Shower upgrade with slave consumer unit

[Frazer Gould]

I am upgrading my shower room and will be getting a qualified electrician to do the work but I want some advice so I can ask sensible questions!
I will be using a previous feed for an electric shower from the consumer board (down graded amps wise, which he has said is acceptable) and want to have a small "slave" consumer unit for a fan heater, extractor and lights. I want it as small as possible. It can be mounted in an area outside zone 1 and 2 but there will be potentially some humidity. I have seen a Plastic unit rated at IP44 and some metal units rated at IP40. It seems more sensible to ask for a plastic one with better protection but the regs say consumer units should be metal. Are plastic units, which are still available from reputable wholesalers, legal in this situation?

 

[ferg]

No.

 

[Andy78]

I personally would not put a consumer unit in a bathroom full stop. If I did I would want IP65 as a minimum. You will get small metal consumer units rated at IP44. As IP65 will not be achievable with any metal unit I know of I would revert back to my original thoughts.

 

[westward10]

Why would you want to add an additional board, those parts can be taken from existing circuits.

 

[buzzlightyear]

will be getting a qualified electrician to do the work but I want some advice

may be you should ask the spark who installs the shower up grade .and he would go with manufacturer instructions.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Forget the daft CU idea, use the old shower circuit as a radial and feed FCU's located outside the bathroom to supply the loads.
Whilst you state an electrician will be doing the work I cant see anyone agreeing to your proposal

 

[Baddegg]

may be you should ask the spark who installs the shower up grade .and he would go with manufacturer instructions.

Bet he don’t fit the CU in the bathroom...

 

[MJPD29]

A board in the bathroom is s bad idea. If be surprised if your spark went ahead with it

 

[Toneyz]

There a lot of "I" in the post and not the electrician. Have you not asked him.?

 

[Pete999]

I am upgrading my shower room and will be getting a qualified electrician to do the work but I want some advice so I can ask sensible questions!
I will be using a previous feed for an electric shower from the consumer board (down graded amps wise, which he has said is acceptable) and want to have a small "slave" consumer unit for a fan heater, extractor and lights. I want it as small as possible. It can be mounted in an area outside zone 1 and 2 but there will be potentially some humidity. I have seen a Plastic unit rated at IP44 and some metal units rated at IP40. It seems more sensible to ask for a plastic one with better protection but the regs say consumer units should be metal. Are plastic units, which are still available from reputable wholesalers, legal in this situation?

Get the Electrician who is doing the work, to design and purchase all the equipment needed, after all he should know what he is doing.

 

[Octopus]

No competent spark is going to agree to your idea!

 

[Pete999]

I am upgrading my shower room and will be getting a qualified electrician to do the work but I want some advice so I can ask sensible questions!
I will be using a previous feed for an electric shower from the consumer board (down graded amps wise, which he has said is acceptable) and want to have a small "slave" consumer unit for a fan heater, extractor and lights. I want it as small as possible. It can be mounted in an area outside zone 1 and 2 but there will be potentially some humidity. I have seen a Plastic unit rated at IP44 and some metal units rated at IP40. It seems more sensible to ask for a plastic one with better protection but the regs say consumer units should be metal. Are plastic units, which are still available from reputable wholesalers, legal in this situation?

Come on own up, come clean you're planning to do this yourself aren't you? Not a good idea.

 

[Frazer Gould]

Absolutely NOT doing it myself. Perhaps not clear is the shower room is in two sections (it was two rooms once) so there is a redundant doorway opening (no door) between the actual shower and the entrance area (changing etc) so part of the room is outside zone 2 which is where he (fully registered spark) has said it will be OK. Also the old shower feed which he intends to use is a direct feed from the main CU (which he fitted last year). I was just wondering in my question if I can ask him to used a non-metal "garage type" slave because of the potential for higher than normal humidity - there will be an inline extractor (250cm/hr) but they are not perfect.

 

[Pete999]

Absolutely NOT doing it myself. Perhaps not clear is the shower room is in two sections (it was two rooms once) so there is a redundant doorway opening (no door) between the actual shower and the entrance area (changing etc) so part of the room is outside zone 2 which is where he (fully registered spark) has said it will be OK. Also the old shower feed which he intends to use is a direct feed from the main CU (which he fitted last year). I was just wondering in my question if I can ask him to used a non-metal "garage type" slave because of the potential for higher than normal humidity - there will be an inline extractor (250cm/hr) but they are not perfect.

As said before Frazer the Electrician, if he is suitably experienced and qualified, will be able to source the right installation materials, unless of course you are intending to try and purchase the materials yourself, not really advisable, because should you, with all the best will in the World get the wrong stuff, not suitable for the job it would be down to you to get it changed.

Some Electricians won't even consider doing a job where the client has supplied all the materials, so best advice leave it to your chosen Electrician, and good luck.

 

[Pete999]

You're in a very optimistic mood this morning Murdoch!

