Electric shower issue

Keith186

Hi

I’ve a Triton T90z about 7/8 years old. An electrician replaced the pull cord in the bathroom with a new switch about 4 years ago after it was starting to burn out.

The issue I’m having is when using the shower, it sometimes goes lower on power somehow, it’ll sound different and fluctuate a bit then it might stop altogether and come back on as normal.

When it’s acting up and stops running the light on the pull cord switch is off.

There's no sign of or burning on the switch or fuse board. Any ideas what could be causing it?

It's intermittent, it could work fine five days in a row but can also give issues a few times a week. Generally I turn it off for a minute or two then back on and it’s fine again.

Had a slightly similar problem with it back in 2016 and posted here about it. In the end it was just the pull cord switch. Would it be going again in 4 years?

kirk.

It's probably the pull cord

Could be loose wiring there or damage u can't see

Sleeper12

Pull cord switch can (sometimes) fail after a year or so. They can also last decades. It also could be a faulty RCBO.

I would suggest turning it off at the RCBO and not using it until the issue is resolved.

kirk.

Ya true should have thought of that, light going off at pull cord doesn't necessarily mean pull cord issue could also be at fuse board

It's at either of those 2 anyhow that the problem will be

Keith186

Cheers lads.

adrian92

For it is worth, I have found that the pull cord switches tend to fail over time.

Suggest just leave this switch on all the time (it will be available for isolation, if required).

A wall switch outside the room, I have found to be more reliable.

I wonder, is there a possible plumbing problem here though - perhaps some air in the line to the shower? Some showers have a bleed valve accessible. It was just when you mentioned the noise that it may be air in the water line.

Just a thought.

blade1

I find these last way longer than the more flat square type

naughtysmurf

And easier to disconnect & reconnect or replace too, if it turns out to be the switch as another poster has said, after replacing it, stop using it every time you use the shower, there is no need, it’s available to isolate the shower if required & will probably never cause you an issue again

kirk.

Ya as above they're crabtree good isolator

And no need to keep using the isolator,.more likely to give trouble

John.G

I've often read that these switches are for isolation but I couldn't see any electrician working on the shower without isolating at the consumer unit. It's probably a good practice to isolate after each shower, I know of one instance where someone was in the shower when the power failed so they got out without pressing the stop button or using the pull cord, then left the house and came back about 6 hours later to find power restored and a bathroom full of condensation.

Do the regulations stipulate that its required?.

kirk.

An isolator is all an electrician needs to isolate a shower , that's the point that its local to where you're working

That's always been an issue with showers with them resetting or not tripping out when power fails

The issue was always there with non- priority units, someone switches on shower no-power and then walks away, shower comes back on when other person finishes up , unless there's been design changes

kirk.

Theres no arguments that it is good practice to isolate after each shower

But is it worth it in practice is another matter, probably the crabtree are not prone to failure in use

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119817634#Comment_119817634

That was why we got warned not to make up our own priority units

Because when you're example happened and say there was a flood

Well you're the designer of the unit that caused the flood

adrian92

Keith,

The comments strayed a bit from your problem.

Any progress on your shower problem?

Sleeper12

I've a sneaking suspicion it's going to be a faulty RCBO rather than a faulty isolation switch.

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119818119#Comment_119818119

I wouldn't think so there could be wrong though

Would have thought connection issue at fuseboard or rcbo

Or connection issue at switch or damaged switch

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119818166#Comment_119818166

I'm not a sparks so just going on a hunch. Light goes out on isolation switch. Statistically from an over the phone diagnoses that reduces the likelyhood of it being the switch by 50%. It doesn't rule it out obviously. No mention of discolored switch of fishy smell reduces it further.

It's just a hunch

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119818192#Comment_119818192

When you say faulty you mean a connection issue or heat damage at the rcbo

Fault to me means an issue with the trip so maybe I'm taking u up wrong

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119818943#Comment_119818943

They can be faulty inside the RCBO. Not necessarily a loose connection. Same with the pull cord switch. Terminals can be good & tight but the Pull cord switch itself can become faulty in such a way where contact can be intermittent.

kirk.

Have u now

Keith186

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119817866#Comment_119817866

Not really. It's powered off at the board. Had a peek inside the pull cord box and it looks like new so hard to say what exactly it is yet. Waiting for a call back from the electrician.

kirk.

Loss of power can be upstream such as the neozed fire in the other thread but once you go past the supply into the RCBO other circuits are affected

So in the neozed overheating thread while in the shower you should see your lights dipping

Same basically as when you've a poor ESB supply , turn on kettle and lights dim

Unlikely to be relevant here

Sleeper12

Did you ever get to the bottom of this?

adrian92

I wonder what was the cause of this?

Any ideas?