Electric Shower Problem

Tope

Hi,
Having a problem with my electric shower, hope someone can give me some advice – I haven’t a clue about electrics!

There’s no hot water when I switch it on, but the red light on the switch still comes on. Could the problem be with the wiring in the switch itself, or would that mean the bulb would be dead too?
This has actually happened a couple of times before, but only temporarily, i.e. I’d try it in the morning and it wouldn’t work, but then try it again later and it would work fine, and be grand for a few weeks. This has happened maybe three times in the past 2 months (only moved in 2 months ago so don’t how if it was a problem before then).

But now it hasn’t worked at all in 2 days so I need to get something done!

Any idea what the problem might be, and will I need to get an electrician in?

Bruthal

What shower is it. Does shower have an indicator light, and is this on or off when you switch on the pull chord?

It could be a bad connection in the pull chord switch, MCB board, or in the shower unit. Or a dodgy switch, or RCBO at MCB board.

Bad connection is a good possiblity though.

Tope

Thanks for the reply!

It’s a Gainsborough 8.5 SE. Yeah, the indicator light comes on when I switch it on (it’s a wall switch rather than a pull cord). Also don’t know if this makes a difference but the switch is in a separate room from the shower, the bathroom is down the hall from the room the switch is in, so maybe there’s a lot of weird wiring going on!

Tope

Sorry, wasn't sure what you meant by indicator light - just to clarify, there isn't any light on the shower unit itself or anything, just the light on the switch.

Bruthal

Probably need electrician so. It is simple enough to find the problems on showers for a competent electrician. Where are you living.

Tope

Thought so, hopefully won't be too big a job. I'm in Dublin - will have to get my landlord to arrange to get someone in.

Thanks again for the advice!

Bruthal

A few minutes is all it should take to find the cause, whether its power supply problem with connections etc, or a problem in the shower unit with connection or a part such as shower unit`s own push button or solenoid valve in the unit.

Could even be a water supply problem to the shower. Its a mains water shopwer that one i think, so we can assume your mains water in the house is ok?

Let us know anyway if you get it sorted, as it can be a help to other users.

Tope

Would you believe it, tried it again there and it worked, so managed to have a proper shower at last!
Maybe if I just leave the wall switch in the on position now it’ll stay working - but that’s probably wishful thinking!

Guess I will have to get someone to look at it, don’t want to keep being left showerless at random times.

And to answer your question, yes the mains water is fine, so assume it’s a connection issue of some kind.
I’ll update you if I find out what the problem is!

Bruthal

Yes its easy to believe that, its likely a connection problem which is intermittent, or a sticking solenoid valve.

The switch is the first place to look. You have a wall switch which are generally better than pull chords. But thats the first place to look. Could be a connection or a problem switch.

Leaving the switch on all the time is not a problem anyway. But have it looked at, as possible loose or bad connections will burn away while the shower is being used.