Electric Shower

[brianrma]

I'm replacing an existing shower.
The new shower is 8.5KW.
Its on a single circuit into a 32A MCD with a Consumer Board 63A RCD.

Is this adequate?

I will have the finished job checked by a qualified electrician.

 

[Spark123]

Not really. A 32A circuit is only really good for a 7.5kw shower. What size did you have before?

 

[brianrma]

I'm not sure as I stripped it out sometime ago, before I re-tiled the bathroom etc..

The answer seems to increase the rating on my mbd; what would U recommend?

 

[reggie perrin]

What size cable?

 

[brianrma]

6mm2

 

[brianrma]

Any help would be appreciated.

Kind Regards

 

[Steve]

MDB and MCD are made up terms.

The two terms you want are MCB and RCD.
Miniature Circuit Breaker
Residual Current Device

We cannot design the circuit for you. We are not there, we haven't seen the circumstances and cable route. There may be other factors which we cannot see and you may not even know about which will affect the circuit.

However, we can give general advice.

8500 watts is 36.9amps at 230 volts therefore you need a 40 amp MCB.

6mm² twin and earth cable is rated at 47 amps optimum. However, there are factors which bring this optimum rating down. Insulation (even only on one side), length of cable, grouping with other cables, ambient temperature, there are others too.

If any of these factors apply here, you MUST de-rate the cable. Come back with more info based on the above if required.

 

[brianrma]

Thanks a lot for the advise.