No power at shower

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Josh Miller

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Hi,

I fitted a new shower back in July, went for the exact same kW and everything has been great until this week when I stopped getting 240V at the shower.

All I can find is the breaker but there doesn't seem to be an isolation switch anywhere or a fuse, I don't have any power at the shower checked across the supply and earth and its 0V, so I went to the MCB and the breaker hasn't tripped, checked on supply to the breaker and its giving 240V, checked the other side and its sending 240V out, turn the breaker off and it's 0V as it should be.

I'm scratching my head and thinking I may have a break in the wire or there's gonna be a fuse or isolation switch somewhere but I can't find either anywhere, could it be the earth in the MCU Unit is a poor connection?

If I check the breaker and use the showers earth cable in the MCU and not on the earth bar in the MCU would that rule out the showers earth cable?

Thanks in advance.
 
It's usually a wire burned out at a poor connection in the switch.

It's strange not to have a switch. If not a pull cord on the bathroom ceiling it may be a wall switch (should be lot chunkier than a light switch or socket switch)

Or there might be a junction box hidden in the ceiling.

Might be a connection inside the shower.
 
JohnD said:
It's usually a wire burned out at a poor connection in the switch.
Click to expand...
He says there isn't an isolator, though in practice there nearly always is one somewhere.

Have a good luck for the switch, it may be in some weird place which made it easy for the installer, it may even be chucked under the floorboards/slung in the loft if your place has 'history'.
 
Hi,

Thanks for the replies already, I didn't think of checking in the loft so I'll have a look up there, I'm just on with removing all the silicone sealant around the bath hoping there's one under there for some strange reason.

No airing cupboard in the house but good shout.
 
Well I'm underneath the bath, there's no switch or fuse but the earth, neutral and feed seem to be connected here, the earth and feed have insulation tape wrapped around and the neutral is connected with a scotch lock.

I'm from the motor trade and we rarely see jobs this bad anymore, looks like a mate has done this rather than a professional but it could be the norm for all I know but I'm gonna have to test either side of the connection to see if this is my fault but the access is crap!
 
So I've pinned into either side of where it looks like they're connected and I'm not getting any readings, I've been in the loft and can't see an isolation switch, there's no pull cord isolation switch but everything checked out in the MBU as I've literally just triple checked, switched off all the power and removed the earth and neutral just to check their connections.

Maybe the earth connection is fine as I've checked in the MBU just on the showers earth with the breaker feed and I'm getting a reading, so if I check either side of the supply where its joined underneath the bath that should tell me if the connection is fine but how do I check that with the multimeter?
 

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We have this switch but it's only got a 5amp fuse in and I've swapped it.

Does anyone know what it is? It's in our main bedroom.
 

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Its a switched ,fused ,connection unit. Does it feed an outside light ,possibly ?

Certainly not something you would have on an instantaneous electric shower circuit.
 
Josh Miller said:
So I've pinned into either side of where it looks like they're connected and I'm not getting any readings, I've been in the loft and can't see an isolation switch, there's no pull cord isolation switch but everything checked out in the MBU as I've literally just triple checked, switched off all the power and removed the earth and neutral just to check their connections.

Maybe the earth connection is fine as I've checked in the MBU just on the showers earth with the breaker feed and I'm getting a reading, so if I check either side of the supply where its joined underneath the bath that should tell me if the connection is fine but how do I check that with the multimeter?
Click to expand...
You should remake the connections in a suitable junction box ,what you have is a right bodge.
What are you using to test that the line conductor is live ?
Multimeter ? Measure voltage Line to neutral ,and line to earth ?
 
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terryplumb said:
You should remake the connections in a suitable junction box ,what you have is a right bodge.
What are you using to test that the line conductor is live ?
Multimeter ? Measure voltage Line to neutral ,and line to earth ?
Click to expand...

Hi Terryplumb,

I agree it's a mess, I'll pick one up from screwfix anything I need to look out for or just any 3 way junction box? I'm using a multimeter just checking voltage across the power and earth line, I've left the neutral out as I should have a reading across those two.
 
terryplumb said:
Its a switched ,fused ,connection unit. Does it feed an outside light ,possibly ?

Certainly not something you would have on an instantaneous electric shower circuit.
Click to expand...

Must be for an old outside light I guess, doesn't seem to switch anything off in the house.
 
Have you taken voltage readings on the cables under the bath ?
I would use a waterproof junction box ,as its below the bath.
 
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