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    Louiow's Avatar
    Louiow Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
    		  
    #1

    Jul 17, 2015, 01:23 PM
    Shower leak seems to have stopped
    Hi! This probably sounds absolutely absurd but I seem to have plumbing fairies within my household. I have an electric shower that has been leaking since living in my house for three months. A plumber couldn't find the cause of the leak but it's believed it's caused by a pipe running behind the walls. Anyway, it would leak from the shower through the ceiling below. It would run down walls and all sorts. Anyway, it's suddenly stopped. Now the landlord hasn't arranged for a plumber to actually fix it yet so I'm so confused as to why it's stopped. I'm assuming it wouldn't have fixed itself, so could the water just have found a different track to travel along? If anyone could help, that would be great. Thanks :)
    Oliver2011's Avatar
    Oliver2011 Posts: 2,606, Reputation: 746
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    #2

    Jul 17, 2015, 01:26 PM
    It probably just found a different route. These things generally speaking don't solve themselves. I vote for a new plumber.
    massplumber2008's Avatar
    massplumber2008 Posts: 12,832, Reputation: 1212
    Senior Plumbing Expert
    		  
    #3

    Jul 17, 2015, 03:34 PM
    I agree with Oliver. What type of shower do you have... is it a tile shower or a Fiberglas or acrylic unit? If a tile shower how do the grout joints look? If a Fiberglass unit, does the shower floor deflect or move when you step in the unit?

    Let me know more...

    Mark
    Louiow's Avatar
    Louiow Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
    		  
    #4

    Jul 18, 2015, 01:02 AM
    It's an electric shower mounted on tiles. There are a few tiles below a pipe in the centre that have gone dark in the grouting..
    massplumber2008's Avatar
    massplumber2008 Posts: 12,832, Reputation: 1212
    Senior Plumbing Expert
    		  
    #5

    Jul 18, 2015, 01:38 PM
    Louiow

    The first thing a plumber should do in these cases is to isolate the problem to the electric shower , the wall tile, or the shower drain or shower pan. Here, as an example, the plumber should have run the shower into a BUCKET ONLY for a few bucketfuls and if no leak appeared over time that would suggest that the drain or shower pan (or tiles) are the problem. If however, the leak showed up, then we would know it was the shower valve, for sure. The next step would be to isolate the drain (plug drain using professional drain plug) by pouring say 3- 5 gallon buckets down the drain... see, in this way, the electric shower is eliminated from the equation and if the leak showed up, the drain would definitely be suspect, right? Another test would be to isolate the shower drain and then fill the shower pan to the threshold with water from another source (again, taking the shower valve out of play) and see if the leak showed up... a leaker would suggest the shower pan is the issue.

    Once you guys know what the problem area is (electric shower, wall tile, shower drain or shower pan) you can proceed to locate the leak.

    Does this approach make sense?

    Back to you...

    Mark
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