Gainsborough electric shower went on fire-best repalcement?

martin57

Hi folks,

I got a bit of a fright today when I got home to find that the Gainsborough emerald 2 electric shower (13 years old) had gone on fire with flames black smoke and fumes coming from side of it.

My teenage daughter had been using it at the time and luckily she is ok, and she had the presence of mind to get the powder fire extinguisher to it. Its a woodon dormer upstairs so really lucky that a fire didn't take hold.

There is a circuit breaker downstairs on main main fuse box for the shower, but for some reason it didn't swtich off, though when you manually switch it down it does stop any power going to shower. This modern Hager box works no problem switching off power say for example a bulb fuses, but for some reason didn't work for shower unit upstairs.

A few questions

Can this be a common enough problem a electric shower going on fire, and what is the best replacement for me?

Thank you very much indeed for any advice offered and a Happy Easter to all.



Martin57

southcoastrgi

def not another gainsborough, mira or a cheaper option is triton, but I would suggest you get the wiring checked by a sparkie as to why it didn't trip & it may now need replacing due to the fire

muckybutt

The MCB not tripping is because it did not "see" a fault with the supply, what I am saying is the MCB didn't sense either a short circuit or overload. Having said all that thought I would as a matter of course replace the MCB when you replace the shower.... just in case the MCB is faulty.

This would point to it being a loose connection inside the shower, which if left as you have found out causes arcing of the cable and the connector its fitted into, arcing causes heat build up and eventually the cable or connector will fail and catch light.

Loose cables are a very common cause of fires which is one reason why everyone should get there electrics checked.

Anyhow back to the shower, my personal preference would be a MIRA shower, easy to install - easy to get parts for and good quality.

martin57

Thanks for replies. Just wondering do showers need to be replaced more often or when I get the new shower fitted by an electrician, should I screw the front off every so often and make sure that the power wires to it are tightened sufficiently?

Does an electric shower hold the charge like a tv even when all power is switched off from the mains?

Thanks again folks.

Martin57

southcoastrgi

martin57 wrote: »

Thanks for replies. Just wondering do showers need to be replaced more often or when I get the new shower fitted by an electrician, should I screw the front off every so often and make sure that the power wires to it are tightened sufficiently?

it's not normally necessary if the connections are tighten correctly in the first place.

Does an electric shower hold the charge like a tv even when all power is switched off from the mains?

No it doesn't

Thanks again folks.

Martin57

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