Anyone come across worse than this??

Mate of mine.. a spark.. went to sort out some problems at a house and found this/

the immersion heater spured off the ring with a double pole switch,then off that a 7kw shower.. ye ha!!!

What size cable was the spur to the shower?

I found this incorrectly wired shower a couple of months ago.

as far as i know it was 2.5mm guess they couldnt get 6.0mm in the switch.. or found it to expensive at B&Q

That's bad!

Maybe they could have run the 2.5 T&E through a concrete floor and gained some underfloor heating?

I take it that you are talking about 2.5mm2 twin with earth. MIMS cable of 2.5mm2 would carry the load current and, all other factors being equal, comply with the Regulations in the UK!

I once came across this in a DIY job completely accidently:

Shower was installed as per normal EXCEPT:

a cable came from the ceiling into the side of the shower via a gland. It was nicely looped down in the shower tray.

I removed the fuse for the shower and kept the carrier & not only called the landlord to give him an ear full but also the local athority's building inspectors and told the tenants to contact the citizens advice bureau and under no circumstances to use the shower.

The house had no RCD for the sockets or the shower which is illegal in rental accomodation. Although given the ridiculous rental market at the lower end of the scale people will take anything due to lack of supply.

This thread must have been responsible for a situation I've just come across.

There's a 7.2kW shower in the bathroom at the moment, and the owner wanted to know if he could upgrade to a higher rating as he remodels the bathroom.

Taking off the cover revealed 2.5 T&E feeding the unit. The isolation switch outside the bathroom was an older MK 20A type, but fitted to a modern plasterboard box. The feed to the switch was also 2.5 T&E, which when I traced back was spurred off the ring.

Could it have been the original immersion heater circuit? Maybe, except there was another switch adjacent feeding the existing water heater.

It looks like another typical bodged job all round. Apparently the shower was installed about 7 years ago by a "professional."