NEW BOILER ELECTRICS ADVISE PLEASE.

[BARCUD]

Hi we have just had a new Worsester boiler fitted. The original boiler was in the kitchen but I thought it was too close to the cooker. The kitchen is quite small so room was tight to relocate the boiler so I settled on having it in the bathroom where there is a lot more space. I now have an electronic timeswitch that needs fitting. The boiler is directly over the kitchen so I thought the switch could be placed in the kitchen below.
Is there any advise you could give me regarding fitting and connecting the timeswitch.

any help much appreciated.

BARCUD

 

[OilLecky]

BARCUD, Installing Electrics in a kitchen and / or bathroom is Part P notifiable. This means that you either do it yourself and get it inspected by your local building control but need to notify them first; or you have to get someone qualified to Part P to do the installation. I think that you'll find the 2nd option easier and in the long term cheaper. I'm not trying to spoil your project but the fact that you needed to ask this question leads me to think that you really need to get an electrician in. Sorry mate.

 

[kevindgas]

sorry but i agree with oil on this
but why did your gas installer not do the work whilst installing the new boiler ?

 

[GodKnows]

Probably not a RGI that fitted it After all he might of not been Part P registered, otherwise he would of fitted it as per MI's and current regs... Although, there are alot of RGI's that aren't Part P, they just have a sparky as a best friend

 

[ChrisR]

You can only put some boilers in some parts of bathrooms.
Often you'll need to have it in a cupboard which is locked. Check your boiler instructions. SOme WB Juniors for example you can ONLY put in a particular zone if you have NO timer etc on it.

Boilers fitters often don't bother to try to get it right, because it's either too hard,
impossible,
paperwork,
cost,
or just something else to think about - and nobody checks.

 

[BARCUD]

Hi guys and thanks for the replies.

The guy who put the boiler in for us fitted it and repositioned some radiators for us. He doesn't do electrics. But he did say it was just a job of running a line downstairs to a supply. I did get an electrician in a couple of weeks ago who told me that couldn't be done ! He said a line would have to be taken to our fusebox at the other end of the house, and then a line back to the kitchen to the switch. BUT, he also said I would need a fuse for the box that would cost anything up to and over £100. There is a yellow capital letter D on a black background sticker and he said it was so expensive because this company have a monopoly on the fuses ! So all of a sudden the simple job of connecting the timeswitch is running into a couple of hundred quid ! Hence my question to you guys.

BARCUD

 

[gas4you]

All it needs is a fused spur added to the ring main by a qualified sparks.

Can't see what the fuss is all about

 

[dal5band]

Persumambly the boiler is already connected to the mains in which case you need to run a wire from the boiler to the point where you want the switch. Definately do not need another fused spur, there should only be one source of power for the boiler and anciliaries.

If it is a combi, you can replace the room thermostat with a programmable thermostat (battery powered).

 

[Agile]

Most boilers have a facility for a timeswitch on the boiler itself.

It sounds as if you have no room stat? Thats a dodgey installation!

The simplest solution might be to get an RG programmable stat as it will do all of the functions you need.

I still dont see why a timeswitch cannot be powered from the boiler anyway. Doing it any other way could create an unsafe installation if power can come to the boiler from two different sources.

Tony

 

[GodKnows]

Fit either a sunvic, or seimens RF roomstat with programmeable function, preferable not in the kitchen, that has way too much heat in there Try the hallway, if you have one... Get a spark who knows how to wire to a boiler, very few of them do Still concerned about fitment in the bathroom, the description of your kitchen and vague size of bathroom would indicate that the flat is pushed for space. It must be in a compartment within the bathroom, if in a certain zone (I will be corrected no doubt on here). Water/steam near a boiler is a no no... Be careful fella

 

[OilLecky]

I presume that this boiler was fitted into the bathroom since the introduction of the 17th edition of the wiring regulations in the middle of last year?

If so the major changes that are relative are the one about the change to zones in locations containing a bath or shower and, more importantly, in this case, the requirement that any electrical installation (installed since the introduction of the 17th edition) is Residual Current Device (RCD) protected. (this is one of those devices that trips, in this case with a 30mA leakage current.)
I quote the regs:

"701.411.3.3 Additional protection by RCDs. Additional protection shall be provided for all circuits of the location, by the use of one or more RCDs having the characteristics specified in Regulation 415.1.1"

So if you have had a new electrical installation in your bathroom since last summer then a RCD should already be protecting the circuit. Is it? You said that your plumber doesn't do electrics so where did he get his supply from to power up the boiler? Is the RCD the "fuse" that the electrician was talking about that needs fitting? It all sound a bit iffy to me.
Do you have anything in your Electrical Consumer Unit (i.e."fusebox") that has a "test" button on it? The test button is usually yellow. If so please give us any details that you can see and also push the test button to see what switches off. Particularly this new boiler.