Anyone replaced a shower pull cord switch?

A2Z

A2Z

A2Z

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Joined
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Broke mine pulling down the cord too hard as it was getting very hard to turn it on and off.

Bought a replacement 45a shower pull cord switch. From reading online seems simple enough - turn off the electricity, take off the cover, note where the 3 wires go into, put them in the same place in the new switch, screw back on.

Although I like doing fiddly stuff such as replacing iPhone screens, I've never done any electric stuff around so wanna make sure I don't do anything stupid... just wanna make sure it really is as easy as it sounds?
 
Double check the power is actually off - you never know what the state of some people's wiring is like :S I've seen people bypass the fuse box and/or even meter before.
 
Rroff said:
Double check the power is actually off - you never know what the state of some people's wiring is like :S I've seen people bypass the fuse box and/or even meter before.
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That was my main thought, but Im gonna switch off EVERY switch on the MCB, especially the red switch, not just the shower one, to make sure EVERYTHING is off!
 
I flip the main switch, all other ones and make sure everyone knows I'm working on the electrics before doing anything.

Qualified electrical services engineer - but having seen what it can do to people I ain't taking the chance of me being dippy or someone in the past having messed about.
 
Good. That whole point of that switch is to cut out the outgoing power, the incoming power is still live and will still give you a zap ;)

Personally I'd suggest getting a cheap volt stick. You can find them for less than a tenner.
 
Easy peasy.

Turn off the crct or entire board depending on how confident you are it will be isolated correctly. Undo the screws holding the face plate on and gently pull down to have a look inside. Undo the terminal screws and bin old switch.

Loosen all terminal screws on the new one and check the orientation of any indicator lamp etc. The terminals may be marked live and neutral and the earths will proabably be brass lugs. Insert the conductors into the appropriate terminals and tighten, make sure the lives and neutrals are nicely cranked down.

Push the switch up into the back box and dress the cables in as you do it so as not to clip the insulation on anything then pull gently towards you again. Check the terminals are still tight - stranded cable has a tendancy to move under the screw/pressure plate when getting second fixed and could work loose. If all is good gently push the switch face back whilst dressing the cables in again and do the screws back up.

Turn the power back on checking that the RCD is still on, stick the kettle on. Brew up.
 
you only have to follow the original wires,you cant go wrong,flick main switches off and you'll be fine
 
Thanks for the advice.

Just finished it now and it's all working. Was a bit puzzled as the new one had the Load and Supply on opposite sides to the old one, but in the end I had to turn it 180 degrees anyway cos I couldnt screw in the earth wires as the wall was too close, so I just had to move the Live and Neutral back to front. Was a bit tricky as the wires are hard!

bKBajtll.jpg

This is what it looked like when I opened it up..seems some of the insulation for the wires has been burnt a bit...and the two reds are more or less black lol...(the thick black near the front is supposed to be black neutral, the two to the side are supposed to be red)

Is this common or something I should look into sorting out somehow? What would happen if the insulation was burnt through and the Live and Neutral wires touched, and was turned on? Would there be a major thing or would it just short circuit and turn off safely?
 
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shouldn't be burnt like that,what size cable is it do you know? ive just ugraded my cable from a 6mm to a 10mm because the new 10.5kw shower kept cutting out
 
wazza300 said:
shouldn't be burnt like that,what size cable is it do you know? ive just ugraded my cable from a 6mm to a 10mm because the new 10.5kw shower kept cutting out
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I don't know what size cable it is. I just remembered the switch was changed about a year ago as it just wouldn't turn on one day. It was done by a family friend so I might try and find out if the cables were like this already back then, or if its a recent thing.
 
It looks like to me that this could be the classic case of someone changing the original shower unit at some point, and replacing it for a more powerful one and not taking into consideration the size of the wiring, or it's old wiring or loose connections in the switch there.;)
 
it could just be because the wires are crossing over inside the switch and the heat has melted the plastic

the shower tends to trip the main switch after a few minutes use if the wirings not upto it or too small,atleast that's what happened to mine
 
You need a sparky to look into this mate. Shouldn't be reterminating burnt out cable like that and you'll need to ascertain what's caused it too.
 
If it is single core earth it will be 6.0mm, if it's multi-stranded earth it's 10.0mm. Can't really see the earth cores from the pic.

This is a common problem for them to melt the insulation like that. What you need to do is re-terminate the cables neatly if there is enough length to pull down and re-strip it. If not I would heat shrink the cables with appropriate heat shrink so it's nice and neat again.

It's caused by a mixture of movement when putting on/off that loosens the terminals over time and just the fact there is two large cables in a tight space that are under load. If it is indeed 6.0mm then I would check your shower and see what kW it is and see if the cable should be upgraded to a 10.0mm.
 
Apologies for bumping an old thread, but I need to replace mine tomorrow and I'm not sure which to buy. On Screwfix there is a 45A or 50A. How can I find out which is correct for my shower?

Thanks.
 
G-MAN2004 said:
Apologies for bumping an old thread, but I need to replace mine tomorrow and I'm not sure which to buy. On Screwfix there is a 45A or 50A. How can I find out which is correct for my shower?

Thanks.
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Start a new thread, my man!

I just wasted 5 minutes reading all that.
 
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