Help

[Boris358]

I do not know if this is in the right place, and as I am a newbie .....well here goes. I have a Triton Shower Pumped version of the T80Si, Over the past week I have noticed it giving shocks while in use, needless to say I have isolated it and made it out of bounds. The source of the shocks are from shower hose that connects the out feed to the shower head, and it only shows a signal when the heater is on, if the heater is not used the signal from the hose goes. I have just paid for a Triton engineer to come out and Fault find. He diagnosed the heater so replaced it, he ran the shower and found no issue ! So I thought great, I will have a shower I tested it using just a screw driver circuit tester, it showed no issue. So I got in and Half way through my shower tested the hose, it showed a live signal. So I have now isolated the shower again. Some things to note - Firstly I have had my water supply infeed to the house from the main supply replaced as it was leaking, so the old copper pipe has been replaced with a modern hose and stop cock. Second I have replace a light fitting in the dinning room.

Could these potentially affect the earth and so my shower ?

I am at a loss as to what to do next and need guidance / a visit from an electrician that could sort this issue out.    HELP !!!!

 

[Doc Hudson]

Welcome to the forum (moved to Q&A's), I doubt that whatever you are using to test this apparent voltage with would be an industry recognised voltage tester. You need an electrician with proper test meter(s) to come and do a few basic tests on the installation;

Check the supply earth arrangements and appropriate bonding is in place. 

Size of cable and protective devices.

Operating times of the circuit RCD. 

Continuity and polarity of circuit conductors.

Insulation resistance of the supply cable.

Earth loop impedance at the shower.

Including general check of the condition of each termination, secure, no bare conductors etc..  Assuming all of the above are good then the shower should be electrically safe to use. The above work should take no more than an hour for a competent electrician providing the fuse box, isolator switch etc. are all accessible.

Doc H.

 

[Boris358]

Thanks Doc for the info. Is there any body in the Oldbury district  (B68) that could quote me for the above work.

 

[ProDave]

To me it sounds like there is no water bond AND no earth to the shower.

Did the Triton engineer do any tests  with any form of test meter.

you are right not to use it again until a competent electrician has checked what is going on.

 

 

[Murdoch]

Agree 100% with the above ..... last time I saw this, the unit wasn't earthed......

Get a spark to come and do a Zs at the terminals inside the shower and then look at the water & gas bonding too.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Thanks Doc for the info. Is there any body in the Oldbury district  (B68) that could quote me for the above work.

@Evans Electric is in Brum i believe, he may be able to help you out, or point you towards a decent sparks

B68 is at a guess about half way between Evans (AKA Deke) (Or in earlier days 'Sandra')...

and myself...

I have pm'd you my contact details in case you can't find someone more local.

Guinness :Salute

This could be an earthing issue affecting other parts of the installation as well...

Not just the shower...

It may be that it is only the shower that you have noticed it on .

opcorn  

 

[Boris358]

To me it sounds like there is no water bond AND no earth to the shower.

Did the Triton engineer do any tests  with any form of test meter.

you are right not to use it again until a competent electrician has checked what is going on.

 

Apparently the engineer used a hand held tester that made a audible sound, I do not know as I was not there, the missus said he did run the unit for some time after changing the heater a could not detect a charge. Needless to say I did !!!! 

 

[Rob.]

Likely a non contact tester, and completely unsuitable for the task. 

As above, really needs a qualified electrician to take a look. Shouldn't take too long to diagnose the issue. 

 

[Andy™]

Apparently the engineer used a hand held tester that made a audible sound, I do not know as I was not there, the missus said he did run the unit for some time after changing the heater a could not detect a charge. Needless to say I did !!!! 

from past experience with triton 'engineers', they are useless. and almost guaranteed they are not an engineer

 

[kerching]

from past experience with triton 'engineers', they are useless. and guaranteed they are not an engineer

Just corrected your typo

 

[Andy™]

not going to argue with that

 

[Boris358]

Thanks all for the info..

I had Stuart from SM Services attend, he carried out an extensive safety test of the wiring and supply. He also tested the earth on the supply, he then turned his attention to the shower and the switch unit. He found that ........Ta Da there was insulation over the earth wire going in to the earth wring block so stopping any current going away from the unit via the earth.

He corrected this and found the shower not to be doing it's usual shocking shower routine. I can only thank Stuart for his knowledge and guidance on this matter, so making a potential dangerous situation safe. Many thanks.

 

[Murdoch]

^^^ 10 out of 10 for coming back with feedback - thanks

 

[phil d]

I would have expected more to it that just connecting an earth wire correctly, Personally if I had a voltage sitting on a part that would normally be earthed I would be unhappy if there was a voltage sat there. Ok connecting the earth properly got rid of the shock issue, but was it the correct way? I doubt it, as we all know there are certain things that have high leakage currents, however I'm not aware of a shower being one of them.

 

[Sidewinder]

Electronics & smpsu's can cause leakage voltage by design that must be "sunk".

Many showers thes days have electronics inside them.