So, my question is, seeing as the bit where the cartridge did plug in is now a little melted and doesn't look very safe to my untrained eye, what do I do now?
The main box has 60amp written on it and it looks pretty damn old.

Thanks in advance, HH

 

[plugwash]

that board is totally unsuitable for a shower that size though a violent bang like that is not expected.

i would advise getting a sparky to replace the board and do a full test and inspect while replaceing a CU is not hard after an incident like that i would want the system fully tested which requires both experiance and expensive kit

 

[Big_Spark]

You may need a new shower too as it could have done damage to it.

 

[dingbat]

A bloke just rang to ask me how much I'd charge to install a new shower. "I'll be round in fifteen minutes to have a look," I said. "No, it's all right," he replied, "I just want to know, how much do you charge?"

After a few questions I managed to establish that he too has a Wylex classic 4-way, 60A fuseboard, but try as I might I couldn't convince him that it was difficult to price a job without seeing it. I bet even as I type that he's down the pub, telling his mates how he's not going to let any spark con him into having something he doesn't need. Then he'll probably go to B & Q, pick up a reel of 2.5sqmm and connect up to any one of his existing fuses. I'm not worried though... he'll be back when his shower goes pop!

 

[securespark]

This is my problem dingbat, big time...

A lot of fellas (and gals) ring me up and ask just this. They've got an idea of how much they want to pay (HOW????????) and just want to hear a figure. They're not interested in the fact that you can't see down the f*cking wire and need to come round. As you say, there are so many different factors.

Q. "Can you tell me how much to fit a new shower?"

A. "Do you need: your cable replacing, your protective device changing, your cu changing, your dp switch changing? Is your main and supplementary bonding up to scratch? Etc, etc....."

Many's the time, I have had to insist on a site visit to ascertain the facts, and declined a price over the phone. And people get cross, nay downright rude when you refuse!!

The very worst of these was a guy who said "Well, f*ck you, if you won't do it (give me a price over the phone), I'll f*ucking well ring someone else....." At this point I quietly replaced the receiver, to be called a few seconds later by the same guy who said, "Did you just put the phone down on me, you little............?"

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??

I can't believe people havn't got the presence of mind to realise that not being able to see the job in hand is a minor handicap when attempting to submit a price for the same.

Would you expect a bodyshop to quote for accident damage over the phone?


Other people who do get a price say "How much?" and when I ask how much they were expecting to pay, they either say a stupidly low figure, or admit "I don't know how much I was expecting to pay, but that is too much!" (Real logic, there!!)

How do you know it's too much, then?" is my killer line....

Yeah, so the guy comes back to you, but then the heat is on because he will resent having to pay twice for the job, even though his first attempt is a bag of b*llocks.

I've had this, too, and again I have to be perfectly Frank (even though my name is Simon ) and say look, if you want this job doing right, it will cost £XXX.

It's like, well your the bozo who was too tight to do the job right in the first place, and you want me to subsidise your stupidity by doing "a nice cheap job" for you??

Harsh, I know, but that's how I feel.

 

[AdamW]

You know, in my (limited) experience labour is usually the overwhelming factor in an invoice. So how does one do a "cheap job"? Skimping on materials won't save much, and I am sure that very few tradesmen time-waste just to push up the labour cost. So what do you do?

I am getting my brake pads changed on Thursday. They were able to give me a quote over the phone, broken down by the fact their book says 0.6 hours per wheel, + the cost of the parts, +VAT. It wasn't the cheapest quote I got, but it was the one I had most confidence in.

People want a "ballpark" figure usually. I doubt that many intelligent people would assume that you can give them a figure to 10% accuracy via your extra-sensory perception. However, if I am considering having something done, I would rather know if it is likely to be a £100 job, a £500 job or a £1000+ job before I go to the effort of calling out trades for quotes.

Obviously there are easier jobs to do this for than others.

 

[dingbat]

Well, here's another recent example. Last week I went to see another shower job. Due to a bad connection of the phase cable at the shower termination, several of the shower's internal cables had burnt out, and the phase side of the connector block had melted completely. The cable was undersized for the shower rating, the supply was inadequate, the local isolator was damaged and there was no bonding in the bathroom whatsoever.

I ended up quoting £260, not including replacing the shower. (10mm cable, separate RCD unit, new isolator, best part of a day's work) The client was flabergasted - his mate had told him it would be £60, tops. There's no way I could have quoted for this job without seeing it.

 

[HH]

So I take it this is something a sparky can sort out fairly easy? It's not something I have to get the electric board in for is it?

 

[securespark]

His Mate would just replace the shower unit or worse still, bodge a repair with the terminal block, and restore power. Never mind the rest!

[It worked before, so why spend all that money? All it needs is XYZ. These sparks are just rip-off merchants, I'll see you right, mate.......]


I did a job with my builder mate - together we replaced an electric shower with a thermostatic power shower.

The same thing had happened to this shower as your clients, Dingbat. Alarm bells rang when I noticed that the cable leaving the local iso was grey and the cable terminated in the unit was white.....

When I took the unit off the wall, there was a 2 way 15A block buried in plaster (the earth was omitted...). The 6mm was snipped down to suit, and the wires just fell out of the blocks.

Chr*st knows how it held together without melting, but the funny thing was the block in the unit had disintegrated!

Ignorance, as they say, is bliss...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

So I take it this is something a sparky can sort out fairly easy?

Yes, he can sort it out. As to how easy it will be, and therefore how much it will cost depends entirely on how much of a mess everything is. Get 2 or 3 quotes. Try to go for people who come personally recommended.

It's not something I have to get the electric board in for is it?

You can't get the REC in - it is nothing to do with them - everything after the meter is your responsiblity.

 

[HH]

Thanks for your help ban-all-sheds, much appreciated!

 

[securespark]

Very sorry HH for sidetracking your original request. Slap wristies!!