How safe are electric showers that have not been serviced?

LolitaLove

I'm a student and live in a rented shared house. I'm in my third year now and since we've lived here the landlord has never had the electrical equipment checked. I've been diagnosed with anxiety and I start to worry about things, a lot, so I'm not sure whether I'm just worrying over nothing....but I've started getting really worried about the electric shower. One part of the shower...a plastic part of the unit, broke of, and the landlord had a plumber out to fix it...the plumber said it was impossible to buy the part of the fitting we needed so would need to replace the whole shower which the landlord didnt want to do, so he just taped it at the bottom, saying it doesnt affect the shower at all. That was like 2 years ago. The shower works, but I always imagine getting electrocuted if something went wrong. I've started taking baths but I worry about others living in the house that still use it. Am I worrying over nothing? How dangerous are electric showers in general?

Gloomendoom

Electric showers are very safe in general. Electric showers with broken casings... who knows.

Who taped it up? The landlord or the plumber?

macman

If live parts are accessible to water or humans, then it's potentially lethal.
Electric showers do not otherwise require servicing, just descaling periodically.
All electric showers should be protected by an RCD device, although this is not a legal requirement (though no sane property owner would not fit one).

bodmil

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Jaynne

bodmil wrote: »

A new shower need only cost £50, perhaps mention that to the landlord, it will be a lot less hassle for him!

Not sure where you get your plumbers but can I have his number if he can supply and fit a new electric shower for £50

Jaynne

LolitaLove wrote: »

I'm a student and live in a rented shared house. I'm in my third year now and since we've lived here the landlord has never had the electrical equipment checked. I've been diagnosed with anxiety and I start to worry about things, a lot, so I'm not sure whether I'm just worrying over nothing....but I've started getting really worried about the electric shower. One part of the shower...a plastic part of the unit, broke of, and the landlord had a plumber out to fix it...the plumber said it was impossible to buy the part of the fitting we needed so would need to replace the whole shower which the landlord didnt want to do, so he just taped it at the bottom, saying it doesnt affect the shower at all. That was like 2 years ago. The shower works, but I always imagine getting electrocuted if something went wrong. I've started taking baths but I worry about others living in the house that still use it. Am I worrying over nothing? How dangerous are electric showers in general?

Do you have a picture of where it is broken - on our one there was a bit of plastic at the very bottom around the hose that fractured. It didn't provide any access to the internals and was purely cosmetic.

If there is an RCD protecting your shower then the risk is pretty minimal. If you're very paranoid follow some old electricians advice and touch things with your left arm behind your back - any shock will travel down your right arm to ground not on the side of your heart so is much less likely to harm you.

LolitaLove

Jaynne wrote: »

Do you have a picture of where it is broken - on our one there was a bit of plastic at the very bottom around the hose that fractured. It didn't provide any access to the internals and was purely cosmetic.

If there is an RCD protecting your shower then the risk is pretty minimal. If you're very paranoid follow some old electricians advice and touch things with your left arm behind your back - any shock will travel down your right arm to ground not on the side of your heart so is much less likely to harm you.

Hi, it sounds like yours was the exact same as ours, the bit of plastic at the very bottom fractured around the hose, it was like a panel of plastic at the very bottom of the shower near to where the hose comes out....it was only cracked, then a house mate poked and prodded it when he noticed it was cracked and broke it off. We were showering when the shower was cracked for months without realising, it was only one day when I was cleaning it that I noticed. I could post a pic, are they allowed on this forum?

The plumber taped it and said it's no risk and has nothing to do with the shower as its a sealed unit inside. You can't see the tape by looking at the shower, or when you're in the shower...it's only when you duck down and look underneath. Trouble is I'm not sure I 100% trust the plumber as he works full time for the landlord, so he is possibly a bit biased.

Thanks for the left arm behind the back tip I will do that from now on

LolitaLove

macman wrote: »

If live parts are accessible to water or humans, then it's potentially lethal.
Electric showers do not otherwise require servicing, just descaling periodically.
All electric showers should be protected by an RCD device, although this is not a legal requirement (though no sane property owner would not fit one).

Is there any way I could tell if there is an RCD device? There is a pull cord to turn the shower on/off, does that mean theres an RCD in situ?

LolitaLove

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Electric showers are very safe in general. Electric showers with broken casings... who knows.

Who taped it up? The landlord or the plumber?

The plumber, on the landlord's instruction. The plumber originally said he'd try to order the missing piece of the casing, and when he couldn't get it he said he'd just tape it...he said the shower that's in is a really expensive, decent one so we're better off keeping that than having a new cheaper one installed.

macman

LolitaLove wrote: »

Is there any way I could tell if there is an RCD device? There is a pull cord to turn the shower on/off, does that mean theres an RCD in situ?

No, that's just a isolator switch, as required by the regs. Go to the CU and see what's fitted to the shower circuit (it should have it's own dedicated circuit).
It will either be a modern CU with overall RCD protection, or maybe a supplementary circuit with an RCD device fitted on the shower circuit only.
An RCD has a push button to test it, an MCB is just a trip switch.

LolitaLove

macman wrote: »

No, that's just a isolator switch, as required by the regs. Go to the CU and see what's fitted to the shower circuit (it should have it's own dedicated circuit).
It will either be a modern CU with overall RCD protection, or maybe a supplementary circuit with an RCD device fitted on the shower circuit only.
An RCD has a push button to test it, an MCB is just a trip switch.

Sorry where do you mean for me to look, you said CU is that control unit? I looked at the fuse box and there's nothing about RCD? Just says RCCB protected.
Don't think there's anything in the bathroom, just the pull cord with a box attached that says on/off depending if it's on or off and the shower and thats it. Also, the electrics were last serviced in 1989, before I was born which can't be safe?

There is a test button but it's for the whole circuit, all the fuse's.