wrote in message
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On Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 10:33:19 AM UTC-5, Steven Watkins wrote:
Why do houses have a switch to turn the shower off, either a cord on the
ceiling or a switch in the hall?

Can you please describe the situation more fully. Does this switch turn
off
the water, or does it turn off electricity (such as for a light in the
shower compartment)?

It turns off the electrical heating of the water in the shower.

Some not in england go even further
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNjA0aee07k