problems with a shower

[mntmouse]

I too am having problems with a shower, in my instance it looses power occasionally whilst the shower is in operation. I have looked at the pull cord switch and can see no damage or poor connections. I am thinking of replacing the pull cord but out of interest i notice that previous responses to this thread suggest leaving the power supply on and switching direct at the shower unit. This makes sense to me but my wife always switches it off at the cord. Pulling the cord obviously increases the wear but is leaving the power supply to the shower on safe? Is anyone aware of any accidents because a shower was left on at the pull switch? I guess there is always are risk that if the shower leaked whilst power was connected it could cause a fire?

 

[regsmyth]

in my instance it looses power occasionally whilst the shower is in operation

And then what do you do? Just wait till it starts again, or does it only stop for a split second?

It would scare me stupid!!!

The wiring and all connections might be fine, but I'd be really concerned if nothing tripped when this happened. Does anything trip?


Again, I would suspect the pull cord switch first of all . It's probably the contacts within the switch, which you can't see just by taking the cover off.
I think that by leaving the power on at the shower and operating only using the pull cord is bound to cause some sparking inside the pull cord switch and eventually corrode the contacts.

Check earlier posts.

But please make sure the shower circuit is turned off at the fusebox before you have a look in the switch or the shower.
If it is the switch that's worn out, be advised that getting big stiff cables into a fiddly switch above your head is often really really hard work, albeit only for a few minutes. And a lot hangs on whether it's done right or not, so be wise, get someone in.

The pull cord switch is above all designed to be an isolation switch. Start using the shower button and leave the pull cord switch alone, or only pull it when the shower has been turned off.

Good luck!

 

[mntmouse]

Firstly sorry to who evers post i hijacked, i thought it made sense to carry on a discussion about leaving a shower on at the pull switch but didn't realise it would be classed as hijaking.

From the reply it appears that it is best to leave the shower on at the pull switch and just turn it off/ on at the unit rather than at both the pull switch and the shower unit.

The pull switch is only ever pulled once the shower is off at the main unit. What happens (and strangely it has happened to my wife about half a dozen times and me only once) is that the shower just stops. The time it happened to me i got out of the shower, made sure i was dry and then pressed the small rotating drum in the switch that says on/off/on. I know that this is not the switch but for some reason i decided to press it, this made the shower start again. The LED indicator light had gone off so I don't think it is a problem with the shower unit itself as the LED is lit when the pull switch is on rather than the shower.

I always turn the power off at the CU before looking or working on anything anyway but thanks for reminding me.

 

[jockspark]

hi i had the same thing happen client called me shower switching off
only done it when his son used it turned out front cover not loose but not 100% tight and when the lad was leaning on it having his shower it was switching off it was that simple there should be two screws one top one bottom take them off a half turn push the cover back make sure its all the way then tighten screws

 

[TCDIY]

Like you I had doubts about the necessity of switching the shower off at the pull switch. I was proved wrong. A fault developed with the shower such that with the power on, and the shower supposedly off, but the shower would still get hot and suddenly spurt out scolding hot water - apprarently one of the internal switches was sticking and not switching off correctly - in effect one of the elements was always on! My advise is always turn the supply off.