 

[westward10]

No idea why you want a consumer unit in the shower room.

 

[Octopus]

You're in a very optimistic mood this morning Murdoch!

"optimistic" can be used in many ways

 

[Des 56]

Consumer unit in Bathroom?


Trying to design a system whilst not understanding or knowing the requirements for the feeding and distribution of the loads is not going to be one of your brightest ideas

 

[DPG]

This is possibly going to be an even better thread than the SWA sizing one yesterday.

 

[Pete999]

Get the Electrician who is doing the work, to design and purchase all the equipment needed, after all he should know what he is doing.

Yes I agree, with your optimistic response

 

[Frazer Gould]

Spoke to my sparks today and following the comments to my thread I questioned the position of the slave CU. He said that it is outside zone 2 and is therefore OK where I want it but because the shower room is not detached from the main house he must use a metal CU even thought he agreed that in reality it, in my particular position, is probably not as good as an IP44 plastic one - but "regs is regs!" Thanks everyone for your input because I could at least question him with some knowledge of the wider view.

There will be those out there who may not agree with my approach but my daughter who lives in a 200 year old house in Cardiff was persuaded that as the earth was not to modern standard (the electricians words) the house needed rewiring. When he had finished he said that it was normal to pay then he would provide the BC certificate. He didn't and when BC were asked what she could do she was told to get another recommended electrician to check the work. It was condemned as dangerous and it was only because she had a 4 week old baby that he did not cut the power immediately. She won her case in the small claims court but of course he didn't pay back her money. £5k later a properly qualified electrician redid the whole job and issued the proper certificates. Hence my desire to at least be in the position where I can ask the right questions.

 

[Spoon]

If you are going down that route then how about getting the better IP rate plastic CU and get a metal enclosure to go round it.

 

[Octopus]

Seeing as the OP chooses to restrict who can see his profile, maybe an idea for others to read this informative post:

New member seeking qualified advice. - https://www.electriciansforums.co.uk/threads/new-member-seeking-qualified-advice.168152/#post-1447573

 

[westward10]

So you ask questions, get correct answers but still ignore them. What any of this has to do with your daughter's situation is beyond me.

 

[Dave OCD]

Ok Frazer

If a Consumer Unit is absolutely necessary and it really has to go in the described location I'd suggest this - I.P. 65 rated and 3 usable ways but the correct MCBs would have to be purchased separately.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-...-shower-consumer-unit/1336j?_requestid=513082

 

[Octopus]

This has got to be the most stupid idea I've seen on here for a while .....

 

[MDJ]

Absolutely NOT doing it myself.

LOL, yeah alright.

 

[Des 56]

Absolutely NOT doing it myself.

LOL, yeah alright.

At least he has some novel ideas for when he performs the surgery

 

[Baddegg]

I still don’t understand why?

 

[DPG]

I still don’t understand why?

Consumer unit in bathroom = bad idea generally due to damp/steam etc.

And not needed - the shower can be fed direct, and the other items can be tapped off the existing circuits.

In my opinion anyway.

 

[MDJ]

I still don’t understand why?

Thats because your a Electrical Trainee

 

[Baddegg]

Consumer unit in bathroom = bad idea generally due to damp/steam etc.

And not needed - the shower can be fed direct, and the other items can be tapped off the existing circuits.

In my opinion anyway.

Oh yeah I’m with you there dpg,I don’t understand why the op wants it there at all, surely if the existing shower cable tests ok use that,everything can be extended from existing or spured (fan heater) or have I completely missed something?

 

[Baddegg]

Consumer unit in bathroom = bad idea generally due to damp/steam etc.

And not needed - the shower can be fed direct, and the other items can be tapped off the existing circuits.

In my opinion anyway.

Oh yeah I’m with you there dpg,I don’t understand why the op wants it there at all, surely if the existing shower cable tests ok use that,everything else can be extended from existing or spured (fan heater) or have I completely missed something?

 

[DPG]

Sorry, misunderstood. Doh.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

I really don't understand why the OP has come on here, he's already made up his mind, why is he asking us or indeed his (Phantom?) electrician.

 

[Baddegg]

Thats because your a Electrical Trainee

Right! That’s it I’m telling oracle! I’ll have you know my course was 6 weeks! Ha ha ha

 

[TJ Anderson]

Right! That’s it I’m telling oracle! I’ll have you know my course was 6 weeks! Ha ha ha

You deffo should have stayed on for the 7th week and then you would have earned "Technician " grade on your Gold ECS lol

 

[Baddegg]

You deffo should have stayed on for the 7th week and then you would have earned "Technician " grade on your Gold ECS lol

I only wanted know which side the brown went in the plug?........

 

[TJ Anderson]

Id of told you that for free mate. It goes on the side with the terminals on it under that plasticy cover type thing.

 

[Baddegg]

Robbing bar stewards!