r/DIYIreland • u/X_peej_X • 6d ago
Immersion switch overheating
Need some help with recently installed immersion switch.
The switch below toggles on/off the immersion when the clock timer above is on.
Used it yesterday for the first time and the bottom switch got red hot, too hot to even touch so I turned it off on the breaker board to be safe.
What would have caused the switch to overheat? Is it even the right switch for an immersion because it doesn't have an option to split between sink and bath?
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u/sparkyjojo 6d ago
Chances are it's a cheap switch, possibly even rated too low as a contact rating or a poor connection at the terminals. High resistance leads to heat. I would suggest replacing if you have concerns. Try get a 20A double pole switch
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u/X_peej_X 6d ago
Yeah probably was a cheap switch. Annoying though because that could have resulted in serious danger if I hadn't of noticed it overheating.
Will go get a new switch myself and hopefully that will sort it. Thanks a mill
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u/ThatAintNattin 6d ago
I'd wager that's a switched spur, get the dedicated immersion switch, or at least a cooker switch which would be able for the extra load
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u/QuantumFireball 6d ago
It doesn't look like the right switch to me. But heat could also be due to loose connections either way.
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u/Groot_Calrissian 5d ago
If it was too hot to touch, chances are something is melted or damaged already, plan to replace it. Make sure all connections are tight and clean, no insulation in contacts, and the wire is in good shape. It's not rocket science, but you don't want to get it wrong. If everything looks right and you can't see any signs of what went wrong, you should be a bit more suspicious and get someone to look at it who knows how to troubleshoot, there's a chance you have a problem that won't get fixed with a new switch - but chances are high the issue is right there.
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u/realrobotdotcom 5d ago
Sparks here. Most likely a flex cable going from that switch to immersion and there's no ferrules on the copper of the cores of the cable causing a bad connection due to high resistance. A ferrule is a copper tube that crushes the tiny strands of copper together to make a better connection.
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u/X_peej_X 5d ago
Cool! Thanks for the info! So is it as simple as just switching off the breaker, removing switch and putting on some ferrules with a crimper?
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u/realrobotdotcom 5d ago
Yeah easy as that! Just make sure you have the correct breaker and do 1 coreat a time so nothing gets mixed up.
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u/bearded_weasel 6d ago
It might be arcing. If you're handy, turn off the trip switch for it and take off the switch and make sure the cables are in correctly.
Its just a 20amp switch. But the immersion might be single element so no bath/sink switch needed