Chasing out a tiled wall

[jpowell79]

I was getting ready to fit a new 9.5kw shower to replace my old 7.5kw shower. We had a full house re-wire a few years back and 10mm cable was run to the bathroom so no problem there.

The problem is the last leg, from the isolator pull cord to the back of the shower (approx 2m run) which I forgot was still the original 6mm cable

Am gonna have to pull it out but it’s embedded in the wall with no way of yanking it up from the ceiling, so unfortunately am gonna have to chase out a route for the cable up the bathroom wall.

What id like to do (ideal world scenario) is use my wall-chaser to literally chase out a nice clean run up the tiles, then bury some oval conduit and go over it with bonding, and then fill the chased section with similar colour tiles (no chance of finding the original subtle-patterned ones as the tiles are 10+ years old!) which will still look crap, but we planned on having a bathroom refurb at some point next year anyway, so it’s only a temp measure.

Anyone ever done anything similar to get a nice, tidy vertical chase up a tiled wall?

Or is it impossible, and I’m simply just gonna have to smash out all the (full) tiles one by one?

 

[cdbe]

No expert but might be worth asking on the electrical forum - length affects cable size.

 

[foxhole]

No expert but might be worth asking on the electrical forum - length affects cable size.

Maybe read the post before answering ?

 

[flameport]

Or is it impossible, and I’m simply just gonna have to smash out all the (full) tiles one by one?

No.
The 6mm² cable can be used with a 9.5kW shower.

Buried in plaster/masonry is equivalent to Method C, 6mm² is rated for 47A in that situation.
A 9.5kW shower is either 40A or 41A depending on whether it's calculated at 240V or 230V.
Either way not a problem.

 

[cdbe]

Maybe read the post before answering ?

I did. Have I misunderstood?

 

[jpowell79]

Thanks, I was just going by Triton website, so assumed 10mm was a must

So should be fine just to run on 6mm.

However it looks as though the cable for the shower on the new Mira needs to be on the left, but on the original Triton it’s on the right, so probably best I take the opportunity to re-run 10mm anyway, as maybe one day we’ll get a 10.5kw shower.

Sounds like a clean vertical chase into wall tiles isn’t gonna happen. I thought about getting a marcrist tile disc (https://www.screwfix.com/p/marcrist...BuWvaT77g07mlRBFZCwaAh2pEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds) to carefully just score two vertical lines up the wall, but as I’ve no experience at all with tile cutting I’m not sure if it’s going to leave a clean line doing this, or will just crack the hole tile (in which case I’d have to remove the full tile anyway!) so just really wanted to know if anyone has experience with cutting a nice clean line on a tile on a wall, and then managed to remove it so that it comes out nice and neat at the cut line.

 

[opps]

A wall chaser should be fine. My cheap Titan has two lower quality blades. I think it would be ok for ceramic tiles, but I would not use it on porcelain tiles.

Perhaps consider using a hot melt glue gun to glue a timber guide if you are gonna do angle grinder.

 

[foxhole]

I did. Have I misunderstood?

Yes

 

[cdbe]

Yes

Please explain, I suggested that the short length of 6mm cable may be able to handle the current required, thus avoiding the need to start bashing up the tiles - an electrician has confirmed that this is the case.

I find your comments quite rude and unconstructive - I'm here to learn and try to help others - hopefully you are the same, so help me out and explain why you think I didn't read the post, and correct my misunderstanding - or keep your comments to yourself!

 

[jpowell79]

A wall chaser should be fine. My cheap Titan has two lower quality blades. I think it would be ok for ceramic tiles, but I would not use it on porcelain tiles.

Perhaps consider using a hot melt glue gun to glue a timber guide if you are gonna do angle grinder.

cheers. Funny enough it's the titan wall chaser I've got as well!

I suppose worse case it doesn't work, and I'll just have to take 5-6 full tiles out.