Power Shower is Cold - New Fuse?

anotheruser

We have a Triton electric shower, which has suddenly stopped working.
It's been a little slow to heat the water recently, but worked the last time I used it a few days ago.

There is a cord we have to pull (where the light switch is normally!) that turns on a little red light on a piece of plastic on the celing. There is a fuse socket like a light switch outside the bathroom door too, together with the light switch and another switch for the extractor fan.

The shower doesn't turn on at all now.

Does anyone know where to start fault finding?

Mr.Generous

Test for power at the switch, if ok test inside the shower by taking the front cover off. I suspect the heater element has gone.

anotheruser

Hmm.
Could you post a little more about how I test at the switch?

Does it mean a new shower then? We don't know how old the shower is, so haven't got a clue if it's likely to be it or not. I haven't had a chance to look at the MCB in that area of the house yet (all electrics in that part of the house are on their own board).

Thinking perhaps getting rid of it and putting hot water there instead. It's a shower over bath jobby so should be easy to do and cheaper in the long run yes?

Mr.Generous

the ceiling switch for a shower is a dp (double pole) switch. This means the switch brakes both the live and the neutral when turned off. (much safer) test the live terminals with a testing screwdriver, it should light up on the live supply side when turned off, and both sides when switched on. Any charring around the screws will indicate overloading or overheating possibly due to a poor (loose) connection. Is it an electric shower or a power shower?

FreeBear

If the red light is coming on when you pull the cord, it means power is getting to the switch and it is operating normally. If you are inexperienced with electrics, make sure the power is turned off at the consumer unit (fuse board) before unscrewing anything.

It might be nothing more than a loose wire or it could be a fault in the shower unit. If in doubt, call a qualified electrician - Electricity and bathrooms make for a dangerous mix.

anotheruser

The red light doesn't turn on when pulling the cord

I un-scrwed it yesterday but couldn't see anything from my limited view (although the electric was still on at that point). As soon as I saw the amount of wires, I screwed it back together again :P

Will call a plumber out and hope he can fix it as I need him to fix the other shower in the house (no hot water for most of the time and the waste pipe leaks).

I didn't know there was a difference with Power Shower or Electric showers.
I pull a cord, the shower unit heats up the water like a mini-boiler, cold water feed in only.

Hoploz

sounds electrical if the light isn't coming on

Le_Kirk

Pull cord switches can fail. I would start there. You need to make sure the electricity supply is off. If you are certain that one of the switches outside the bathroom controls the shower, then turn that off and/or pull the fuse - otherwise look at the consumer unit and either pull the fuse or drop the breaker. Then you can open the pull cord switch. You will need a tester (preferably a multi-meter) to check that the switch is working correctly. If it is, reassemble it and continue your fault finding back towards the source of electricity. If you are competent go next to the switch outside the bathroom and check the fuse is OK using the multi-meter and then check the switch itself is working. If you are not competent, time to call an electrician, not a plumber. Be aware that pull cord switches contain small parts that can leap out and get lost as soon as you look at the switch as I know from personal experience!

d0nkeyk0ng

Mr.Generous wrote: »

Any charring around the screws will indicate overloading or overheating possibly due to a poor (loose) connection.

This.
We have an electric shower. There's a pullcord that we turned on/off everytime we wanted to use the shower. After about four months, the red light wasn't visible anymore and we had only cold water from the shower.

I turned off the electrics and examined the switch - it had black fouling around the neutrals. I bought a new switch, trimmed back the neutral wires and refitted. Has been working fine now for over twelve months. We've also just left the pullcord on as shower gets used throughout the day (though we do turn it off if going away).