As it says really the shower has broken. We’ve got power going to the draw cord switch on the wall in the bathroom so I presume it’s a fault with the unit itself as nothing else has changed/been fiddled with.

It’s a Mira and any help would be much appreciated.

Anything at all?

Light coming on?

Any sound?

Nothing at all on the unit in the shower John just the red power light on the cord switch.

if you have a draw cord switch I’m guessing it’s electric? If so get an electrician in, unless you know what you’re doing don’t mess with the mix of water and electricity.

Does water still come out, but doesn’t heat up or is there no flow either?

We had a mira quite a while ago and there was a seperate transformer remotely located to power the shower pump.

Could be from the pull switch to the shower….not uncommon (loose connections etc)
otherwise turn off the circuit (at the board) and open up the shower and see if anything obvious has happened (burnt terminals etc) otherwise its time for a new shower unit.

Is there a light on the shower that no longer comes on?

Are you on a modern fusebox? Does it have its own fuse?

There’s no flow at all Pinkster, just completely dead aprt from the wall switch which lights up a small red light when pulled on.
Hammerite, I know what you’re saying but getting a professional in is a financial no-no at the moment. I’ll obviously work on it in daylight with the breakers isolated for the whole house to be extra safe.

Is it built in (ie just the taps showing) or a wall-mounted unit?

kill breaker

there will be 3 or 4 screws top and bottom

whip the cover off , anything your going to see youll see by doing that.

mines was tripping occasionally. opened it to find

thats the wire from the toggle switch to the shower , the live is charred and burnt. Caused by a 10.5kw shower fed via 2.5mm cable because he(previous owner in an untangling web of bodges) couldnt get 6mm behind the tiles it would seem , i have had to run conduit down the outside into the shower to run a 6mm as a temp fix.

*obviously only attempt if you know not to stab your self with the pointy end of the screw driver and the shower off.

John, it’s a wall mounted unit.

Trail Rat, I’m hoping that when I get back home this weekend I can whip the cover off and the cause will be obvious as in your case.

* I haven’t stabbed myself with a screwdriver in the last year but in the last week have burnt myslef on the log burner, cut my hand on a saw and skinned my knuckles on a wall whilst pushing a wheel barrow so I think I’m fully qualified.

So does the unit have a light on it?

If you get up close is there *any* noise at all? Does water come out at mains pressure? And signs of a leak?

You will need a multimeter to test for voltage present at the shower terminals….got one?….know how to use it??

The unit does have a light on it that illuminates normally but doesn’t work now.

No noise that I can recall (work away during the week and cursory inspection last Sunday). No water at all and no sign of a leak.

I’d start here:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzJjzWqxesc[/video]

The unit does have a light on it that illuminates normally but doesn’t work now.

Then either a fuse has gone (if it is on its own circuit – otherwise other stuff in your house wouldn’t be working) or it isn’t getting power from the the pullcord – so you need to check the rest of the wiring inside the pullcord and onward to the unit. Sounds a pretty simple job to identify the problem.

I got by for years with a knacked power shower – a nylon valve had cracked but wasn’t available to buy so I just fashioned fixes out of bits of plastic, cable ties and araldyte. Every time it went again I just fixed it again.

John, thanks for sticking with this. I reckon you’re right in that as the pull cord has power it should be relatively simple to do a wire run for any obvious problems.

That’s my weekend planned then.

“Then either a fuse has gone (if it is on its own circuit – otherwise other stuff in your house wouldn’t be working) or it isn’t getting power from the the pullcord – so you need to check the rest of the wiring inside the pullcord and onward to the unit. Sounds a pretty simple job to identify the problem.”

but he has power to the switch – it illuminates , the one on the shower does not – which points at either the wire feed to the shower or the shower its self.

also shower “should” be on its own breaker.

Sorry true – not thinking. It can’t be a fuse on the main circuit.

Me bad.

I think 5thElefant could be onto it.

Last year my Triton Jade electric shower had what sounds like a similar problem…power on isolator switch but no water. Googled ‘Triton Jade problems’ and all sorts of forums ping up…just look for a thread that sounds like your problem. Found mine quite easily….ended up buying a solenoid valve for about £7 off fleabay and fitted it myself, and I’m no sparky I can tell you!
Solenoid effects the flow of water…it was a bit of a faff but I fixed it for less than a tenner and it’s been fine since then. I would suggest during the forum search though regardless.

You’re right Trail Rat the shower is on its own breaker but, once I have the cover off, I reckon I’ll still be carrying out an initial tentative poke with an electrician’s/insulated screwdriver – don’t fancy waking up half way across the bathroom.

Just got back to the computer, many thanks for all the advice, I’ll get stuck in at the weekend.

Last week I fixed my sisters Mira Sport. It had similar symptoms, ie lights on, no water coming out.

Turned out to be the flow valve assembly. Because the unit was old we had to replace the switch assembly as well. Just give these guys a call and they’ll tell you exactly what you need.
http://www.showerdoc.com

They are very easy to assemble/disassemble as long as you can isolate the water and power. You just need a screwdriver to get the front off and a small torx for the innards. Took about an hour to swap the bits round.

Take a photo before you start pulling it apart so you oniw what goes where!

I had a similar problem with a Mira Play – turned out to be nothing more than a poor design!

Basically the large push switch to turn it on was sticking on the main plastic body of the unit. Try pulling the body away from the unit when turning it on – you may be surprised!!

Google revealed this to be a very common fault btw. Hope it works for you.

Does the unit have an on button or is it turned on by the pull cord – ie as soon as you pull the chord the water flows? If this is the case the arcing will trash the contacts on the switch quicker than if it has a button on the unit.

Things I would look at – with the power off at the distribution board:

Pull chord switch – make sure it is rated for the power of the fuse/breaker and check it out inside.

Wiring to the unit.

Electronics board in the shower unit for any charring.

The Solenoid valve as shown in the video – really common to fail after a while. They open the valve that allows water to flow.