electric shower tripping on high power

km79

shower tripped rcb switch donwstairs towards end of shower. reset switch and shower works fine under low and medium power at all temps and heats the water. as soon as it is switched to high power trips again?? it a mira elite 2

Bruthal

km79 wrote: »

shower tripped rcb switch donwstairs towards end of shower. reset switch and shower works fine under low and medium power at all temps and heats the water. as soon as it is switched to high power trips again?? it a mira elite 2

The high heat part of the element probably has a fault on it. Is it just the RCD its tripping?

M cebee

ya-earth fault on 'one' element in heater tank

more than likely

km79

worked fine last night. wife had a lengthy shower this morning and it tripped towards end.
its not actually the switch labelled RCD. its the double switch labelled shower. all power to shower and pull switch goes

M cebee

same thing -rcbo

might be worth a look for damp if it's not tripping immediately

km79

it trips immediately on high. not at all on others. ill open the casing later and check for water anyway.

M cebee

prob new 'heater tank' or shower so

take a look anyhow -a sparkie can confirm problem with IR tester

km79

not good news by the looks of things:mad:
far side of shower has come away from tiles a little i can see wall plug and also water pipe and i thnk earht wire.
opened up three of 4 screw to look inside. one of them just turns and wont lift away and there also appears to be a crack in the casing here. looked inside and there is a lot of moisture :eek:
we had not used electric shower over the winter really only a handful of times so dont know what caused all this
new shower???

Bruthal

km79 wrote: »

not good news by the looks of things:mad:
far side of shower has come away from tiles a little i can see wall plug and also water pipe and i thnk earht wire.
opened up three of 4 screw to look inside. one of them just turns and wont lift away and there also appears to be a crack in the casing here. looked inside and there is a lot of moisture :eek:
we had not used electric shower over the winter really only a handful of times so dont know what caused all this
new shower???

You might be able to leave the cover off it and let it dry out and that might fix it. But if there is a crack in the casing it would need to be sealed if the crack is in a location where water can run into the casing once its dried out and the cover re-fitted.

km79

thats what im hoping but the problem is one of the screws wont come out so cant remove casing fully! sparky calling 2moro evening anyway. to be honest i hate electric showers ive had nothing but trouble with them

Bruthal

I always found them reliable enough i have to say. Is the screw just turnong but not coming out, as if the threads are gone in the plastic?

km79

yep thats whats happening. this is also where the crack in the casing is

km79

update.
electrician looked at it said water was getting in probably thru crack in casing. shower had actually dried out and was working fine.
anyway how should i seal crack to waterproof it . is it just use silicone or is there something better
also shower has come away from wall slightly on side water pipe enters. he suggested using some kind of grip glue???

Bruthal

km79 wrote: »

update.
electrician looked at it said water was getting in probably thru crack in casing. shower had actually dried out and was working fine.
anyway how should i seal crack to waterproof it . is it just use silicone or is there something better

Is the crack at the top of it? Silicone might seal it anyway. Might be able to open the cracked bit a little and put silicone right in the gap and let it close again, and a bead of silicone on the inside as well then.

also shower has come away from wall slightly on side water pipe enters. he suggested using some kind of grip glue???

Glue wont really work if the pipe is sort of pushing the shower off the wall. Screw fixing it is the best way, and works well if its tiled behind the shower. Or loosening the compression nut where it goes onto the shower and re-tightening if its qualpex in such a way it helps pull it back onto the wall. Can it easily be pushed flat to the wall, or takes a bit of force?

If its only a couple of mm off the wall you can just silicone it to close the gap.

km79

the crack is at top right hand corner near one of the screws. the same screw will not come out with a screw driver. it just turns and turns . due to this the casing cant be opened fully without the top right hand corner snapping off completely. the screwdriver is not magnetic so will try with a magnetic one.
the unit had been screwed into tiles correctly using plugs but has come out a from wall a good bit on the left side. dont know what caused this. gap is too big for silicone

Bruthal

km79 wrote: »

the crack is at top right hand corner near one of the screws. the same screw will not come out with a screw driver. it just turns and turns . due to this the casing cant be opened fully without the top right hand corner snapping off completely. the screwdriver is not magnetic so will try with a magnetic one.

A magnetic one is unlikely to work unless the screw is ectremely loose. Get a flat head driver like a phase tester and stick it in under the head of the screw and sort of lever it out as you turn it with the philips driver.

the unit had been screwed into tiles correctly using plugs but has come out a from wall a good bit on the left side. dont know what caused this. gap is too big for silicone

Possibly the pipe is pushing it out. It may have been put up and sort of forced against the wall to hold the pipe in, especially if it was a copper pipe, and now the screw/rawl plug has come out a bit.