Gainsborough shower, no hot water.

[W4SIM]

Hello all

Iv been looking around the forums and im very impressed with the information on here. Unluckily though, i cant find the trinckle of information that i need.

I have a Gainsborough 9.5E shower installed in my new home. When looking around i tried the shower and it worked preferctly fine, with hot water and all. Now that iv moved in the water comes out but no hot water, regardless of where the temprature knob is.

Im new to this kind of stuff and money is abit tight. But for now i want to figure out the reason why theres no hot water, or which part is usually the culprit.

If some one can point me in the right direction that would be excellent.

If it turns out to be something big then the plumber/electrician will be out, but for now i want to know if its something small.

Any help would be much be appreciated.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Lets do the obvious first -

Did you check that the isolator switch is turned on and that the fuse/contact breaker has not tripped?

 

[ColJack]

look for a pullcord on the ceiling, or a switch in an airing cupboard nearby..

then check the fuseboard..

do any lights come on on the front of the shower ( do they still fit those? )

 

[securespark]

See my thread on Gainsborough 8.5E shower - buy one dirt cheap if yours needs replacing!

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=116066

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Electric showers don't turn on if there's no electricity supply, on account of the water supply valve being solenoid operated.

If there is water coming out then the external electrics are fine, and the fault is within the shower, e.g. heater can failure, over-temperature thermostat failure, cable faults..

W4SIM - in your shoes I'd remove the cover from the shower and look for obvious electrical failures (e.g. burnt cables), and then test for voltage at obvious places inside, but if you aren't confident of your ability to do that safely, or if you don't own a multimeter, then you'll have to get someone in.

Replacing the shower would probably cost little more, but I'm hesitating to recommend that just in case any overheating damage has affected the supply cable, but if you are sure that you'd spot that, then maybe a complete replacement is your easiest solution.

 

[W4SIM]

Thank you for the replies so far people, very much appreciated.

Ok, starting with the obvious, iv checked the fuse box and the trip switch is fine. If i push the switch to the DOWN position thn the shower doesnt come on at all, so thats sorted.

The pull cord. That has a red light next to it which is lit. If i pull the cord the light goes off and again the shower wont come on at all. On this particular shower there are no lights on it at all.

So, with the switch in the fuse box in the UP position and the cord pulled so the red light is on, water is coming out of the shower. So we know that electricity is getting to it to power it up.

However, the problem still remains the same, despite power getting to it the shower still wont heat the water up.

ban-all-sheds - My next step was going to be to remove the cover and see if there is anything obvious that i can see dislodged inside, maybe a wire or something.

Question now is, how the hell do i take the cover off? (Now you can see my experience with showers )

Securespark - thanks for the link to that thread, im just going to have a look at it now.

 

[GaryMo]

Question now is, how the hell do i take the cover off? (Now you can see my experience with showers )

Look for screws top and bottom.

 

[W4SIM]

Look for screws top and bottom.

Thats what some one else said aswell, but i cant see no screws.

I took off the temprature dial, but no screws behind that either, although i could see something that looks like small "clip-tabs", but both facing each other so they dont look like they come off???

 

[GaryMo]

Most showers I've come across have screws top and bottom though can't recall fitting a Gainsborough.
I'm sure somebody with experience with a Gainsborough shower will be along shortly.

http://www.gainsboroughshowers.co.uk/Customer-Services/Gainsborough-Technical-FAQ/#q2871

I’m only getting cold water from my shower?

* Is the power turned on?
* Is the dynamic water pressure high enough? If there is not a high enough water pressure running through the shower when its operating the heater elements will not be switched on. This prevents the unit burning out. If you have enough pressure the small white plunger between the black heater unit and the electrical connectors will drop down.

 

[dingbat]

The single screw holding the Gainsborough cover on is behind the oval rating badge, on the front cover... the one that almost looks like a Ford logo if you squint.

Lever it off with a screwdriver.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

These people: http://www.showerdoc.co.uk/ are good for parts and exploded drawings...

 

[GaryMo]

Remove cover retaining screw and carefully remove cover by pulling up the top edge. Avoid twisting.

Looking at figure 8 it's located behind a badge, assuming the shower is of the same style.....

http://www.gainsboroughshowers.co.uk/upload/Documents/Gainsborough_Electric_Shower_07.pdf

 

[dingbat]

Looking at figure 8 it's located behind a badge, assuming the shower is of the same style.....

It is. See my post.

 

[GaryMo]

Looking at figure 8 it's located behind a badge, assuming the shower is of the same style.....

It is. See my post.

The same style?

 

[dingbat]

It's a Gainsborough.

The screw is behind a badge.