electrical question again....lol....

helpimcrap

helpimcrap

helpimcrap

Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2004
Posts
12,803
Location
Leicestershire
got the shower in, all wired up now, waters connected, switched on, and is not leaking etc.

my question is as it won't actually power up and i need to check something:

red is live, green/yellow is earth and black is neutral.
is that right? i always thought black was earth but after looking on the web it appears yellow/green is and that's how it was wired up.

next step is to start stripping apart the cupboards to see if the wire is actually connected. :confused:
 
it will all be checked by a sparky afterwards for the house insurance so don't worry. however i'm not going to call in a sparky when there's no sparks lol. gonna cost me a fortune - got quoted £5k to do this and so far it's cost me about £250 so all i need to do is get it checked at the end.

deathwish? i dunno..... i can remember testing the wires coming through the ceiling to see if they were live. so i touched them and nothing- so they weren't. ;)

will take a lot more than that to kill me. ;)
 
JBuk said:
£5k to wire a shower in :confused:
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essentially it was a bare room with wiring for isolation switch and shower plastered in. all the rest had to be done.

so i've done:
tiled 4 walls from floor to ceiling, put a shower base in and got it all plumbed in for waste, fitted a shower door (had to create a 1" partition from chipboard for that), grouted it all, painted it all, fitted the shower. after thats all sorted the wash basin will be plumbed in too.
 
JBuk said:
£5k still sounds way way too much for that
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i completely agree. tiling would be about 3 days work, fitting shower a day and base a day, and door a day etc.

the reason no one wanted to touch it was coz my dad had started the wiring before he died and thats whats causing the issue now.
 
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I admit that I have something of a liberal view to danger lol.... i'll be dead so what will i care. ;)

anyways... my mate has wired it up and he's top notch at this sort of thing which is why i trust his judgement over mine (hence the wiring thing - i'd have gone black as earth but then i'm more in tune with cars/motorbikes than houses...).

Don't worry chaps before it's used it will be certified by an electrian - until then it's only testing and after every session, the fuses are removed and the waters turned back off. :)

we are being cautious about this. :) just need to work out whats what before we call in a sparky as i can't afford a huge bill to be told it's gonna cost me this much as the job has all gota be ripped out again etc...
 
JohnnyG said:
You can't just get a sparky in to certify it (legally anyway), that's not how it works, if it's a new circuit that you or your mate has installed you should've informed your local authority building control before you started and they would've came out and checked the work before, during & after it's completion, all for a cost.
An electrician won't simply come and check the work is safe now it's completed and certify it, it's his name on the certificate and he needs to be certain that it's all installed correctly and safely, there will be a cowboy or 2 who won't care about that though of course.

It can't be a new circuit anyway as you've got pre harmonisation coloured cables so you don't need it certified as it's just a replacement so as long as you're sure the existing cable & mcb/fuse are adequate for the load then you can just connect it & use it :)



That's not correct either I'm afraid :)
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cheers. the wiring was all put in and plastered years ago - i'm just joining it up so i have no idea what has been done legally wise or whats needed. i heard now you're not even allowed to wire a plug up. :confused:

i have no idea it's adequate for the load - i'm finding that out as i go along.

the wiring is 6mm twin earth. that can power a 8.5kw electric shower. the isolation switch is needed as per shower instructions and needs to be 45amp which it is. no idea what size the fuse should be in the fuseboard but it's a 40amp one.
 
JohnnyG said:
Anyone is allowed to wire up a plug, don't listen to those sort of rumours.
8.5kw is 37amp and 6mm cable will take up to 47amp depending on how it's installed and how long the run is.
So as long as it's not shoved under tons of insulation or over 25 metres or so you'll be ok:)



It is against the law for a householder to install a new circuit or carry out any other notifiable work himself without informing the LABC first.
An electrician who certifies that work after it's completion stating that he constructed it himself, which is what you sign for on an EIC, is acting illegally.
The only certificate he can issue is a PIR and that's completely different:)
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ok cool, just out of interest where did you get the info regarding the wires from?

AFAIK it's not under tonnes of insulation but you can't physically access the attic to check as it's an extension and the original wall is still in place at the side of the house. you can't go through the ceiling either as it would all need to be removed.

i'm not starting a new circuit however i'm not sure what was done previously. would a plasterer need to see the certificate when he plasters it in to make sure he's not doing something illegal? :confused:
 
JohnnyG said:
From memory, I'm a registered electrician;)
The plasterer won't need to see anything and as I mentioned earlier you don't need any certification as you're just replacing the shower unit and not altering the circuit or it's characteristics.
If you are concerned by it just get someone to test it :)
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cool, ok then - i'll bear your opinion in mind however i am conscious this is the internet and you could just be spouting drivel. ;)

everythings been done now bar this one issue - power not coming on lol. isolation switch fitted/shower wiring fitted, so i just need to rip apart the kitchen to get to the fuse box to see if it's actually connected. :o:p
 
Hikari Kisugi said:
How can he not be altering the circuit, if he has no clue if it is attached to the bloody fusebox? and was plastering and tiling a bare room, surely this is a whole new circuit? and something he does need certification for?
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no, nothing new - just using whats already there and finishing the circuit.

the fusebox is *very* difficult to get at. the front where the fuses are is easy... past that and you have to deal with a fitted kitchen and i think i have to take the cupboard next door apart to undo this one...
 
i have no idea when part p or whatever was implemented. needless to say before it gets used it will be cleared by an electrian to ensure the house insurance isn't invalidated. before i do that though, i just need something to actually certify.....
 
JohnnyG said:
You can go ahead and pay for an electrician to give you a PIR if that puts your mind at rest but that's all you can get and as I've mentioned before you do not legally need any form of certification for the work you've carried out. :)
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got it and mailed ya. :)
 
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