Fan heater in shower cubicle

[Victor]

Hi Guys

I had a call out by a local letting agent to look at a fan heater in a bathroom of a rented flat, when I got there I found that the fan heater is partly in the shower cubicle but the actual switched spur is fully in the cubicle. I have checked the CU and found that there is no RCD and the breakers are all rewireable fuses and the spur is part of the ring-main and bathroom if fully tiled so no way of accessing the wiring of the ring circuit.

I have quoted to do a board change and remove the fan heater and spur, I was thinking of isolating the cables to the spur/filling the back-box with gel and fitting a blanking plate, then installing a new spur and fan heater on the opposite wall.

Anyone got any other ideas as to resolve this problem

Many thanks in advance for any assistance given.

Regards
Victor

 

[davesparks]

1- what is the fault which you have been asked to fix?
2- why do you need to replace a CU to fix a fan heater?

 

[Victor]

The fan heater has an intermittent fault it keeps cutting out, but both the fan heater and the switched spur or actually inside the shower cubicle and the is no RCD protection.

My thinking is that if I change the fan heater and someone gets a shock in the future then the buck stops at my door,

 

[davesparks]

The fan heater has an intermittent fault it keeps cutting out, but both the fan heater and the switched spur or actually inside the shower cubicle and the is no RCD protection.

My thinking is that if I change the fan heater and someone gets a shock in the future then the buck stops at my door,

Ok, so for the price of a tango heater it is presumably a replacement needed.

So move the point which is obviously in the wrong place and fit the heater in the correct location and add rcd protection as required.
I still don't see how you turn a simple job into a CU change??

 

[Victor]

Must admit I had not thought of the easy solution which as you say is to install a new spur on the opposite side of the bathroom and fit a new heater. A simple rcd and one breaker is the answer thus leaving the main board as is.

As the bathroom is fully tiled and I cannot access the wiring to the ring final circuit, do you think the gel and blanking plate is the right solution?

 

[SJD]

Not sure if I understand correctly, you plan to leave the live RFC in the box inside the shower, with the box filled with gel and a blanking plate?

Presumably the floor is either tiled or some other finish so that you can't access the RFC cables e.g. under the floorboards? Otherwise you'd be able to disconnect them there.

 

[Victor]

The bathroom is in is a ground floor flat with a tiled floor and tiled walls, the ceiling is plasterboard fixed to battens leaving a 2cm gap between the top of the plasterboard and the concrete floor of the flat above, so no cables are not accessible.

 

[davesparks]

Must admit I had not thought of the easy solution which as you say is to install a new spur on the opposite side of the bathroom and fit a new heater. A simple rcd and one breaker is the answer thus leaving the main board as is.

As the bathroom is fully tiled and I cannot access the wiring to the ring final circuit, do you think the gel and blanking plate is the right solution?

I wouldn't be putting a spur inside a bathroom at all, I'd fit an rcd sfcu outside the bathroom.

No I don't think gel and a blank plate is an acceptable soloution. What is the wiring method in the flat? If it's an old concert construction it's likely to be steel conduit so you should be able to later the singles pretty easily to get rid of the point.