Electric Shower Help Please.

[JBZX]

Season's greetings to everyone.
Really hope someone can help as this couldn't have happened at a more
financially challenging time.
Electric shower has stopped working.(No water flow ,no power light lit on unit)
The separate ceiling mounted, isolator pullcord switch is illuminating when turned on.
When turning the shower unit switch on, the power light does illuminate.
When the shower unit switch is turned on the isolator switch stops being illuminated.
When you turn the shower unit switch off the isolator switch illuminates again.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[stem]

Usually when I've found this the ceiling mounted switch contacts have burnt, so don't make a decent contact. It's enough to work the light on the switch, but not enough to heat water.

Often happens when a ceiling switch rated at 30A was installed originally for a 7kW shower, and later on someone installs a 8kW or more shower when a 45A switch would be required. Having said that they do still fail even when the right sized switch is used.

 

[JBZX]

Hi,thanks ever so much for your reply,it's really appreciated.
As you said "It's enough to work the light on the switch, but not enough to heat water." does this
mean it would also not have enough to power the solenoid to release water from the shower or illuminate the power
light on the shower unit please ?
Would my next step be,to isolate switch at fuse box and then check actual shower isolation switch wiring ?
Once again thank you ever so much.

 

[stem]

I'm not familiar with the inner working of all showers, but it may be that the solenoid and heating of yours will both operate together so not easy to tell. If you have an electrical switch that isolates the heating elements completely to provide a cold shower (not a rotary control that just changes the flow rate to alter the temperature) you could try setting it to cold and see if the water flows then when you switch it on. But solenoids are inductive so may still pull too much current anyway.

If you isolate and inspect the wiring to the switch you may see or smell evidence of overheating, but often it's just the switch internals that fail.

 

[JBZX]

Thanks,the shower is a Triton T80si ON/OFF button at bottom, 1-10 temperature dial in middle and also another dial
at top with a 1 slash blue symbol / 1 slash red symbol and a / 2 slash red symbol setting. Hope this helps describe my
type of shower unit.

 

[JBZX]

Inspected isolation switch internals and blue casing of neutral cable is
a charred black for an inch from terminal.

 

[Bosswhite]

I have replaced a number of this type of Electric Shower in my time, I would give a life span of about 3/5 years for average use, You will find its cheaper and quicker to replace unit than try to repair . ( another disposable commodity)

 

[stem]

Inspected isolation switch internals and blue casing of neutral cable is a charred black for an inch from terminal.

There you go then. The switch has been making poor contact for sometime and overheated causing the damage you describe. The switch will need replacing and the wires stripping back to leave only sound insulation and clean conductors to make the new connection, otherwise it could still make a bad connection and overheat again. To do this, the wires may need to be extended or replaced.

If you were to replace the shower unit, this would still need to be done.

 

[ktuludays]

Inspected isolation switch internals and blue casing of neutral cable is
a charred black for an inch from terminal.

If your capable of repairing this then try this first. It's the cheapest thing to repair and may solve your problem

 

[JBZX]

There you go then. The switch has been making poor contact for sometime and overheated causing the damage you describe. The switch will need replacing and the wires stripping back to leave only sound insulation and clean conductors to make the new connection, otherwise it could still make a bad connection and overheat again. To do this, the wires may need to be extended or replaced.

If you were to replace the shower unit, this would still need to be done.

Thank you, for all your help,as I said it is genuinely appreciated ,I will let you know the outcome over the coming days.
So after what I have found hopefully in your opinion it may not require a new shower unit once wiring is rectified ?

 

[ktuludays]

Thank you, for all your help,as I said it is genuinely appreciated ,I will let you know the outcome over the coming days.
So after what I have found hopefully in your opinion it may not require a new shower unit once wiring is rectified ?

It certainly sounds like purely the switch at fault

 

[JBZX]

Hi All,
Thank you all for your help. You'll see culprit in photo attached.
Shower now up and running ,after cutting back damaged wiring,replaced switch with new Crabtree 50A .
Now all good.
All the best.

 

[fluorescence]

Good work. FYI if you isolate the shower after every use, you may want to consider stopping doing that as is it may be what causes loose connections over a period of time

 

[JBZX]

Thank you for your message, valuable information is always appreciated. All the best.

 

[crystal ball]

Good old burnt neutral again