date of death: 16 Aug 2011

Over the winter, the shower's power light would occasionally flicker on, the heater would kick in and the sound of bubbles collapsing next to the element could be heard. This caused some alarm and surprise as the only pleasant explanation (a cold-weather anti-freezing function) seemed unlikely for a cheap-looking old shower like this. It started it again a couple of days ago, keeping the heat on for a couple of seconds after the shower had been turned off and the water had ceased to flow. It simultaneously stopped being in any mode other than full-power (even when the selector dial was set to 'cold') and then started fizzing and emitting the smell of burning plastic. Upon inspection there was some carbonisation behind one of the relays, which may or may not be related to the slight leak from the cylinder, a driplet of which is just visible on the cylinder-retaining bracket. The drip goes on to land on the temperature adjustment switch but I'll trace the wiring through when the device has been removed and see how the drip relates to the scorchmarks (caused by the visible 30A arcs when power was momentarily re-connected after all the contacts had been dried out). In case the isolation switch on the ceiling fails the fuse has also been remove from the consumer unit and the relevant mains water spur stopped at the appropriate cock. The likelihood of finding a replacement with sufficiently similar water and power entry-points and of suffciently similar dimensions (to reduce the amount of re-tiling required) is currently being assessed.