Triton shower problems

[Notmeoryou]

Bit of a strange one ive been told by everyone ive called

had a triton t70xr 8.5kw
The water started running cold like the tco kicked in
after a few days of this happening, three times, the last time it took longer to come back and then only warm
Only half the can heated up, the full power part, with the eco mode ice cold
so either the switch or can had gone bad
So we got a new like for like fit replacement, a t100xr push button

all was well and runs for hrs np on cold and eco 4.5kw
but when on full power 8.5kw it cuts out and stops, with the shower power light going off for a split second
if you press on again it runs for five mins the stops, but if you do it in a morning it lasts ten mins and if you open the cover it lasts 30 mins (keeping the head well away)

People and triton said maybe a bad pcb and caps that dont like heat
so as i needed to sort this asap for medical travel i had, i got a second t100xr and same thing happend, right down to the same time stopping

i asked if they had a batch of bad pcbs but they said no
Given they all run on 4.5kw with the t100xrs cutting power for a second then staying off as they are push button
and the t70xr staying on with only half the can warm as its a dial power on, im not sure its the pcb

the power to two can solenoids that give the two heat settings get hot to burn your finger to on the t100xr

could this be lack of current causing overheat draw to much power , maybe a bad rcd or pull switch, they look ok

Also, rcd never trips and the pull cord light never goes out


the water pressure is ok too and its not water flow or solenoids as the run on 4.5kw

Has anyone had xp with this before

 

[James]

this could be one of those strange ones where being a push button start and some sort of latching relay to hold the flow and heat on.
could be that something is getting hot and breaking the supply for a moment, where after there is negligible current flowing so it cools back down again and reconnects.

 

[Notmeoryou]

this could be one of those strange ones where being a push button start and some sort of latching relay to hold the flow and heat on.
could be that something is getting hot and breaking the supply for a moment, where after there is negligible current flowing so it cools back down again and reconnects.

Hi
Could say a bad pull switch or rcd thats restricting current flow cause it to draw more causing heat
The silver bracket on the two can power switches get very hot (see pic)

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Could say a bad pull switch or rcd thats restricting current flow cause it to draw more causing heat

No. A heating element is a resistance so it takes a current strictly proportional to voltage. If there is high resistance at the switch or RCD, the voltage at the shower will be reduced and the current will be reduced in proportion. However, as we discussed in a recent thread about the effects of loose connections, if they are bad enough to have any real influence, they will very rapidly burn out.

Imagine for example a loose pull switch connection with 0.2 ohms resistance. A shower taking 30A will cause a drop of 0.2 x 30 = 6V across the terminal so the voltage reaching the shower will still be within range and it will function normally, albeit very slightly cooler. But the heat dissipated in the switch will be 180W which will soon toast the insulation to a crisp. I.e. if there is a problem at the switch, it will manifest in the switch not in the shower.

The way a bad connection might influence the operation of the shower in a way that the user would notice, is if it is arcing and breaking contact, causing the controls to glitch and reset. You would probably then expect to see flickering and flashing of the neon etc and completely random shutdowns.

The silver bracket on the two can power switches get very hot (see pic)

Excess heat at the relays is either coming from the relay coils, which is not particularly likely, or from less than perfect contact resistance which is far more probable. Obviously they are very basic, cheap relays that are just adequate for the load and will dissipate some heat. If they are not actually burning up, it's probably OK.