What could cause this

[dombanks]

This is the shower pull cord from my house. Before I give the back story I would like people's guesses at to what caused this. Ill tell the back info after so not to cloud people's judgement..

[Sparkymart]

A loose connection on the terminal that now gone

[Tom Frankland (T3OMF)]

moisture/water

[Cable]

cable rated at too low an ampage?

[clansman]

All of the above but either loose connection generates heat and makes connection even looser than before generating more heat and so on. or as said cable no man enough for the job.......min size depending on length of run is I think ( not up vto latest regs) 6mm2 but 10mm should cover all options.

[ALLADDIN]

A loose connection on the terminal that now gone

my guess also.

[WestyNottm]

Flies or similar in the fitting

[Wile E. Coyote]

Our sparky wired your house too? 

[Meakin]

Was it only running a shower. Looking at the top part has someone taken a spur for a heater or elctric take off point? That would put serious current through especially if it was on whilst also running the shower.

Paul

[Norman Verona]

If that was running an electric shower then those wires are underrated. More like lighting wire.

[pistonbroke 2]

Norman.

Are the wires that you refer to not the pull cord ?

Reason for the burnt out switch could be a fault with the heater thermostat .

[IanG1]

As above, most likely cause is a loose connection, seen it many times in my day job.

These can be tricky things to connect up if you don't take some care being celing mounted and using thicker cable especially when screwing it back onto its back box.

[Rusty Nuts]

Or according to the Duke of Edinburgh "did the Indians do your wiring"??

[Crash test dummy]

If that was running an electric shower then those wires are underrated. More like lighting wire.

 

The wires that you can see are for the tell-tale neon. No power cables in the shot.

[iain m]

Don't ask me why but somehow these terminal connections on the ring mains become loose, it can also be caused by water and condensation ingress in the roof or cavity walls. My brother in law had problems with his power sockets recently, my meter indicated power on live and neutral, took all the socket covers off and 50% of the screws were loose, problem solved. The wires referred to are the indicator light and the pull cord.