Shower fuse triping - need help!

[momo1975]

hi all,

i have had an electric shower in my house for around 1 year now and have had no probs with it, suddenly a few weeks ago the fuse trips causing the shower to turn of after only 3 mins or so which causes a prob if u got shampoo in yr hair! does anyone have any ideas? do i need to buy a new replacement fuse?

thanks everyone

 

[Space cat]

It's more likely to be a faulty shower than a faulty fuse. Is the 'fuse' an RCBO (like a standard circuit breaker but with an RCD built in)? It'll have a test button on it if it is.

Unfortunately, leakage to earth is a common failure mode in electric heaters and it sometimes only shows itself after the thing has been hot for a few minutes.

I can think of no simple test that will pinpoint the culprit without buying either a new breaker or a new shower. If you have another identical breaker in the CU you could swap the loads over but opening a CU is not a job to be taken on lightly.

 

[TicklyT]

Is it an RCD that's tripping, or is it a circuit breaker?

If it's an RCD, then it could be an earth fault,
If it's a breaker, it could be an over-current fault.

If it's a breaker, do you know the power rating of the shower, and the rating of the breaker that is tripping?

Sometimes showers are working right on the edge of the rating of a breaker, and eventually it begins to show.

You can't change a breaker without considering all the characteristics of the circuit you are working on. The cable size, cable length and where and how the cable is installed are among the factors that must be considered.