Triton Melting wireing problem, advice?

[griffta1]

Can anyone help with a problem we are having with our electric shower?

Over the last two years we have replaced three T80Si 9.5Kw (Argos Zante Model) showers, all suffering from the same problem.

The shower unit either makes a loud bang or there is a smell of molten plastic around the unit. Upon investigation we have found that the cause has always been that the internal wiring of the shower has melted, and in some cases fused together causing the bang.

The shower is currently installed using 10mm T&E cable isolated through a 40A pull cord. At the consumer unit the shower is terminated with a 40A RCCD.

Can anyone advise me because I'm debating if I should buy another Triton.

Matt

 

[pdcelec]

what overcurrent protection do you have?

 

[breezer]

dont get the same shower then

 

[griffta1]

what overcurrent protection do you have?

40A MCB and additional 30mA RCCD

dont get the same shower then

Triton say there is no know issue with the shower so i assume that it will be the case with all showers, hence my post. [/quote]

 

[breezer]

must be something wong if you have had the same modle before and it did the same thing.

 

[griffta1]

must be something wong if you have had the same modle before and it did the same thing.

Yeah I think so, annoying thing was that when it did work it was a good shower, so just intrigued about the cause of such a fault, from what I know of electronics it would suggest that the heater is trying to draw more current than what the internal wiring loom can handle, but what would cause it to do this because the manufacturer would have obviously calculated the correct gauge wire...

 

[TeesdaleSpark]

Maybe you have an overvoltage problem. Maybe a loose connection at the consumer unit or isolator. Maybe neutral is at a different potential to earth.

 

[BJS_Spark]

I had exactly the same problem with a triton shower a few years ago. On mine the internal shower wiring and the supply cable at the shower had badly melted insulation. In this case it was poor connections in the chock block where the wires terminate. I had to replace the shower and the wiring and when re-fitting tightened the connections mega tight!
If the connections are the slightest bit poor with that much current flowing through then they will heat up, and the copper in the wire is a good conductor of heat which could cause the insulation to melt. My wiring was fine after that except the shower kept scaling up quite badly!!

 

[plugwash]

bad connections are a possibility but that issue happening on 3 in a row would be most unusual.

have you tried measuring your mains voltage and if so what is it?

 

[griffta1]

Just an update,

Went to Wickes and purchased a Aquatronic 3+ to replace my Triton T80Si and found that the Aquatronic was identical to the T80Si except the external branding. To add to this it was a lot cheeper and came with a two year warranty, where the Triton only came with 1 Year.

shower works fine now, made sure all connections were tight, fingers crossed it should be okay now.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Matt

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I had a Triton do the same thing - in my case the smell of burning led me to investigate before it went pop, and I found broken strands and blackened brittle insulation where one of the wires entered a crimped-on spade connector.

I cut it back and soldered on a new spade. No more probs, but I decided that the term "cheap and nasty" must have been invented to describe the internals. My current Redring seems better put together, but I've heard people complain of poor reliability of those too...

I wonder how many stylists are employed by shower manufacturers to fiddle with the external design of the case compared to the numbers of engineers they have to improve the reliability and quality of the internals...

 

[Adam_151]

I've found the same thing ban, think I might need to have another look at ours, because it does get a little warmer than I think it should in use.

Never actually worked out whether it was where the spades were crimped onto the wires, or where they mated with connections on the switches and elements that lead to failure.

its being meant to be torn out and a new one installed in the other bathroom (currently without a shower) and a pumped tank fed one fitted in the main bathroom, bloody part P stands in my way *snarl*