1 May
2012
1 May
'12
12:29 p.m.
Now, a shower heater is an instantaneous water
heater used to heat
the water for a shower bath. They would almost always be hard wired,
the regualtions prohibit any socket outlets in a 'room containing a
fixed bath or shower'.
Ours don't go that far. We frequently have shaver outlets in ours.
Historically they were two-prong outlets with 1:1 ("isolation")
transformers between them and the mains feed, the idea being that it's impossible to get a jolt between either pole and
ground. These days
such outlets usually use GFIs instead - I don't quite understand why,
but electric code has often made little sense to me. (Replacing a
comparatively simple (and thus reliable) and certain device with a
complex device which doesn't even do the whole job strikes me as a net
lose. Perhaps it was kickbacks from - er, lobbying by - GFI makers.)
I don;t think RCD (GFI) prtoection is enoguh for bathrooms over here, but
it might be now. But personally, I'd stick with a double-wound
transformer. I do not trust RVDs not to fail (in fact I have had one do
so, fortuantely I detected it using the test facility, rather than having
a dangerous shock).
I've also seen small hotplates - usually
two-burner ones - as portable
units, set up (and presumably designed) for plugging into an ordinary
mains outlet, here meaning the 15V 110-120V sort that are usual here.
Yes, single and twin untis like tht exsit over here. And they just plug in.
-tony