Indeed, but if they are mis used, being turned on and off every day perhaps it is better not to have one.
Indeed, but if they are mis used, being turned on and off every day perhaps it is better not to have one.
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Bit too much to expect that switches can be turned on and off.
Perhaps if people want to turn things on and off something should be invented.
What could we call them?
Where do these ludicrous ideas originate?
Whether you call it a switch or an isolator there is no necessity to operate before and after every shower. It is fitted for emergencies (very rare) or for maintenance (not necessary as the power should be isolated at the CU for maintenance),
There is no necessity to operate the switch, but where’s the problem with doing so?
as you you have so eloquently stated it is operated
as you you have so eloquently stated it is operated
These are times when there is nothing but a minimal load on the circuit.
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Read post 9 and numerous similar posts on this subject in the past.
Post 9:
Are you turning the switch on and off perhaps, every time you use the shower? It is unnecessary and causes a great deal of wear and tear on the switch. The switch is there only for isolation, when you or someone else is working on the shower.
Thanks all, no the shower switch was new when the shower was put in a few months ago. (There's another post on here somewhere where I had to lift the floor above to add a noggin to get something solid to screw into.) Anyway, we tend to leave it on.
I don't think the cabling was was loose, but it is a tight spot, so maybe something came loose when pushing the switch up to meet the box. Either that or a dodgy switch possibly.
Anyhoo.. Have cut back the cables to where they look healthy and re-run 10mm from a heavy duty junction box to a new 50A switch (MK, not Crabtree, due to reusing the old square backbox). Everything back together and working (10 min test) but I've left the floorboard up in the spare room above to keep an eye on things.
Still on a 32A MCB, but I picked up a 50A while out today. A job for another day perhaps.
UPDATE:
32A MCB tripped after 10mins use today, so I've swapped it out for the 50A and re-inspected the cabling running to, and within the switch for any excess heat. Fingers crossed it's OK now....
I don't think the cabling was was loose, but it is a tight spot, so maybe something came loose when pushing the switch up to meet the box. Either that or a dodgy switch possibly.
Anyhoo.. Have cut back the cables to where they look healthy and re-run 10mm from a heavy duty junction box to a new 50A switch (MK, not Crabtree, due to reusing the old square backbox). Everything back together and working (10 min test) but I've left the floorboard up in the spare room above to keep an eye on things.
Still on a 32A MCB, but I picked up a 50A while out today. A job for another day perhaps.
UPDATE:
32A MCB tripped after 10mins use today, so I've swapped it out for the 50A and re-inspected the cabling running to, and within the switch for any excess heat. Fingers crossed it's OK now....
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There is no requirement to have an isolating valve in the house and therefore winston will not have one of them so Winston won't be able to turn the wter off.
All they had to do was pull that not required [in Winstons words] switch and the shower couldn't have turned itself on and they wouldn't have a £2K leccy bill and the insurance wouldn't have a stupidly big claim and the couple wouldn't have lost all of the irreplaceable memories and they wouldn't have been stuffed into a little flat for 6 months and... and...
Yet another repeat of a stupid comment from Winston. In a shower emergency the last thing anyone would want to do is scrub around clad only in a towel and dripping water to turn of the supply to the house.
This sort of wording appears in many, if not all, shower manuals:
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There is a requirement, here's another instance:
MI's show the requirement whether or not 7671 insists on it, if not fitted the warranty or insurance can and will wiggle out of it if they can.
Rubbish. It is a switch.
Local isolation is not a requirement of the Wiring Regulations -
so how can you say what purpose the person had in mind when it was fitted?
Quite so. If, as some do, they have the switch fitted so that they can (for whatever perceived reason) operate it before/after every shower, then it is clearly nonsense to say that, in their case, "The switch is only their for isolation".
As for "... a great deal of wear and tear on the switch", I would imagine that most light switches are operated at least as frequently as would a shower switch used before and after every shower, and that many are operated far more frequently that that. My ageing memory may be a litle dusty but I cannot recall any occasion in the 30+ years I've been in my present house when I had to replace a light switch because it had failed due to 'wear and tear' - and that despite the fact that, unlike shower switches, light switches are invariably operated 'on load'.
Kind Regards, John
I have had one light switch fail here in a slightly longer period and I agree, they rarely do fail, but they are wall switches. Ceiling light switches fail rather more often, they are maybe more complex/ more delicate and abused more - yanked by the strength of an arm, rather than a finger tip. An additional problem is the current the have to carry, even if they don't switch it - up to 45amp, in what is a fairly compact space. They also use a similar mechanism to many ballpoint pens, to convert a pull into on on/off. The mechanism of lots of these pens fail. There are also lots of complaints of shower pull switches failing in this forum.
I have also never heard of a wall mounted shower isolator switch failing.
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