Electric Shower on the way out?

[johngc]

I have an 'Essentials' electric shower which has been in the house since before we bought it in 2007. It is not the best but up until now has been working fine.

The shower is connected to a pull switch in the bathroom and then to a seperate 30A fuse in the CU. It is an old CU where you change the wire fuse if and when it blows. The shower fuse has never blown whilst we have lived in the house.

Today my wife had a shower and left the pull switch on. I went to have a shower and pulled the switch assuming it was off. Got in the shower, realised that it was still cold and pulled the switch again. The shower remained cold and the little red light remained off on the pull switch. I had not noticed if it was on or off before. The shower also showed no sign of life (it has a couple of lights to show power and pressure warnings which were all off).

I checked the fuse but it was fine.

I unscrewed and checked the pull switch (after removing the fuse) as best I could but there were no signs of loose wires / connections and it 'felt' like the switch was still working (solid clicking and the on / off indicator pops in and out).

I have tested the fuse socket of the CU with a multimeter and it is reading 230v so it appears that the CU is working and the fault is not there (I assume 230v is ok?).

I then went back to the shower and noticed that when the pull switch was on there was a very faint glow in the power light on the electric shower. I turned it onto the lowest power setting (1 of 3) and it remained on but with no heat in the water. If I turned it up any higher the power light went off (the actual water heat setting is quite low as it is summer).

I pulled the pull cord on and off a few times and turned the shower on and off a few times and low and behold, it has all lit up and started working again. Light in the led on the pull switch and full power and heat in the shower...

Does any one recognise what sort of fault this sounds like? I assumed that it was a power supply fault initially as the pull switch indicator light was not working but now I had the faint glow in the power light of the shower, I wonder if the shower is on the way out.

Would the pull switch be wired to show no power if the shower died?

 

[EFLImpudence]

New switch required. Contacts wearing/worn out.

 

[johngc]

Thankyou. I assume you mean the pull switch rather than he shower switch.

Eiher way its cheaper than a new shower

 

[Mursal]

She's off the hook?

Probably a loose connection

Ensure you have RCD protection for the shower. Usually one covers all sockets and shower etc? It usually is stand alone in the consumer unit with a test button? If not get one installed
I just mention it as some old circuits don't have them. A 30A fuse will not give you adequate protection.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Thankyou. I assume you mean the pull switch

Yes.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I have tested the fuse socket of the CU with a multimeter and it is reading 230v so it appears that the CU is working and the fault is not there

Be extraordinarily careful doing that.

You are poking about in a bit of your electrical installation which has no protection except the main service fuse, which is not much protection at all.