Electric shower Q

[Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot]

Is it ok to leave an instant electric shower switched on at the unit itself and use the isolator to turn it on and off? Will it do any harm, I mean?

Si

[James Salisbury]

Some do have a built in cool down cycle, so will scale up if you just turn the mains off..

[John]

What is your thinking behind the question? Is there a problem with the switch?

I have often thought that using the isolator other than for servicing should be unnecessary - also they are so clunky that you are liable to pull down the ceiling if they are cord operated.

[John]

Not only scale up - the residual heat - if not "washed away" will eventually damage the electrics. (IMHO).

The ideal shut down on an electric shower must be to turn off the heat - and run water through until cold.

[Andy Wade]

On Triton showers - the only make I can talk about with any knowledge [1] - the on/off switch controls the solenoid water valve and the elements are switched using microswitches operated by water pressure (sensed at the inlet to the heating chamber). In this design therefore there is no heat purging cycle and using the supply isolator for control will do no harm at all [2].

Any unit which does do a heat purge will obviously have a noticeable delay between switching off and the cessation of water flow - so it will be easy to tell.

[1] And these comments might apply to certain of their models only. [2] Provided that the isolator is suitable for on-load switching - which will be the case for any type normally used in a domestic installation (Table 53.2 in the 17th edition refers).

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "John" saying something like:

If it's been installed by a cowboy.

[Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot]

I eventually got round to replacing our elderly over-the-bath Triton with a new one bought ages ago from Argos because it was cheap. At the time I didn't notice the lack of a power button at the bottom of the unit that our old one had. My 5' 0" missus, when using the shower to just wash her hair, can't now reach the on/off switch because it's right at the top of the new unit and has to get into the bath to turn it on! I came up with leaving the shower switched on but turning it off with the pull-cord dp isolator (it is clunky though, yes) so she can just turn that on and the shower will start.

The shower's nothing posh and when it's turned off in the normal fashion it just switches off...

Si