Immersion heater/ring

[gremlin1]

Is it Ok to run a small ring off the immersion heater circuit, just a couple of sockets, up to about 700 watts?

 

[luminaire]

Is the immersion heater still in use? If yes, then you can't use it for anything extra.

 

[Cremeegg]

If no then why not just add the extra sockets as a radial - subject to the correct fusing and cable size.

 

[gremlin1]

Thanks for the replies. The Immersion is in use so looks like I'll have to run the spur off double socket instead.

 

[very_pointy_ears]

When my boiler was installed a couple of years back they took power from the immersion feed. When they installed it, they asked if I used the immersion much. When I said no, they then took it as OK to take the power feed from there.

Now that I'm doing some rewiring, is it frowned upon to leave it like that? Was going to put it on a B16 breaker.

I hardly use the immersion and gather the boiler draws very little current anyway.

Cheers,
Kingsley.

 

[plugwash]

Some electricians belive that immersion heaters must be on thier own circuits but I have never seen any quote a reg that supports this.

From a loading point of view putting a central heating system (that isn't electrically heated) on the same 16A circuit as a 3KW immersion heater is fine.

because immersion heaters draw power for much longer than other loads the capacity they need should be dedicated to them. So if you have a 3KW immersion on a 16A circuit that only leaves you a few amps for anything else. Fine for a boiler or other low current fixed equipment but not good for general purpose sockets.