Electric shower leaking-OK to leave with water isolated and power off?

[JoeJoe]

A few days ago I noticed a steady drip of water coming from the bottom of a 8.5KW electric shower.

- I isolated the water (it has one of these valves - or very similar:

on the copper pipe feeding the shower)

- turned off the power (wall and consumer unit)

- waited a few hours, and then opened it.

Unfortunately despite turning everything back on the leak has stopped completely and I couldn't locate its source. I didn't like the idea of replacing parts inside the shower, and considering that a new one is only ~£50, I thought that I would simply replace it. I closed the shower cover, and left everything turned on. I haven't had the time to do anything about it for the next 3 days, when all of a sudden the leak returned (yesterday). I now turned the power and water off again.

We are going away very soon, and I was wondering how safe it would be to leave it like this.

The power is turned off both on the wall and on the consumer unit, so I assume that would be Ok?

But what about the water? Can these valves be used to shut the water supply to the shower for a few weeks?

TIA.

[Jim S]

JoeJoe wrote in news:lo-dnZXh6p8 [e-mail]:

I had the problem with a Redring. All it was, was an O-ring in the bit where the flow-knob turns had got diplaced. It needs a bit of a fiddle to take that bit apart, but in my case the O-ring went back where it should have been and all is well since. Beware there is more than one O-ring.

[Tim Watts]

Yes. That is what they are designed for :)

Don't bother turning the CU off (unless for other reasons) - that is what the shower isolator switch is for too. Put a bit of tape ove the rocker if you are worried about someone absent mindedly turning it back on.

[Scott M]

Yes, that's why it's called an isolation valve. Turn it off and forget all about it - you're being a little paranoid about it really, it'll be fine. There's no point turning things off at the CU either, the isolator will do perfectly well. It's actually better than fiddling about with breakers as it'll be double pole and will disconnect both live & neutral whereas the CU breaker is only worried about the live.

Some showers have an over-pressure valve (usually with a vent to the bottom of the case) that can fail and drip. IME they're not available on their own and it's bin time.

[JoeJoe]

Thanks a lot guys - you put my mind at rest.

The house will be left unattended for several weeks and we really didn't fancy coming back to it flooded. Wasn't really worried much about the shower leaking as it is in a cubical. The isolating valve is in the cupboard under the stairs though and I was worried that it may fail after being under pressure for a long period.

[Robin]

If you are of the worrying kind[1] is there any reason you cannot turn off the water to the house at the supplier's stopcock and drain down any loft tank?

If you do so though don't forget to tell anyone coming to check on the house, collect post etc. who might use a loo :)

[1] No comments please about "it takes one to know one" ;)

[Tim Watts]

Well, for a few weeks away, it's a good idea to turn the main stopcock off as well (and maybe power down a few unused electrical circuits at the CU - leaving the fridge circuit(s) and lighting on).

Turn the boiler off too, at least locally on its front panel, as it's summer (no risk of freezing).

This is nothing to do with your shower (which will be fine with local isolation). It's just to cover all bases, if, eg a washing machine hose decides to spring a leak because it's perished or been nibbled my a mouse. All very unlikely of course, but a real bummer if you are not there to notice!

You may find the small print of your insurance requires one or more of these actions anyway (mine does, under certain conditions).

BTW if a "few weeks" means more than 30 days, you should probably ask your insurers about that too. They'll probably be fine, but they may just want to make a note or ask you if there's anyone locally who can check the place out every week or two.

[JoeJoe]

Unfortunately there isn't one (well, there was, but the "quality" plumbers that our builder brought with him when we did the extension decided to bypass it to save them 5 minutes of work and we never got around to refit a new one...).

I can turn everything in the street though. Is that a good idea?

I'll do that.

This is what I am always worried about - the washing machine... ;-)

We do tend to go on longish holidays (3.5 weeks or so - as long as our employers will allow. Bring on retirement...), but always keep them below 30 days.

[Tim Watts]

Yes - or turn off the isolators behind the machines.

Don't go to mental about it - basically, if it's simple and convenient, no harm - if it's all getting a bit hard, wing it - after all hoses hardly ever go pop.

Enjoy :)