MCB broken - Shower setup

[jimmy M]

This is bonkers but I think the last person who posted hit the nail on the head.

So after turning off the RCD I unscrewed the red switch (isolator)

It was very tight inside, I could see that the earth (green and yellow) was screwed into the actual front panel of the switch. It seems that the earth is part of the whole metal switch BOX and as such the front panel neeed to be in contact with the rest of the switch.

So I screwed the red switch panel back on making sure it was tight

MAGIC - the shower works on full power.

I guess with all the ON and OFF motions over the years it loosened the front panel of the switch box, once I screwed it on much tighter the connection seems to be okay.

A bit of a strange design but some of you may know what the hell happened, I'm just glad it works ............ off to have a shower

Could I have just re-positioned a loose earth? I'll get my screw driver out. I dont want to cause any damage by over heating.

Mucho mucho thanks for all the help, everyone is fantastic!

Jimmy

 

[Steve]

The switch should come fully away from the wall, wires still attached. There might be a safety earth connection to the backbox, but again, it should be long enough so you can pull the switch away and examine the terminals etc. Did you get a good look at the wires and tighten the terminals up?