Black substance in shower

[Help]

Hi,

Firstly, I'm not sure if this should be in the electrics forum instead or in both forums? I think I will cross post it in both later unless a mod tells me otherwise.

The main query is that I have an electric shower which is tripping the fuse every now and then. There is a lot of limescale in the area which means that the shower head gets clogged up and has been getting clogged up increasingly quickly during the past few months. The shower is about 4 years old.

I had an electrician in and he said that the shower would need replacing but highlighted that a lot of black-type substance had come out of the shower so suggested that whatever was causing that was identified before replacing it with a new shower. He thought that it could be something in the water tank or from an iron pipe.

I did some rooting around online and found that carbon from a motor could be the answer, except the shower doesn't have a motor. A substance in the water tank also seems to be ruled out as it is a mains fed shower. And I thought limescale was usually white-ish. Has anyone come across this problem and know what it could be as I want to get the shower fixed as soon as possible.

Many thanks

 

[doitall]

Probably something to do with the mains washer breaking up.

 

[Help]

Hi doitall and thanks,

Can I ask whether you think the washer would also effect the water to supply to the taps as there isn't any blackness in a glass of water for example?

 

[doitall]

If nothing else is affected then it must be local to the shower.

Perhaps the washer in the shower has broken up, need more info really. is it plastic pipe or copper etc.

 

[kevplumb]

unless theres a stop tap on the feed to the shower