we hav just had a 9 watt electric shower fitted by father in law
it is wired to the immersion which we never used .
the shower is ok when on cold and economy but when its put on to power setting it trips out
what is required to overcome this

replys much appreciated

Change your father in law
Seriously though, the cable (and the probably the mcb in the CU) for the immersion heater is not up to the job, by a huge margin. As a guide, the shower cable should be the same size as one connected to a standalone electric cooker (ie the biggest cable in the house). Unless your father in law is an electrician, I would leave the shower unpowered (did he fit a DP pullcord switch?) and get an electrician to wire it up.

The existing cable is good enough to cope with switching the shower valve on and powering the light, etc, but when you ask for heat, the mcb in the consumer unit will sense a current demand well beyond a safe level and it will trip out. Its not a safe circuit.

kevnurse thanks for your reply.....is it safe at the moment to use the economy setting and cold shower until it gets sorted

Steevo No it is not safe.

Stick to bathing. You will need a part P certified Electrician to sort this(Either Niciec or napit).

As it stands anyone using using the shower is at risk.

9Kw shower is 3 x the amount that an immersion heater would use. (Approx 39 Amps)

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ok fellas better leave it off for now
thanks very much

hi there problem as above your father in law changed it who probably doesnt know what hes doing. 9kw shower = 9000wats 9000/230=39.13 so your breaker bigger then that ie 40 amp
- however as you said you can use your shower at low settings due to the fact that it doesnt use as much power. also if you are planning to use this shower normally on full blast the cable will probably need changing dependant on size. you will be looking for a minimum of 6mm to take the 40 amps otherwise the cable will burn maybe cause a fire and burn down your house.