Gainsborough Power Shower

[Hardley]

I've had a Gainsborough Power Shower for several years, always worked perfectly, until this morning.
About an hour after I had finished showering, having turned the shower off, I heard the shower motor running, no water was coming out as the switch was set at off.
Switching the electric supply off was the only way to stop the motor from running.
Can any one suggest what has gone wrong with this shower.
Thanks in advance
Hardley

 

[Softus]

Depends on the model.

For example, some have a microswitch operated by a cam on the knob that you turn. If the switch fuses shut, or stick for any other reason, then the supply to the motor won't be removed.

Did you notice the motor running when you left the room?

 

[Hardley]

Hi Softus,
Thanks for your reply.
Shower is called Duo-Jet Power Shower, there is no model number on Users Manual or inside the shower itself.
The shower switched off as normal, but about an hour later I heard a noise upstairs, went to investigate and found it was the shower motor/pump running.
Have always just switched the shower off by turning the knob on the shower, so it always has power going to the shower, with this incident I realise that this could be dangerous, so think I will put a pull cord switch outside the bathroom door, so that we can switch electric to shower off each time.

 

[Softus]

OK. From the information at ShowerDoc (click here) there is indeed a microswitch, and there are some parts available, although motor parts are shown as unavailable.

To diagnose the problem you would need to remove the cover, ideally without turning the knob, and see if the microswitch is stuck or if its an cam/actuator problem.

There's no PCB in the list of parts, so I doubt that there's any complex control devices in this shower, so with the power off, and the cover off, you should be able to suss out what's causing the motor to run.

If you find a black mess, then it might be water ingress, in which case it's a scrap shower.
___________________

PS If you replace the shower, and if you do it yourself, uncoupling from the pipework will be a challenge because scale builds up on the pipework and makes it hard to pull the shower off the push-fit connectors. If it comes to doing this then come back here for tips.

 

[Hardley]

Did as you suggested, micro switch works every easily, at top of shower, near the motor there was some blackening on the cables, which wiped off with paper, no sign of water there, top is sealed, water comes in from rear, near bottom.
Think I will phone Gainsborough in the morning to see what they say and cost of any parts.
Thanks again for your help.

 

[Softus]

If you have a multimeter you can check that the microswitch really is switching - test continuity with the power of.