Pull cord on shower won't stay on any more

biko · 07-12-2009 4:16pm #1

I have an electric shower and a pull cord hanging from the ceiling. The cord allows power to the shower and the extraction fan overhead so we turn shower off after every use.

Yesterday evening it stopped working when herself went to shower. It refuses to jump to the ON position. I had used shower earlier but turned it off as usual afterwards.

Main fuse board is fine, no fuses gone. I turned mains off and on again but no joy.

Is there a fuse in the switch itself? It's looks like one of these yokes.

Bull76 · 07-12-2009 5:34pm

Magnus wrote: »

I have an electric shower and a pull cord hanging from the ceiling. The cord allows power to the shower and the extraction fan overhead so we turn shower off after every use.

Yesterday evening it stopped working when herself went to shower. It refuses to jump to the ON position. I had used shower earlier but turned it off as usual afterwards.

Main fuse board is fine, no fuses gone. I turned mains off and on again but no joy.

Is there a fuse in the switch itself? It's looks like one of these yokes.

Hi,

Sounds like the switch is faulty. It has to switch alot of current and as a mechanical switch has a limited number of cycles before it will fail.
Firstly you or an Electrican preferable will have to isolate the power and remove the switch. Check for loose connections and arc mark's. But before that check for voltage at the switch... If voltage present and all connections were tight then it should be okay to isolate the power and remove the faulty switch and replace it with a similar rated switch. Should check for continunity on the old switch and then the new one to make sure all is okay.
Great care should be taken here as it is a large current source and if your not experienced with electricity you are in harm. Ensure power is off before you attempt to go at the switch.

biko · 07-12-2009 8:55pm

Sound thanks, will let an electrician look at it. Hopefully won't cost too much to sort it.

Rev. BlueJeans · 07-12-2009 9:05pm

It's a simple job tbh. Shouldn't be too much at all.

jimmyw · 07-12-2009 9:05pm

I have changed these about 3 or 4 times as they dont seem to be that durable. I dont have the fan wired through it though, I have that wired to a separate switch outside the bathroom. Might it be too overloaded. I know its designed to take heavy current but might the fan be causing some trouble. The one that I have now has a problem where after taking a shower and I turn it off the light does not go off and have to play around with it to get it off. It sometimes works if I pull the cord up close near the switch itself.

aujopimur · 07-12-2009 10:43pm

Use a Crabtree pullcord switch as these are much more durable

eoghan.geraghty · 08-12-2009 1:02am

I second aujopimur's advice.
Other shower pullcord switches just don't seem to last.
On a side note, the fan won't be overloading the switch but there should be a fuse between the shower switch and the fan.
Your electrician should advise you on this.

Stoner · 08-12-2009 12:19pm

we dont use them at all now if possible, we try to get a switch position under 2M away and fit a 45Amp cooker switch outside the bathroom far better job, no tugging at the switch nearly pulling it off the ceiling and moving the cable a little bit every time its used.

jackreacher · 10-12-2009 6:34am

op just wondering if you can give me an idea what it cost to put right or quotes you have gotten, exact same problem in my house at present. cheers

itsallaboutme!! · 10-12-2009 8:11am

i had my shower pull cord replaced a couple of months ago and if i remember correctly the switch itself only cost about 10-15e. my mate is an electrician so i didnt have to pay labour though so not sure on that.

Joey the lips · 10-12-2009 8:31am

Oh the joys the exact same thing has happened to me but instead of being stuck off its stuck on. There is no fan connected so I have not bothered getting it fixed. think i will

biko · 10-12-2009 11:35am

Yep, has a sparky in today. The spring inside the box the cord is hanging from was fecked.
He changed it and now it works \o/
He did it free (management company pays), job took about 10 mins.

The Mulk · 10-12-2009 11:41am

Hi, I'm an electrician and ex instructor. These switches are in position to enable the shower to be turned off only when the shower is to be serviced or replaced by a plumber. They are not to be turned on and off after every use.The shower has it's own on/off switch.
Do you go around un-plugging all your appliances in the house after you use them?

danjo · 10-12-2009 1:03pm

The Mulk wrote: »

Hi, I'm an electrician and ex instructor. These switches are in position to enable the shower to be turned off only when the shower is to be serviced or replaced by a plumber. They are not to be turned on and off after every use.The shower has it's own on/off switch.
Do you go around un-plugging all your appliances in the house after you use them?

With all due respects to you, this is wrong advice. :eek:

The pull cord switches are designed, installed and used for switching the power to the shower at each use.
This is why they are very accessible in the bathroom and often control bathroom fans.
Whether you unplug appliances after use depends on the type.

The Mulk · 10-12-2009 3:20pm

I'm sorry, but how is this wrong. I'm not saying the the installation of the pull cord or the position of the pull cord are wrong but the 'habit' of switching them off after every use is unneccessary.
The fact a fan is connected to a pull cord will mean the fan and cable from the fan generally a 1.5 are fused at 40 amps?
This to me would be highly un-safe

danjo · 10-12-2009 4:57pm

The Mulk wrote: »

The fact a fan is connected to a pull cord will mean the fan and cable from the fan generally a 1.5 are fused at 40 amps?
This to me would be highly un-safe

When a fan is installed on a pull-cord switch it will have a separate fuse to protect it.

The Mulk · 10-12-2009 5:17pm

danjo wrote: »

When a fan is installed on a pull-cord switch it will have a separate fuse to protect it.

