Shower trips rcd

NoobCannon

NoobCannon

NoobCannon

Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2011
Posts
6,053
hi all, shower last night obviously kicked the bucket, took out the rcd so am guessing its seriously kaput.

Luckly it has its own rcd (altho still took out the main one for some reason) so i can leave it isolated. We called the manufactures to see if they can suggest someone to come look at it but they want to charge a £160 call out fee + any parts so wont be following that thru.

Am considering replacing the shower
Myself and will try to get a like for like replacement to avoid drilling any more holes or having to move stuff around etc. Just interested to know if its diyable or should just pay someone to come and fit it. Im a confident electrician (street lighting/equipment background) but dont hold part p or what ever its called now to be able to sign stuff off for houses.

This is the shower should it make any different at All, its in the second bathroom so can live without it for now the main shower is fed from the boiler

https://www.diy.com/departments/mir...kR8T_ku33G4MQ0EzpE8aAtauEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
HardwareGeek said:
Might be worth checking the shower isolation switch isn't burnt out and causing the issue first - also if you have a tester you could disconnect the cable at the terminal block in the shower unit and meg the unit only to prove its the shower itself thats faulty

Could even try and test each of the 2 elements to see if thats the issue, you might just be able to replace the heater tank on diagram in your link (£125) and sort it


Also why is it running through 2 rcds? did the shower only rcd trip as well or just the first rcd with other circuits on?

If just the first then could be an Ir fault on other circuits causing the trip and shower is just showing the fault up when its pulling a big load, maybe n-e fault on other circs etc

I would diagnose it first to avoid spending out unnecessarily
Click to expand...

This house was wired by zippy and bungle
And ive been changing/fixing things as i find them.

At the moment from what ive worked out it goes thru 2 rcds. Theres actually 3 rcds if i think about it, the main one for the upstairs, an rcd in the consumer unit (30ma i think) and then to another completly separate rcd mounted above the consumer unit in its own enclosure (40ma). It tripped the main upatairs rcd and then when i switched it back on it tripped the seperate shower one (the 40ma in its own enclosure)

I don't plan on changing this as i cant work on the consumer unit and it would involve too Much poohing about anyway and no doubt would be notifiable so as long as its safe (passed a pi before i moved in) it can stay as is.

The showers been fine since we moved in so cant imagine it being an ir fault, just think its gonna be the shower. Spose if i take the cover off i can ohm test the coils and prove it to Myself. Where did you see the heater tank for sale?
 
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Have taken the cover off disconnected the incomming mains but am at a loss of how to test the coils/elements themselves as there seems to be a multitude of connections to the heater tank section. Anyone have any ideas how/which parts to test?
 
Ok had a little google on testing the
Elements and ive got 2 good and one thats dead as a do do so at least ive found the problem.

Dont know about replacing the heater box myself tho looks a bit complicated.

Seems like it would be easier to replace the whole shower!
 
HardwareGeek said:
test at the terminal block first shower side - that will let you know if it is the shower - normally would meg it that reads into millions of ohms @ 500v

not sure what your meter can read but a fault would probably read 0-100,000s ohms if you only have an ohm meter - should have no continuity between live or neutral to earth so any reading is showing a fault, would expect 100s of millions of ohms as a good reading

Normally the heaters have a high and low setting 1 higher power element and 1 lower power boost element - neutrals will probably be joined with 1 live post each

looking at the pic probably nothing else in the shower that would or could cause an rcd trip except the heater
Click to expand...

I tested all 3 elements on ohms to netrual, i got 12- 13 - 0

the zero being the first/main element i believe.

The shower heater is just like a kettle its a resistance heater so should be something there, being 0 resistance the first coil has blown.
 
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Flibster said:
Just replace it. So much easier.

We end up replacing the shower in the flat every year or two. Depends on how much the tenants use it. Hertfordshire has some of the worst water for scale. The mountings haven't changed in 10 years and neither have the positions of the water inlet or power, so I can generally do it on my own in under an hour.
Click to expand...

£280 vs £120 for the heater tank tho so will try that first as only thing i can see wrong.
 
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