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Breaker amperage for a *single* 13amp appliance...?

  • 05-08-2008 7:30pm
    #1
    Yearning4Stormy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 129 ✭✭


    Good evening, all.

    A quick-ish question if I may? Next week, I'll be uninstalling a Triton electric shower which is to be replaced with a 3.5 bar pumped mixer shower. I'm also fitting the pump btw.

    So, I figure I can reuse the 40amp cable currently feeding the shower unit, albeit terminate it at a 13amp fused socket (in the attic) to supply the pump (and possibly run a 2.5mm two-core and earth down to an isolation switch in the hotpress first). (Might need to do some jiggery-pokery with the heavy 40amp cable too!)

    The question then: should I replace the 40amp breaker (at the board) with a 30amp (or lower)?

    Btw, this is a newly-built house, so I'm reticent about (the possibility of) fishing a new 2.5mm three-core cable from the board to the attic :(. Mind you, I might be able to break into the second floor socket ring. Hmmm.

    Cheers,
    Y4S


Comments

  • #2
    ZENER
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    The fuse/breaker at the distribution board is to protect the cable not the appliance so the 40A breaker can stay. The socket in the attic should probably be a spur with a 13A fuse or less if you know the rating of the pump. Again the fuse in the spur is to protect the cable feeding the pump so if the pump is rated at 3 AMP with a 3x0.75 flex supplying it I'd put a 5 AMP fuse in there.

    The triton shower should have had an isolating 2 pole switch already fitted - maybe a pull cord switch ? This could still be used to isolate the pump unit and mean less work for you.

    ZEN


  • #3
    Yearning4Stormy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 129 ✭✭Yearning4Stormy


    Thanks for the clarification, Zen.

    Yep, I'm intending to use the existing shower isolator to isolate the new pump... but I do have to move it.

    The existing isolator is a double height 45A dp switch with neon. It's installed outside the ensuite, as you'd expect, but the odd thing is, though, it's at knee height. It's quite difficult to switch on/off with your knee though... and I did try. Maybe it's my stumpy legs.

    Maybe this is the new way of doing things? In any event, the homeowner wants it gone... and it is quite unsightly, tbh.

    Or... maybe it's for folks in a wheelchair? Time to google.

    Thanks again,
    Y4S


  • #4
    ZENER
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,163 ✭✭✭ZENER


    Hi.

    It's next to impossible for me to know the layout without first looking but the direction from which this switch is fed from is important. If the cable comes from the floor up to the switch then you're going to need to join the cable in order to extend it into the attic. From here I would go with a ceiling mounted pull cord switch. If on the other hand the cable comes from the attic down then you're made ! Pull the cable back into the attic and make it off into the pull cord switch.

    One other thing that's just come to mind, as it's a new installation I'm presuming the breaker in the board for the shower is an RCBO, that is a combined Circuit breaker and Earth leakage breaker. If this is not the case you will need to install one.

    Also is there more than one electric shower in the house, in the en-suite for example ? If so then there may be some form of interlocking to prevent the 2 from being used simultaneously.

    Also ensure that any earth bonding in place around the electric shower is checked by a qualified electrician to ensure it's integrity. THIS IS FOR THE SAFETY OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILY !!!

    ZEN


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