14 Showers, one property

[Resu]

Couldn't believe it the other day when we were having a quick walk around a guesthouse prior to an EICR scheduled for next week. Okay they weren't all electric, but 12 of them were! The property comprises of 11 ensuite bedrooms plus 3 bed owners accomodation and a small salon. Half of the showers were spread between 4 consumer units, the other 6(!!) came off another consumer unit, covered by one 80A RCD! Entire installation fed from a single 100A supply! We are talking nine 8.5kWs, two 9kWs and a 7kW (the other two were pumped), plus the sockets, lights, cooker, etc!

"And you've never had any nuisance tripping, etc?"
"nope, not in 8 years!"

Must be the luckiest man on Earth!

 

[Paul.M]

If I were doing an EICR on this property the first thing I would do is to take a look at the 100A main fuse to see if it has been linked out? Come across this a lot with older buildings that only has a 100A single phase supply and over the decades with more and more electrical appliances installed, (eg showers, cookers, loads of extra sockets, heaters etc) a cowboy spark or the owner will link out the main fuse so it does not trip. It also does not protect anything and is very dangerous.

Just to add a note just in case. If the main 100A bullet is in a red casing it will be linked out by design by the DNO. Believe it was used for isolation only with other BS1361 fuses up stream protecting the internal supply for each DB. Phil D (a member on here) was published in Professional Electrician magazine last year on this topic.

 

[Plonker 3]

Just to add to what Paul has put, remember the carrier if linked out you will need to find the maximum current it is designed to carry. Therefore you max demand may exceed that before you have started doing any inspection or testing.

 

[telectrix]

and then advise a 3 phase supply. £££££££££££££s

 

[Paul.M]

@ Resu, please find out as much as you can when you and your gaffer go to this EICR next week and post up your findings. This is an interesting one. Think we would all like to know more about it and this is a great discussion for us all on how to resolve the problems you both find. Good thread.

 

[not_today]

If I were doing an EICR on this property the first thing I would do is to take a look at the 100A main fuse to see if it has been linked out? Come across this a lot with older buildings that only has a 100A single phase supply and over the decades with more and more electrical appliances installed, (eg showers, cookers, loads of extra sockets, heaters etc) a cowboy spark or the owner will link out the main fuse so it does not trip. It also does not protect anything and is very dangerous.

out of interest chaps ....

if you notice something as dangerous as this in a house, what are you supposed to do?

 

[tazz]

Pray to Allah........it may not help, but I understand there are a few virgins init somewhere

 

[telectrix]

out of interest chaps ....

if you notice something as dangerous as this in a house, what are you supposed to do?

nick the lead off the roof and leggit.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Pray to Allah........it may not help, but I understand there are a few virgins init somewhere

No point ...

 

[Resu]

If I were doing an EICR on this property the first thing I would do is to take a look at the 100A main fuse to see if it has been linked out? Come across this a lot with older buildings that only has a 100A single phase supply and over the decades with more and more electrical appliances installed, (eg showers, cookers, loads of extra sockets, heaters etc) a cowboy spark or the owner will link out the main fuse so it does not trip. It also does not protect anything and is very dangerous.

Just to add a note just in case. If the main 100A bullet is in a red casing it will be linked out by design by the DNO. Believe it was used for isolation only with other BS1361 fuses up stream protecting the internal supply for each DB. Phil D (a member on here) was published in Professional Electrician magazine last year on this topic.

Interestingly enough the fuse was present and correct. I have seen the red casing fuse holders before inside a small blocks of council flats.

Not sure what we would really be able to do as we have already mentioned the potential issues to the client and we got "well it's been fine for the past eight years", so would likely be difficult to convince him to change it in any way, especially seeing it would cost a fair bit to sort it properly.

Out of interest, what would you do Paul? (or any of the other mentors for that matter?). Bit of a difficult one!

out of interest chaps ....

if you notice something as dangerous as this in a house, what are you supposed to do?

I wouldn't say it was dangerous as such mate, worst that is going to happen is the RCD would trip or the main fuse would blow, which is more inconvenient than anything else!

 

[not_today]

cheers resu

 

[Resu]

Right EICR complete today. A number of issues but relatively small stuff! Client has decided not to do anything about the shower situation despite our comments regarding slight overloading! Some of the issues we found:

2 showers fed from the same breaker!
3kW under sink water heater spurred from shower switch (fed from above breaker!)
2x 2.5mm radials protected by 32A breakers
Lighting circuit in extension - class 1 fittings, not earthed and no RCD protection

And the usual loose connections causing dodgy readings on the ring tests, why is it always the last one you check?!

And some other fun stuff. So a few remedials!