Electric shower - burnt wire

[DIY_Hero]

Hi,

here's the thing. I had a shower the other day, but the heater turned itself off! It's an electrically heated shower, last time this happened we thought the temperature sensor tripped because the water was too hot because of the weather. In that instance I switched off power to the shower, switched it back on and bingo, it worked.

This time it didn't.

So we turned of the electricity to the house and uncovered the box that provides the electricity to the shower. What we found was a melted red wire that had also melted a tiny bit of the white plastic casing of where it was wired into the power box!

So we've turned the power to the shower heater off.

Help!!!! Is this one of those situations where you have to get an electrician out to fix it, or can we do it ourselves, if so where's the best place to get the wire we need?

Many thanks

DIY_Hero

 

[Adam_151]

No offence meant, but considering the vague terms you are using, I'm guessing your knowledge of electrics isn't too great and you might be better off getting someone in to sort it for you.

But that said, feel free to take a picture of the problem to help us understand it better, and we will be able to advise better whether it is a simple fix or not.

 

[DIY_Hero]

you're right, my knowledge ain't too good.

however let me try to clarify.

the red wire going into the RCBO has melted, there is a double pole rcbo and a single pole rcbo next to each other. the wire that has melted goes into the left side of the double pole rcbo.

I take it that the rcbo's need replacing as well as the wire, would you concur?

 

[Qedelec]

Sounds to me like the terminals of the RCBO were loose causing a high resistance joint and thus overheating.
You may get away with reterminating if the fitter left enough spare cable or you may need to replace the cable (recommend 10mm).
RCBO's run at about £50 so if its not too badly damaged you might be lucky, but make sure its tested with an RCD tester as there is no way of knowing if its going to work just by pressing the button. You would be safer to call a sparky to give it the once over.

 

[DIY_Hero]

thanks for the advice, if it were dead easy I would do it myself, but as I am not what my username suggests, I'll call a sparky.

thanks once again.