Electric shower fault, Mira Advance Thermostatic

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Paul2129

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Hi guys, firstly, forgive me if this is really a question for a plumber, I know our plumber has fitted electrical showers for us in the past, I just thought I'd ask since you guys are pretty technical and have give such good advice in the past.

so, I have inherited a pretty decent shower with the house I bought last year, it's a Mira Advance ATL Thermostatic, it's a modern shower, but it's age is unknown, it's also a really good shower, and is around £285 + fitting to replace, hence, I just wonder if the issue is something that can be fixed, I hate wasting things, and don't particularly fancy the £285 either !

The shower works as expected, on high and low settings, then completely randomly stops, power goes off at the electric pull switch in the bathroom, and that requires pulling back on (sometimes more than once) when the shower has been reset, it will run for sometimes 30 seconds, other times I can get a week out of it. There are occasionally some fault lights which may indicate about water pressure. Unfortunately I don't have a habit of wearing my glasses in the shower, so am never prepared to examine exactly which fault lights are lit :(

I've a feeling that if the shower has some water pressure issue, that it could be an internal filter or similar which has become blocked up

I can turn off the water and electric to this thing, take the cover off and see if there's anything obvious..... or I could ask our plumber to do the same ?

just wonder if anyone has had a similar problem and has any advice,

Many Thanks

Paul

 
If the "power goes off at the pull switch" then No 1 job is get an electrician to replace that pull switch.  That should NOT go off.  They are a common fault, especially if the guy that fitted it did not thghhten the the terminals very well.

Only if you get problems after replacing that, would I be thinking of other repairs, I would be pretty certain that is all that is wrong.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
awesome, thank you, no doubt the shower is perhaps complaining about some interruption in power at the point it went off

I'll get it checked out :)

 
I've had this kind of fault before... the only thing that I could track it down to was an occasional low flow rate due to the shower being set to it's almost minimum operating flow rate (highest temperature) and a drop in external water pressure

 
a fishy smell ? erm, no
Some people describe it as a 'fishy' smell, some say it smells a bit like TCP, either way it means something is overheating inside the switch, if you remove the switch it will be obvious just by looking at it, obviously you MUST turn off the consumer unit (fuse box) first though, the issue isn't at the switch it's always worth checking the shower cable connections inside the consumer unit.

 
If changing the pull switch then get a Crabtree one fitted

Alternative  pull switches are available which others may prefer BUT they are wrong!

end of!
Agreed, can't beat a Crabtree, nice and roomy, as you say there are other, cheaper versions around, but I often wonder how many problems are actually caused at the fitting stage as people try and cram the wires inside the box. No such issue with a Crabtree.

 
awesome, thank you, no doubt the shower is perhaps complaining about some interruption in power at the point it went off

I'll get it checked out :)


If the shower isolator switch is a ceiling mounted cord-pull switch AND it is square in shape...

Then it is rubbish and is almost certain to fail prematurely..

however if it is already a Crabtree switch like this one... 

https://www.toolstation.com/crabtree-50a-pull-switch/p34147?searchstr=crabtree shower switch

Then the switch is unlikely to be the cause of the problem...

Square switches are prone to failing and symptoms could include operating for a short while until the heat builds up due to poor continuity...

then the power can disconnect...

The physical cables themselves could also be damaged and overheating in the back of a square switch...

You would need to get these properly inspected and tested to verify ongoing safe operation...

:popcorn

 

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