Upgrading power supply into property Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[gavinp]

Hello.

We are looking to add a fairly large extension to our house and an additional bathroom with electric shower will be part of this.

Our two bedroom house was built in 1987 and our current fuse box is marked at 60Amps only and takes fuses similar in size to a UK plug. We would ideally like to use a 10.8Kw shower so I think an upgrade is required.

The existing bathroom has a power shower fed from the hot water cylinder and cold water tank in loft via a 2.2bar pump hence why I am looking at high power electric showers for a reasonably decent flow. I appreciate it will not match the existing shower but we would prefer an electric one for ease of plumbing and as a backup if our 22 year old gas boiler takes a holiday!

The new shower will be installed less than four metres from the fuse box on the same ground floor and would appear to be a fairly easy run through the roof space.

What is needed to do this and what sort of likely cost is involved ? I appreciate at least some of this is not a DIY job.

Thanks

Gavin

[ericmark]

Because of the charges for LABC to DIY yes it's not a DIY job.
Because you are having new circuits the consumer unit will need changing and likely all circuits will then be RCD protected.

Cheap option is 2 RCD's with a special split board. But using RBCO's will likely be better job with less tripping.

Honest if you have a power shower now you will be very disappointed with any direct heating electric shower.

Because you will already be involved with LABC you could DIY in theory as long as you tell LABC that's what you are doing. But changing a consumer unit is full of problems not least getting power removed and re-connected.

I would advise you get the consumer unit replaced by a registered electrician and ask advise while he is there. Although it would still need to go through LABC for paper trail he may agree to help you. The problem is the cost of the test gear. And until you have reading you don't know what can be done. Asking some one on site has got to be a lot better than using any forum.