Shower Shock!

[jmc205]

Bit of an odd one... Does anyone have any experience of their shower giving them an electric shock?!

My rented house has a shower unit above the bath, and over the past few days the on/off button has been sticking. Yesterday when I pressed the button I’m fairly sure I got some sort of electric shock - not a “thrown across the room” shock, but a heavy tingling up my arm. My housemate felt the same thing this morning, so we got an electrician to look at it today, and water has been getting into the unit on the wall. Should that happen?! (I sort of assumed the units would be water tight..)
The unit is going to be replaced but does anyone know how we stop this from happening again? It seems like it’s only a matter of time before water will get in again.. Any advice would be appreciated!

Yes, I had this happen with a very old electric shower when we moved into a house once. It's really dangerous, do not use it until it's been fixed. There should be some sort of breaker to prevent it from even happening but often isn't in old houses.

The landlord needs to sort it ASAP (don't be surprised if this consists of just removing it & leaving you without a shower!)

Maybe the seal perished. Was is quite old? If it's fitted correctly I don't see why that would happen if not old though. What make was it?

It feels strange to say I’m glad I’m not the only person to have had this happen, but hopefully you know what I mean!

The shower is a “bristan”, and it seems fairly new, maybe 2-3 years at most. There was a healthy amount of mastik/sealant stuff around the join in the unit’s casing so I’m wondering if the water has been getting in through the power button itself..

Guess it’s a good thing we enjoy baths!

Even if the shower is faulty, the electrical installation in the house should protect you from shocks. So is probably not up to standard.

The standards for wiring in bathrooms are especially high, because you are very likely to have bare wet skin touching metal objects, putting the risk of shock much higher than in any other room.

An electric shower should not need sealant on it. This suggests an attempt to cover up a known fault.

Notify your landlord and agent in writing preferably recorded delivery.

Agents hate having written notification of dangerous houses, because it removes their ability to tell the inquest they "didn't know."

see "electric showers" www.niceic.com/medialib/www.niceic.com/PDF/15868-FactSheet-Bathroom-A4-4pp-web.pdf

The requirement for RCDs on new circuits was introduced in 2008, so an older house might not have one, unless an electric shower was added later.

However, supplementary bonding in bathrooms, which is intended to make a shock "impossible" by touching two metal objects of different potential at the same time, was introduced around 50 years ago.

Thanks @PigletJohn - that’s really helpful! Do you know if it’s the same for power showers? I think that might be what we’ve got - the pump/fan thing seems to have been spitting out soot as well, so maybe the motor inside is just knackered?

I think I’m going to have to learn a lot more about showers..

it applies to anything that's electric.

An electric shower will have its own circuit so unless it is rather old it is more likely to have an RCD.

Some power showers have the pump in the unit, others have it under the bath or in the loft or airing cupboard, with automatic flow switches so may not need wiring in the bathroom.

Electric motors may create black dust as they age, it should be so fine that you won't notice it unless you only clean your bathroom once a year. Noticeable black flecks, smoke or sparks would suggest a fault of some kind.

If you suspect a shower of having an electrical fault, the risks are relatively high so I'd say you should turn off the isolator (usually an usually big pull-cord ceiling switch) and not use it until fixed Qualified electricians can be found on the website of the scheme they're registered in, for example www.niceic.com/householder/find-a-contractor and not websites with names that are similar but slightly different.

The rcd requirement has been in most manufacturers data for showers far proceeding 2008 and since Piglet is a walking NICEIC advert (how much is Emma paying you?) www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk is the official site listing all registered electricians no matter which "brand" they are registered through. Personally I'd recommend a NAPIT contractor.

Piglet is a walking NICEIC advert (how much is Emma paying you?) What's all this about?

Constructive, helpful and detailed advice from Pigletjohn as always.

Is there an ulterior motive though

Yes I suspect Pigletjohn is posting from Barbados paid for by backhanders given for all the free advice he has given over the years to MNers

Or maybe not!

Who's Emma?

I’ve been offering advice on the property boards for some time now (as a property professional) and Piglet has always given fair, quick, reasonable and sensible advice - almost always before I can respond!

Never met Piglet but 100% they have never asked for, requested or pushed work to a single party as far as I have seen. As for advertising (if you call it that) suggesting a check on a tradesperson is hardly cause for a backhander type comment

To OP, straight forward answer is no it shouldn’t happen, yes it’s dangerous and it needs a sparky to check it out before its used again

Give it a rest the NICEIC are a brand and not representative of all registered electricians pushing their site to "check a contractor" isn't helpful it confuses people and furthers the misconception that people HAVE to be NICEIC. Registered competant person shows everyone no matter which brand they are registered through. Everyone must meet a minimum assessment standard. I'm sorry people decided to take a tongue in cheek comment so personally.

To be fair @Ohmno your post came across as a huge dig rather than tongue in cheek.

And who is Emma?