Shower light on and Switch light on when shower pull cord is off

sparky1966 · Jun 24, 2011

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if someone could help me please. I have recently looked at a shower unit in a house and when you pulled the on/off cord to the on position everything was fine but when you pulled it to the off position the light on the pull cord switch stayed on slightly and the light on the shower flicked very lightly. The switch on/off indicator did show off though.

Does this mean there is a loose wire somewhere or could there be any other problem? I did look under the cover of the switch and there were all the correct wires there. I have not been able to do further investigations.

I hope someone can help.

nickblake · Jun 24, 2011

There are a few reasons for this a faulty switch were the contacts on the switch are stuck on , switched bridged out on one of the conductors ,or an incorrect polarity where the Live and neutral are reversed , this circuit should be checked out by a regestered quallified spark as soon as possible

peanutty · Oct 9, 2011

pullcord isn't rated at 40Amp with shower rated higher is it. had this myself before and swapped switch for correct rating, tested circuit and everything was fine from then on. guess insides of pullcord had started burning out. obviously make sure cable size + mcb etc are all correct as well

peanutty · Oct 9, 2011

also check that some numpty hasn't covered the cables leaving the pullcord housing with insulation, asthey may have started burning out together and be bypassing the isolator.

Paul.M · Oct 9, 2011

As above it sounds like a faulty switch. Do a continuity test from the supply side to the load side of the switch and turn on and off.

Brendan976 · Jan 26, 2013

Is it an MK pull switch by anychance? if so I have found they are not as reliable as they used to be, its difficult to terminate inside them. the supply cable puts pressure on the terminal which over time makes the rocker pull switch inside wear unevenly causing the problems you are getting before eventuall failure of the switch.

Get a crabtree pull swittch as termination without strain is simple due to a different design.

HTH

Ben