electric shower not working could be fuse??

Hi I have a pull cord in my bathroom to turn shower on, we generally leave this on permanently. This morning the shower would not come on and the light had gone out on the pull cord. Any ideas what this could be,?
many thanks

"Obviously" there is no power getting to the point where the indicator is showing.

This could mean that the fuse(or circuit breaker) in the consumer unit has blown/tripped, or t could mean that a safety RCD protecting the shower has tripped. Or there could be a bad connection that has melted.

You need to carefully check all of these. Many of them will have happened if there is a fault. So be careful. You may need someone on site who knows their electrical onions.

Taylortwocities said:

"Obviously" there is no power getting to the point where the indicator is showing.

.

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Not strictly true. There could be power getting to the indicator, but might not be obvious if there's a diconnected neutral between consumer unit (fusebox) and indicator.

canduit said:

There could be power getting to the indicator, but might not be obvious if there's a diconnected neutral between consumer unit (fusebox) and indicator.

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You are getting confused between power and voltage.

Assuming you have checked that the circuit breaker/rcd hasnt tripped, its very likely that the pull cord switch has failed, so will need to be replaced

DetlefSchmitz said:

canduit said:

There could be power getting to the indicator, but might not be obvious if there's a diconnected neutral between consumer unit (fusebox) and indicator.

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You are getting confused between power and voltage.

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I won't apologise for my glaring error as this is s DIY forum, and I've taken the assumption that the OP won't differentiate between power, volts, amps, current, watts, etc. To the OP, there could be electricity getting to the indicator, but might not be obvious if there's a disconnected neutral between consumer unit (fusebox) and indicator, thus potentially rendering the afformentioned light inoperable.

canduit said:

I've taken the assumption that the OP won't differentiate between power, volts, amps, current, watts, etc.

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Then

he

should

not

be

messing

with

it

should

he.


If you make that assumption, then as soon as you do the only responsible advice you should give is "call an electrician".

ban-all-sheds said:

canduit said:

I've taken the assumption that the OP won't differentiate between power, volts, amps, current, watts, etc.

Click to expand...

Then

he

should

not

be

messing

with

it

should

he.


If you make that assumption, then as soon as you do the only responsible advice you should give is "call an electrician".

Click to expand...

Yes, but in reality would he (or she) "call an electrician"? The point I was trying to make was that the unit containing the light could still be dangerous even though the light is not on. If the OP decides to dismantle the unit when they're believing there's no power going to it, as a previous poster has stated, then it's not good news.

DetlefSchmitz said:

canduit said:

There could be power getting to the indicator, but .... .

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You are getting confused between power and voltage.

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It was actually TTC who first mentioned power ...

"Obviously" there is no power getting to the point where the indicator is showing.

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... but I would regard that as perfectly normal everyday English, highly appropriate for a DIY forum - and, indeed, language very often used by electricians.

Kind Regards, John.

JohnW2 said:

It was actually TTC who first mentioned power ...

"Obviously" there is no power getting to the point where the indicator is showing.

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... but I would regard that as perfectly normal everyday English, highly appropriate for a DIY forum - and, indeed, language very often used by electricians.

Kind Regards, John.

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But TTC's use of the word was correct. Woolly use of technical language risks accidents happening.

I must admit I was tempted to make a sarcastic post when the OP arrived and asked whether his fuse had blown.

DetlefSchmitz said:

JohnW2 said:

It was actually TTC who first mentioned power ...

"Obviously" there is no power getting to the point where the indicator is showing.

Click to expand...

... but I would regard that as perfectly normal everyday English, highly appropriate for a DIY forum - and, indeed, language very often used by electricians.

Click to expand...

But TTC's use of the word was correct. Woolly use of technical language risks accidents happening.

Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused here, so maybe I misunderstood. Perhaps you can help me by explaining what you regard as the correct and incorrect (everyday and/or physics/engineering) uses of the word 'power'?

Kind Regards, John.

You know, volts x amps. If there is no current flowing, there's no power being dissipated.

As I say the OP's question does not really give enough to provide a serious answer.

DetlefSchmitz said:

You know, volts x amps. If there is no current flowing, there's no power being dissipated.

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Fair enough - so you're talking about the true physics/engineering meaning, thereby bringing me back to my original point. In terms of 'everyday' language (and I bet some electricians also use it at times!), which I feel is totally appropriate for a DIY forum, it would be perfectly normal to say, for example, that 'power is getting to the lamp, but it is not lighting because the lamp has died' - even though, in terms of physics, no power is being dissipated.

Kind Regards, John.

So you encourage the use of incorrect terminology? Voltage, current, power energy - it's all the same - why use the proper word and confuse Joe Public. The idea that you think electricians have as little respect or understanding of the units, and that that is OK with you, surprises me. e.g. An electrician who doesn't know the difference between kW and kWH would be a danger to his customers.

It's not the impression I had of you up to now, I must admit.

I prefer to think that one should use the correct words where possible, so that the less knowledgable are not mislead. Anyway, no hard feelings from my side. Each to his own.

DetlefSchmitz said:

So you encourage the use of incorrect terminology? Voltage, current, power energy - it's all the same - why use the proper word and confuse Joe Public. The idea that you think electricians have as little respect or understanding of the units, and that that is OK with you, surprises me. e.g. An electrician who doesn't know the difference between kW and kWH would be a danger to his customers.
It's not the impression I had of you up to now, I must admit.

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I must have expressed myself badly. No, I certainly don't encourage the use of incorrect terminology. The trouble is with our language. 'Power' has both a technical (physics/enginnering) meaning and 'everyday' meanings (notably to mean what you would call 'supply') - and electricians, being also members of the public, speak both languages, varying their use of language to some extent according to their audience.

It happens in most disciplines. For example, the word 'hysterical' has totally different 'technical' and 'lay' meanings - but a psychiatrist may nevertheless use the word in it's 'lay' sense when speaking to a member of the public - or even when speaking to a colleague, if his/her intended meaning is clear from context.

DetlefSchmitz said:

I prefer to think that one should use the correct words where possible, so that the less knowledgable are not mislead.

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In most situations/contexts, I would totally agree with you. However, I do think specifically that the word 'power' is such that neither lay people nor electricians/physicists should be criticised for using the word with its non-technical meaning - since both meanings are used commonly in both technical and non-technical environments. I'm sure that electricians do sometimes use the word 'power' when they are not talking about 'volts x Amps', particularly when they are talking to non-electricians, but that certainly doesn't mean that I think they have 'no respect (for) or understanding of the units' (not that 'power' is a unit ) - it's not 'wrong', and is no different from when the psychiatrist uses the word 'hysteria' in its everyday 'lay' sense' (so as to be understood correctly).

Do you believe that competent and technically knowledgable electricians never say things to non-electricians like "turn off the power before...."? We have to always remember that what matters is effective communication, and "turn off the supply" might not mean anything to some versions of Joe Public (and very few Joe Publics would understand the psychiatrist correctly if (s)he used 'hysteria' in the technically-correct sense).

Kind Regards, John.