Weird geyser issue

Claymore

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Maybe someone here has an idea what's going on...

My son has a 50 litre geyser in his flatlet. The flatlet has its own DB, and I have a Wi-Fi smart switch on the geyser in the DB.

Last week I saw water coming from the outside pipe for the pressure relief valve. I got our local handyman out to take a look. He replaced pressure relief valve, and said the element was not working, and was also leaking slightly, so replaced that along with the gasket. No hot water.

I bypassed the smart switch (I've had one or two fail, though it's usually obvious when they fail). I could see the geyser stopped pulling power about 4 days before. Still nothing. Handyman pulled the isolator switch; it was damaged, the switch was not working. He replaced it.

The handyman, his plumber , and two different electricians have been around multiple times. They have taken the element to the supplier (twice) and had it tested. Today they ran a wire direct from element to the DB in case the wire was faulty. Still nothing. The smart switch just shows no current being pulled, though they can test and see current at the geyser.

Any ideas? What else could it be?

Maybe the actual breaker in the DB (though I can't see how that would allow current but not enough to power the element or to trip anything). Handyman is at his wits end, and is thinking about just replacing the entire geyser.
 
Breaker, yeah, definitely worth swapping that out first since it's cheap and easy.

We had a similar issue on a rental where heating just stopped. Kept replacing parts to no avail, and it turned out to be bad wiring collapsing under load. The previous tenant had an under-the-table electrician that wired it to the 10A light breaker🤦‍♂️

Two quick things I'd check:

High resistance/bad neutral: They might be seeing voltage on a meter, but as soon as the element tries to draw power, the connection collapses (which is why the smart switch reads zero current).

Thermostat safety button: If the element was turned on before the tank was full, the thermal cut-out tripped immediately.
 
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The smart switch just shows no current being pulled, though they can test and see current at the geyser.

Any ideas? What else could it be?

Thermostat? Was it replaced with the element? Was it bypassed for this test?

Otherwise that would be the obvious culprit.

And the obvious test for the DB / breaker is to hook the output side of the isolator to something other than the geyser. Like just a light bulb.
 
The other day I replace a thermostat, I week later it was faulty. I replace it, and open the faulty one, found it was badly build.
 
I will try testing between db and geyser, test live and neutral from db towards geyser. I have notice ,it the volts at the geyser is eg 232VAC, and you connect the geyser, the volts drop to 225VAC, then you know it is eating power. Test the thermo also electrically if switch is working.
If you do not have a meter, test with a globe and a piece of wire.
 
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