...for the mains box to stink of electrical burning and for the two cables from the box to be rather warm
Blimmin' old wiring, can't even 2 people having showers in a row!!
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TAKTAK.co.ukOriginally Posted by razer121
showers are high ampage, may explain why.
keep an eye on it though, your incoming may not be up to the job.
Yeah, that's why we've pinned it down to the shower, i wiffed electrical burning when i came out and then investigated to find the source, which happened to be the input before the consumer unit
It's definitely not up to the job the whole house needs rewiring, it's not even a ring main, atleast the cables aren't covered with cloth anymore.keep an eye on it though, your incoming may not be up to the job.
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TAKTAK.co.uk
Is this the mains box coming into your house?
If so, get the electric company out to check it. The incoming wires deal with some high amp/voltages, certainly nothing you want to have issues with.
Had that problem here years ago, the cable used to fit our shower to the mains wasn't man enough, took us week to work out what was causing it.
Our place could do with a rewire here to be honest, we've got two seperate fuse boxes.
If it smells, it's only going to get worse.
And electrical resistance increases as things get hot. So again, it'll only get worse.
Get it checked out.
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Tis' the consumer unit by the smell of things
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TAKTAK.co.uk
Those wires shouldn't be hot, and your fuse box shouldn't be emitting dodgy smells. Get some in to have a look before your house goes up in flames.
As Butcher says, that's your fuse box. The wires going to it absolutely should not be hot.
That's some *old* wiring. You defo need to get it checked out. I wouldn't be surprised if someone suggested a rewire.
Is your house using 'ring circuits' or 'radial circuits'. Get armed with as much info as you can, because things like this can quickly turn expensive
well the incoming wires arn't thick enough tbh, regardless of what the house is radial or ring a shower is normally radial as they run a 6mm wire to it, i also assume the only trip on that aged box is for the shower and someone wired it in when the shower went in.
the only problem is, after the electric meter its your problem not theres.
The whole house is using spurs, so yeah radial circuits, rather than a ring main, and we can't do anything about it, it's needed doing for years, but it's a tied property and the owner has been asked time and time again to sort it...As Butcher says, that's your fuse box. The wires going to it absolutely should not be hot.
That's some *old* wiring. You defo need to get it checked out. I wouldn't be surprised if someone suggested a rewire.
Is your house using 'ring circuits' or 'radial circuits'. Get armed with as much info as you can, because things like this can quickly turn expensive
Last edited by TAKTAK; 02-08-2009 at 08:28 AM.
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TAKTAK.co.uk
Do you leave all of the other electrical equipment on when you are having a shower. As Gonzo says the showers draw a lot of power so they need a lot of amps. This may be putting you over the amount of amps the wires are designed (I think about 100A), a 10kshower will draw about 40A if my maths is right.
As wiring gets older though it is not able to handle as high a current and will start to heat up (current is movement of electrons, higher current more electrons moving past the same point for a given time, these bash into other particles in the wire causinh heating).
You need it checked out really, or could just be smelly and not have showers.
Danger High Voltage.
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That type of installation looks as if it is about 30 to 40 years old, with an old style RCCB in the circuit. It looks as if you have two ring mains (the two 30A re-wireable fuse carriers, and I suspect that the showers may have been wired back to the ring main - really they should go back to a separate spur to the fuse box.
The meter tails and the wires you have shown as being tepid 'look' to be about right for a 60A mains fuse, and if they are carrying 60A, they will get warm to the touch - that is quite normal and nothing to worry about. However, if you have high power showers (and a 10KW shower will draqw about 40A, that will be overloading the ring main, and if you have two running at the same time, that will be overloading the incoming ccts. How3ever 10KW is high, even for a shower, I suspect they would be near 8KW.
The other problem with an older installation is that the connections inside the Fusebox can corrode and develop a relatively high resistance, and overheat. The fuse carriers are made of a plastic made with (among other things) urea formaldehyde, and wwen that is hot, it decomposes and smells fishy - you sometimes get the same effect with older lamp fittings.
You MUST get this checked out. At the very least the consumer unit should be replaced, together with that old RCCB. You may also need a re-wire in the house but that will depend on the results of a survey.
I would get your local electricity supplier to do the initial survey, although you may want to get a couple of quotes from an electrician to do the actual work.
Changing the consumer unit and the wiring to the the meter might not be too expensive, a full re-wire, if required, will be more, depending on the work required. If it is rented accomodation, it is the responsibility of the landlord.
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If it costs alot, why not buy a fire extinguisher, and help it catch fire, while the shower is on. Let it get a little burnt, all with the extinguisher at your side, and then put it out. They the insurance would have to pay for your home to be re-wired
unfortunatly old wiring blows as most people find out, i live in a victorian house and we just had our entire house rewired which is bliss
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