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One for the electrical experts on here...
About 2 years ago, as part of a kitchen renovation, we had electric underfloor heating put in to the enlarged kitchen space. The feed for it is direct from the consumer unit, in which there is a dedicated 16A circuit breaker. The feed runs to a switch, and from there up to the thermostat and control unit. Originally the switch was a fused spur with a 13A fuse.
After about 6 months, the switch failed in that it would connect intermittently and you couldn't physically turn it off, it seemed to be mechanically broken. I assumed it was just faulty and replaced it with a new one, although a plain white plastic one this time. That lasted a few weeks until it was broken by the dog bed whacking it, so replaced again, with a low profile metal one.
About a year later, it started doing it again - noticed that the controller was clicking on and off, and found that the switch was again mechanically buggered. Thought then was that a standard fused switch spur was not up to it, so this time it was replaced with a 20A rated switch.
Less than a month later, the new switch is now doing exactly the same, if it's on, the controller just clicks on and off constantly, and the switch itself, whilst it will turn off, won't stay off. Rather than clicking into the off position, it just returns to the on position, very similar to the other switches.
So what's going on? The switch is always on, we never operate it, so there's no reconnecting that might cause internal sparking, etc. It's rated at 20A, which it shouldn't ever get near as the circuit breaker would have popped before that point (it never has, and neither did the old 13A fuses). I am assuming that the current flow through the switch is somehow heating it up and damaging it, but how could it be?
What then to do - just buy another 20A switch and hope for the best?
About 2 years ago, as part of a kitchen renovation, we had electric underfloor heating put in to the enlarged kitchen space. The feed for it is direct from the consumer unit, in which there is a dedicated 16A circuit breaker. The feed runs to a switch, and from there up to the thermostat and control unit. Originally the switch was a fused spur with a 13A fuse.
After about 6 months, the switch failed in that it would connect intermittently and you couldn't physically turn it off, it seemed to be mechanically broken. I assumed it was just faulty and replaced it with a new one, although a plain white plastic one this time. That lasted a few weeks until it was broken by the dog bed whacking it, so replaced again, with a low profile metal one.
About a year later, it started doing it again - noticed that the controller was clicking on and off, and found that the switch was again mechanically buggered. Thought then was that a standard fused switch spur was not up to it, so this time it was replaced with a 20A rated switch.
Less than a month later, the new switch is now doing exactly the same, if it's on, the controller just clicks on and off constantly, and the switch itself, whilst it will turn off, won't stay off. Rather than clicking into the off position, it just returns to the on position, very similar to the other switches.
So what's going on? The switch is always on, we never operate it, so there's no reconnecting that might cause internal sparking, etc. It's rated at 20A, which it shouldn't ever get near as the circuit breaker would have popped before that point (it never has, and neither did the old 13A fuses). I am assuming that the current flow through the switch is somehow heating it up and damaging it, but how could it be?
What then to do - just buy another 20A switch and hope for the best?
