shbrooks Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 I'm attempting to replace an electric shower which started literally smelling fishy. Having turned off the shower at the breaker, I've found that the shower is still giving off a reading of 4v when the cord is off and 20v when the cord is on. Can anyone help explain what's going on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 Capacitive / inductive coupling, together with a digial meter with a very high input impedance. Nothing to worry about. However before you bin the shower, the fishy smell is far more likely to be the isolator switch has failed and is typical of the smell given off when plastics like those used in switches are overheating. Check / replace the isolator first. Unless you are SURE the fishy smell is actually coming from the shower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shbrooks Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 Thanks for your quick reply. So I can still fit the shower despite there being a low voltage reading? If it is the isolator cord, what caused this to fail? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shbrooks Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 ...the old shower is pretty poor anyway. It was to be set on heating setting 10 to get an averagely warm shower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 Usual cause of isolator failure is one of the terminals not done up tight enough and overheating. If that has happened the wire will be burned and you will have to pray there is enough slack to pull some through, cut back the burned bit and re terminate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shbrooks Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 Is there any way of determining where any electrical fault might like if the isolator cord is fine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 1 hour ago, shbrooks said: Is there any way of determining where any electrical fault might like if the isolator cord is fine? Unscrew the switch from it's back box and have a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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