Apart from the pull cord switch Carol, you should have an isolator switch with a red neon light on it. I think that would be a more efficient way of turning the power off instead of the pull cord.
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??? - you don’t need both. Pull switch inside the bathroom, or wall-mounted switch outside the bathroom. A pull switch will have a neon light on it already, and on some types, a flag or other indication to say whether the switch is on or off.
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I have had to replace lots of pull cord switches, and have visited many places that have an isolator on the outside of the bathroom that contains more ‘Meaty’ contacts. Perhaps Carol might be better of removing the pull cord switch and replacing it with an isolator on the outside of the bathroom. Especially if the rating of the shower is close to the rating of the switch. Some modern showers have a very high consumption.
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that would equate to about 42 amps if I’m not mistaken…
More important, is the size of the cable supplying the shower. Some DIYers or tradesmen/people, will replace a shower unit with a larger kilowatt rating without first checking what cable is fitted. The most popular size cable is 6.0mm, which is rated at 34 amps which is good for an 8.5kW shower, tops. Provided of course that the cable isn’t covered by loft insulation, which will reduce the rating by half. A 40/45amp pull-switch backed up by a 40MCB is more than adequate.
Would be interesting to know what size shower Carol has had fitted?
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This is my old shower - I don’t know what size it is???
The new one is exactly the same. My son in law said he couldn’t fit it for me unless I had the same one, so I did. I think it was because of the wall fittings & drilling etc…
I just took a pic of my new one.
As you see it’s exactly the same as my old one. I don’t know what you mean by ‘size’
The rating of that shower is 9.8kw Carol. That would equate to approximately 39 amps.
It’s awfully close to the max handling capacity of a 40 amp rated pull switch. I think 6.00 mm square cable would be would also be struggling to handle such a load, I don’t know what Judd thinks?
A 6.0 mm cable will be barely adequate for a continuous load of that size, especially if run through insulated lofts or walls. Fortunately, because the duration of showers is short (unless you’re like one of my granddaughters), the cable should be okay. As OGF says, I’d be more concerned with the pull-switch and circuit breaker, which could heat up during use.
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