Disconnecting an Electric Shower

[NoviceBear]

I have an old (and not working!) electric shower which I'm replacing with a bath/shower mixer so I just want to disconnect the old defunct shower. How do I do this safely? I'll need to disconnect the water and the electric supply so I'm not sure if I should be posting in a plumbing forum too.

All the manuals say about installing a new one but not removing/disconnecting an old one.

Is it best to get a tradesman to do it; if so which, a plumber or an electrician?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[davy_owen_88]

You pretty much do what the manual says but backwards - the only difference is: turn off the water and electricity before you start and not at the end

You will have a dedicated cable from the shower to the consumer unit, this should be disconnected from the MCB and the cable in the bathroom should be suitably terminated if don't intend on removing it. A terminal block with some electrical tape should do the job.

Davy

 

[Sarahspark]

I would take the cable out altogether

Sarah

 

[sm1thson]

I would (after isolating or grounding?) connect all the wires together in a terminal block to show they are dead and to stop anyone reconecting withou investigating.

 

[kai]

At the consumer unit, the bare minimum is to remove the red lead from the MCB breaker, and connect it to the Earthing terminal, and put a sticker on the front of the box to state that you done this to make the shower circuit safe - if it needs re-use in the future, (the red wire in the earth terminal) is the first step in one of the essential R1+R2 tests when installing a new or replacement shower.

 

[sparkyspike]

I would remove the cable from the consumer unit completely. Leaving neutral and earth connected could cause the RCD to trip. You could still coil it up out of the way for possible future use.

 

[plugwash]

if it were me i'd leave the link from CU to isolator alone, then i'd disconnect the cable from the shower to the isolator and link out the cores at both ends (that way if anyone tries to reconnect it the breaker will trip instantly)