Where would this fuse be, the OP stated the 45 Amp Rated pull cord switch switched both the shower and the fan.

blog_blog_blog · 10-12-2009 5:38pm

I dont switch the power shower pull cord. As stated it is an isolation device. I,m sure the mA in standby is next to nothing. The LED in the box

Do you switch off your washing machine? Microwave ?
Why swing from a cord to switch a HD switch! Attached to damp plasterboard. Recipe for disaster.

danjo-xx · 10-12-2009 10:22pm

The Mulk wrote: »

I'm sorry, but how is this wrong. I'm not saying the the installation of the pull cord or the position of the pull cord are wrong but the 'habit' of switching them off after every use is unneccessary.
The fact a fan is connected to a pull cord will mean the fan and cable from the fan generally a 1.5 are fused at 40 amps?
This to me would be highly un-safe

nah nah nah, the pull cord IS there for regular use to isolate the supply completely when shower is not in use.

The Mulk · 11-12-2009 9:26am

danjo-xx wrote: »

nah nah nah, the pull cord IS there for regular use to isolate the supply completely when shower is not in use.

No, no an isolation device, used to isolate the supply for replacement or repair of appliance.This is the main reason it's placed in an obvious and accesible place.
People can switch it off after every use if they like but this just results in the switches needing to be changed as stated by some users on here.
I'm still concerned by the practice of connecting the fan to the shower pull cord:eek:

Stoner · 11-12-2009 12:26pm

blog_blog_blog wrote: »

Why swing from a cord to switch a HD switch! Attached to damp plasterboard. Recipe for disaster.

Well I'd only mount the switch outside the bathroom and under 2M away from the shower if that is possible, otherwise I'd use a pullcord.

I agree that the pullcords are isolation units, similar to the 3 pole isolators required for bathroom fans, i.e. an obvious safe isolation point to allow safe work to take place IMHO that is.

itsallaboutme!! · 11-12-2009 5:09pm

before i had my switch replaced i used to switch ot off after using the shower every day so between myself and the OH the cord was being yanked on 4-8 times a day for just over 2 years since we moved in and had it installed. when my mate replaced the switch he told me that as it was not attached to a fan there was no need to switch it off after each use as the constant pulling will wear it out quicker. now we only switch it off when we are going away. so hopefully it will last longer than the last one.

danjo-xx · 12-12-2009 9:31pm

danjo wrote: »

When a fan is installed on a pull-cord switch it will have a separate fuse to protect it.

sorry guys, I don't know where I dragged that one up from.

13-12-2009 6:18pm

These switches are in position to enable the shower to be turned off only when the shower is to be serviced

+1

I would only use this switch for maintainance purposes myself. I can see no reason to use the isolation switch before and after each time the shower is used.

A relation of mine that is an experienced electrical engineer spends much of his life turning isolation switches on and off. This means that he is always setting the time on the cooker! A waste of time IMHO

If you are one of these people then I would suggest that you never operate the switch when the shower (or cooker) is switched on because the switch will burn out far quicker if it is used to break a large current.

danjo-xx · 15-12-2009 10:23pm

I can see no reason to use the isolation switch before and after each time the shower is used.

NOT using the pull cord switch means that live current is still in the shower unit when not in use and that ain't a good idea in anyone's books. :P

davelerave · 15-12-2009 11:42pm

preferable to isolate or switch off most domestic appliances - when not in use.
local isolation is needed for maintenance of course-anyone that ever worked in a large building trying to locate a circuit breaker would testify to that

jackreacher · 16-12-2009 5:24am

would this be strictly a job for electrician to fix or would be able to replace it myself turning off power etc

Davy · 16-12-2009 8:55pm

jackreacher wrote: »

would this be strictly a job for electrician to fix or would be able to replace it myself turning off power etc

It is an easy/quick job to do, but you would want to know what your at. A multi meter and a screwdriver is all that you would need

16-12-2009 9:29pm

Danjo:

NOT using the pull cord switch means that live current is still in the shower unit when not in use and that ain't a good idea in anyone's books.

First there would be no "live current" at all. With the shower not in use the circuit is incomplete so no current can flow. Yes there will be live terminals within the shower unit, but so what? They are live when you take a shower anyway.

Secondly, what is your concern?

If you are going to take that approach then you should unplug every electrical appliance in the house when it is not in use and switch off every isolator. This will be a pain in the ass with you digibox, clock on appliances etc.

Also you will have to turn off the isolator for your boiler making the timer pretty usless.

danjo-xx · 16-12-2009 10:04pm

2011 said:

If you are going to take that approach then you should unplug every electrical appliance in the house when it is not in use and switch off every isolator. This will be a pain in the ass with you digibox, clock on appliances etc.

steady on there now.........the 'Bathroom' is the most dangerous room to be in, safety wise, with all the vapour/damp, hence the regular use of the isolating switch and btw I have never ever had to replace one yet through wear n tear. Must be the cheap imports that are sometimes used now.

16-12-2009 10:27pm

steady on there now.........the 'Bathroom' is the most dangerous room to be in, safety wise, with all the vapour/damp, hence the regular use of the isolating switch

The bathroom will be just as damp with the switch off.

What exactly is your concern?

Surely it is necessary if you follow the same logic to turn off your boiler too? It is full of water and contains either oil or an explosive gas!! Then there is the washing machine, a mix of water and electricity.

Pull cord on shower won't stay on any more

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