Electrical shower

[Cj24]

Hi Iv been to someone's house who said there shower pull cord sw was smelling of fish so I opened up the pull cord to find the Neutral on the supply side was melting and the copper was all black and the switch was melting as you could see the plastic slightly disformed so the smell was surely the burning of the plastic, I remade connection off and reused the same switch as a temp measure, the guy ordered new sw and was getting back to me but not heard anything then 3 weeks later I get a call saying smells back so Iv been round and changed for new switch but the supply Neutral had started to melt again, any ideas? And do you think it will happen again? It is 8.5kw shower and 10mm cable and it's a short distance from the board do you just think it was a loose connection? As I can't see what else it could be

 

[Octopus]

Yawn..

 

[Richo77]

Wow! Great debate this one chaps

 

[Geordie Spark]

Yawn..

Tired son?

Go lie yer heid on yer mammys lap & have a little snooze then. .

 

[Geordie Spark]

Wow! Great debate this one chaps

Aye .. and it's been made all the better thanks to your very valuable contribution for which I have given you a "thanks".

 

[Octopus]

Tired son?

Go lie yer heid on yer mammys lap & have a little snooze then. .

Bit tricky that one, she met her maker a couple of years back!

 

[Silly Sausage]

So if we were to do away with pull switches on showers could we also do away with isolators for electric cookers?after all by the same token a cooker has switches doesn't it.The way I see it every fixed piece of equipment needs local isolation,but then again I,m old school too.

I haven't read any subsequent posts from this one, so apologies for any repetition.

Who the F ever uses a cooker switch anyway. Along the mythyical within 3 metre rule...
If my cooker was up in flames, within 3 metres of a burning inferno would be the last I'd be, kill it at the CU.


Unless there is a specific reg(s) that require local isolation, I'm with Skelton, forget it!
Plus, they're just switches, can't be locked off and who knows how they're wired up.

I maybe fitted a shower soon on a new circuit, I'm going to use a SP+N RCBO, sod the pull cord.

 

[Richo77]

Wow! Great debate this one chaps
Aye .. and it's been made all the better thanks to your very valuable contribution for which I have given you a "thanks".

Thanks Geordie, I missed most of it mate, but I would say a shower needs an isolator most definitely. And I think that's what most people have concluded

 

[telectrix]

a shower in mancs? has the ship canal dried up then?

 

[netblindpaul]

Damien,

I can't do the complicated quoting and stuff like you do.

I am not sure whether I should PM this, I have left it in open forum, in an attempt to show openness and fairness with respect to the heated debate that has gone on between myself & DS.

I do have mixed feelings, always have always will.

I am very unhappy about some of your ideas and suggestions.

Some others are very good.

I only skim threads on here, and don't particularly select any to comment on in particular.

I still feel that the reg no.s I quoted early on apply.

Also, there are other things to consider as I have said before, designers duties under CDM, and thus EAWR, HASAWA, PUWER98 etc.

You have disgusted me with your attitude in the past, and probably will again, in the same way that I have almost certainly done the same to you, & others, it is just that I am passionate about safety, and I don't mean in the "elf n safety brigade" way either, these "people" do have a lot to offer, but they often need to consider things differently too!

I have had a go at the "establishment", and will continue to do so, again tonight I hope if I get time.

Damien, we can continue to debate this in this thread, in private, or call it a day, and agree to differ.
I'm pretty sure that you know how to get hold of me also.


Sorry to those who are not interested in the discussions between myself & Damien in this thread.

 

[telectrix]

always enjoy a lively debate. got kicked out of a few in my time. Paul. do you think that customers using shower isolators as on/off switches, switching under load, could be a cause of premature failure?

 

[Silly Sausage]

a shower in mancs? has the ship canal dried up then?

Chorlton Water Park is still wet though.
It's now got a dodgy frothy scum floating on it at the moment, so I'd give it a day or two.


As it happens, I have partaken in the use electric showers and never once used the greasy pull cord to 'Isolate' it afterwards.
Totally effing pointless!

 

[Pete999]

one of the problems may be the fact that a lot of customers use the shower isolator as an on/off switch. this leads to the question.. are these shower isolators rated for on-load switching, and could this be a cause of arcing causing premature failure and/or overheating within the switch and thence to the terminations?

Good point Tel never really gave that scenario much thought, you can see it happening shower left on, on the actual shower, gets out switches off at the pull switch lazy syds

 

[telectrix]

Chorlton Water Park is still wet though.
It's now got a dodgy frothy scum floating on it at the moment, so I'd give it a day or two.


As it happens, I have partaken in the use electric showers and never once used the greasy pull cord to 'Isolate' it afterwards.
Totally effing pointless!

so that's where the drug dealers hang out.

 

[SJD]

always enjoy a lively debate. got kicked out of a few in my time. Paul. do you think that customers using shower isolators as on/off switches, switching under load, could be a cause of premature failure?

As it happens, I've just got back from changing a shower isolator (and one or two other things in the same property). The isolator contacts themselves had failed, I noticed the shower was left switched on, and the occupiers confirmed they leave the shower switched on and then turn it on/off via the isolator. No overheating of the terminations or cable, just failed a contact. It didn't look that old (perhaps no more than 5 years).

 

[Silly Sausage]

so that's where the drug dealers hang out.

He's actually sunning himself in Jamaica at the moment and over indulging with fresh fish, rum, women, sunshine, etc etc etc.....