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Electrical

Potential cause of burnt out wiring in Fused switch to water tank heater

Anonymous user 15/03/2024 - 2.45 PM

Hi We bought a new flat a few years ago but there were lots of problems with the electrics. Eventually we managed to get it resolved - new circuits needed to be added along with 2 new consumer units. Basically all the wiring was re-done and re-certified. 4 months after the work finished, we smelt burning plastic in our utility cupboard where our water tank is located. We thought it may be the hob contactor which felt a bit warm. The electrician came back and had a look and couldn't really find anything but moved the door bell contactor away from hob contractor as a precaution. Two weeks later our hot water stopped working. When my husband took a look at the fused switch for the hot water tank heater, the wires had burnt out. Our electrician said he hadn't touched the switch and it must be a faulty. This is odd as this switch had never caused an issue before and had not burnt out. Is it likely to be the switch or the load on the wiring/circuit? Either way should the electrician fix it? Thanks for your help.

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2 Answers

NSM Electrical

Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Strathdon

This could be a faulty element in the immersion or a loose wiring or contact connection in the switch itself. Not an uncommon fault I have seen this before. The likelihood is it is just a conventional breakdown and has coincidentally happened around the time he did some other works, its unlikely to be the result of anything your electrician did. I should point out that the immersion itself should be on a dedicated circuit fed directly from the mains board and that the isolation switch should be of the double pole type not a fused spur, if this is not the case then this should be rectified. Nick.

Answered23 January 2019

Anonymous user

Hi, this is most likely to be either a loose connection or the element in the immersion. The fuse in the switch really should have blown before any wires started burning out but they don't always. If this part of the installation was in place before the electrician did the other work, it's highly unlikely to be anything he's done. It's just an item that's failed and has most likely been on it's way out for a while. In my opinion, best case scenario, it's a new switch for the immersion (the water heater), or, worst case scenario, it's a new immersion heater, but even that isn't a massive job. Just one thing to mention; ideally, the switch for the immersion shouldn't be fused. It should be fed via it's own dedicated circuit and a double pole switch without a fuse. It may be the case that whoever installed it originally has fed it from a sockets circuit (or ring main) and has 'fused it down'. However, if it has been done this way, you should have it rectified. Feel free to ask any further questions. Regards, Mark - Home Electrician Services.

Answered23 January 2019