Help! Fish Smelling Electric shower or Extracter Fan

stormbreaker

Weird one!

We have an electric shower which when you turn it on an an extracter fan goes on at the same time. Over the last few days my sons have complained of a smell of 'FISH' in their toilet:eek:. It does not smell most of the time but is more when they have a shower! I thought it might have been the curtain which was recently changed but we have ruled this out.

Has anyone else experienced this? Anyone any ideas?

Thankfully we have an ensuite so don't have to shower in there:p

gardner1

its a problem with your electrics ie the shower is 12kw but the cable is good enough for 9kw and is overheating

either change shower unit for lower kw one or upgrade the cable going from shower unit to fuse/juntion box

alleycat`

You most likely have an electrical contact against the plastic that is getting it hot and melting it.
The smell is from something in the plastic.

The most common place I've seen it happen is on the electrical "pull switch" for a shower.

It is dangerous if not sorted out and could cause a fire.

O and all the usual things about working on electricity, dangerous, death, etc.

stormbreaker

I should have added that the electrics have been in place for 5 yrs ish. It is the second (exactly same model and power as first) shower in and that has been in for about two years. The smell has only just started. I would have thought if it was such an electrical fault it would hvae shown up long before now?

But we get that addressed soonest if it is electrical!

bobthedambuilder

A fishy smell usually indicates insulation overheating. This could be from wiring, switch or the shower unit itself. If you're not electrically savvy, best to call in a qualified electrician.

stormbreaker

alleycat` wrote: »

The most common place I've seen it happen is on the electrical "pull switch" for a shower.

:T:T:T:T

Thank you everyone for your advice. Decided to pick up new pull switch when out, just in case it was what was causing it.

OH has just checked the wiring to find that it was!

Thanks again!

fluffpot

Make sure you do up the connections really tightly or the same thing will happen again....

gardner1

stormbreaker wrote: »

:T:T:T:T

Thank you everyone for your advice. Decided to pick up new pull switch when out, just in case it was what was causing it.

OH has just checked the wiring to find that it was!

Thanks again!

a new pull switch will not cure it,the smell is caused by overheating
this will cause it to start smelling about 10 mins after shower is turned on,use it for a quick 5 min shower and you wont notice anything

STOCKWIRE

gardner1 wrote: »

a new pull switch will not cure it,the smell is caused by overheating
this will cause it to start smelling about 10 mins after shower is turned on,use it for a quick 5 min shower and you wont notice anything

You seem to know the op's wiring and shower intimately. Either you are physic or perhaps the cowboy electrician who installed it in the first place !!.

gardner1

STOCKWIRE wrote: »

You seem to know the op's wiring and shower intimately. Either you are physic or perhaps the cowboy electrician who installed it in the first place !!.

No speaking from experience we had the same problem local electrician explained that it takes about 10 mins for the smell to be noticed which is caused by overheating of cable in pull switch.Which in turn is normally because 12/15kw shower is installed but the cable is only 6mm instead of 10mm
The op should get it checked out

A simple google "shower cable overheating" should provide some answers

alleycat`

It will cure it if the live was "lose" and arcing which will cause heating on the plastic around the side of the connection.

Something that is repeatedly getting pulled on in a downward direction will eventually work lose.

10mm twin and earth is a sod for getting correctly connected.

I take your sparkies point about 6mm T&E with 10Kw showers but i've seen it several times on 10mm with a 10kw shower and the problem has almost always been the connection had worked lose on the pull switch.