dangti6 Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Curious to what may have caused the melting shown to the inside of my electric shower. It’s been installed for a good 5 years or so. My wife was showering this morning when she noticed a loss of warm water and a burning smell so turned it off straight away. The consumer unit didn’t trip out which surprises me. It appears that the wire to the heater element unit has got very hot, melted the front fascia cover it was up against and the end of the wire has broken away from the connection. The water inlet as at the bottom of the unit and the unit is positioned high enough that water wouldn’t get in from above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 A poorly made crimp connection. Look at the one that is failed, there is a gap at the front. Look at all the others, solid. It's a manufacturing fault but probably out of warranty. It is fixable if the case is not too badly melted from the outside, just needs that wire link replacing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangti6 Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Interesting, thanks for the reply. I have already ordered an identical unit to replace it, but I’ll have a nosey and see if anyone sells that wire as a consumable - could save me a few quid!! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 That shower is knackered. Do not repair and reinstate it !!! Water will get into the top and when it does it'll have a nice 40amp supply with which to fry you......... Seriously? I'd send that pic to Triton UK sales, and on their Twitter feed too, and ask what they suggest you do with the failed unit, giving how dangerous this is, and what could have come from it. Do NOT think about salvaging this unit, please. It's Donald Ducked. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 I had one that went earlier this year. We just replaced it, paying attention that the new one could use the same holes in the wall. Not worth the risk not to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangti6 Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 Got in touch with Triton who were really helpful and despite the fact it's 5 years old they agreed it shouldn't happen and are going to send me a new unit FOC. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Well played Triton! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrerahill Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 20 hours ago, dangti6 said: The consumer unit didn’t trip out which surprises me. To be honest it probably won't trip - nothing was taken beyond normal operating characteristics. That connection/wire went high impedance, it got hot, very hot has been getting hot for some time, some additional energy will have been dissipated as heat at the joint but it was clearly not going particularly overcurrent, say it was on a 40A MCB - the shower is maybe a 7kW that is only about 30A so there is capacity before the MCB current would be reached, however, a 40A MCB will not automatically trip at 40.1A - it could go as high as 120A for a half second, or 100A for .75s or 60A for 4 seconds etc. (it depends on the tripping characteristics) or it could sit at 45A for hours, the characteristics of an MCB are largely to protect cables from overheating (the most extreme being fire!). You got away with it because the appliance is not used for that long relatively speaking and the casing will be able to withstand this (albeit it was melting). The next level of protection is an RCD - well there is no fault here that would trip an RCD (yet - it may have developed). Arc faulty protection - relatively new to the market, very few installed nationally, however that would have stopped this as it looks like there was some good arcing and sparking before it totally failed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrerahill Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 19 hours ago, dangti6 said: Interesting, thanks for the reply. I have already ordered an identical unit to replace it, but I’ll have a nosey and see if anyone sells that wire as a consumable - could save me a few quid!! ? Just a bit of tri-rated cable of the correct gauge will sort it, however, I fix EVERYTHING and I would not think about fixing this - bin it - too far gone on the casing. Although, knowing me I would keep it and make it into a hot water device for the garage or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangti6 Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 5 minutes ago, Carrerahill said: Just a bit of tri-rated cable of the correct gauge will sort it, however, I fix EVERYTHING and I would not think about fixing this - bin it - too far gone on the casing. Although, knowing me I would keep it and make it into a hot water device for the garage or something. It's a 9.5kw shower on a 40A MCB. Reassuring at least to hear that there's no apparent fault elsewhere that caused this and it was just bad luck. (wouldn't be the first time I have replaced something to later learn something else down the line was at fault, also killing the replacement!) I took the melted cable off last night and the top terminal had effectively welded itself to the post on the top of the heater unit. As I went to undo the screw the movement of the screwdriver twisted the tab, no doubt weakening it and as I was about to consider going to get some pliers to grip it hold I decided it was worth the piece of mind to replace the lot. My garage remarkably already has a hot water supply so I'll not risk death re-purposing it out there ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 It's a sad fact of life that anything shipped with screw terminals particularly can loosen in transit/ storage. Consumer units as a good example. People throw them in but only check the security of the connections they have to make, trusting the prewired stuff to be be tight. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 5 hours ago, dangti6 said: Got in touch with Triton who were really helpful and despite the fact it's 5 years old they agreed it shouldn't happen and are going to send me a new unit FOC. I thought they might Happy days. My work here is done ✅ Bonjour! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangti6 Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 45 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: I thought they might Happy days. My work here is done ✅ Bonjour! Thank you - as it’s 3 years outside the warranty I probably wouldn’t have bothered without your encouragement to do so ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 7 minutes ago, dangti6 said: Thank you - as it’s 3 years outside the warranty I probably wouldn’t have bothered without your encouragement to do so ? "If you don't ask, you don't get" Triton are a good company, hence the excellent after sales ( very after in your case ) service. What we call "a result". Now go have a wash please ........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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