Hello,
I have a problem with a shower that seems to have happened for no reason whatsoever.
I recently replaced an en-suite shower enclosure. I retiled, replaced the shower outlet (just the bit that screws into the outlet elbow), hose and shower head.
When I removed the old shower tray I found a very convoluted hot water pipe that had been plumbed around studs in the wall and had 4 right angle joints in it. I replace this with a push fit flexible pipe connector and a smooth curve instead of all the right angles.
I did not alter any of the other plumbing. Thermostatic mixer is the same and remained in its existing place.
The problem: The shower now runs at about half of the pressure that it used to and is not effective at all.
I am on a gravity fed system. There is another shower on the same system in the main bathroom and this operates perfectly fine (as did the en-suite one before). The outlet in the en-suite and the actual shower head is about 20 cm lower than the one in the bathroom and the outlet from the cold water header tank in the loft is 1.8 to 2 metres above.
1. I don’t understand why the pressure has dropped so dramatically.
2. I don’t understand why the pressure in the en suite is so much less than that in the bathroom, as it is slightly lower at the outlet I would expect it to be better.
Other information: The basin tap in the main bathroom had always ran a little slow since I replaced it about 10 years ago but it wasn’t a big issue. When I was replacing the piece of hot water pipe in the en-suite I stopped the cold water feed to the hot water cylinder and then left the taps open to empty the water that was in the pipes. After the plumbing was done I restored the supply. The hot water basin tap has ran about 4 times faster since I did this. Now, the en-suit shower seems to have got the problem that the main bathroom basin tap used to have. Could these be related? Is there anything I can try to resolve?
I consider myself a competent DIYer but I am stuck about what to do from here. Is it worth admitting defeat and getting a plumber in? I am worried that he will just say that a shower pump needs to be fitted. This defies logic because it was fine before and the shower in the main bathroom, on exactly the same system is fine.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated...
I have a problem with a shower that seems to have happened for no reason whatsoever.
I recently replaced an en-suite shower enclosure. I retiled, replaced the shower outlet (just the bit that screws into the outlet elbow), hose and shower head.
When I removed the old shower tray I found a very convoluted hot water pipe that had been plumbed around studs in the wall and had 4 right angle joints in it. I replace this with a push fit flexible pipe connector and a smooth curve instead of all the right angles.
I did not alter any of the other plumbing. Thermostatic mixer is the same and remained in its existing place.
The problem: The shower now runs at about half of the pressure that it used to and is not effective at all.
I am on a gravity fed system. There is another shower on the same system in the main bathroom and this operates perfectly fine (as did the en-suite one before). The outlet in the en-suite and the actual shower head is about 20 cm lower than the one in the bathroom and the outlet from the cold water header tank in the loft is 1.8 to 2 metres above.
1. I don’t understand why the pressure has dropped so dramatically.
2. I don’t understand why the pressure in the en suite is so much less than that in the bathroom, as it is slightly lower at the outlet I would expect it to be better.
Other information: The basin tap in the main bathroom had always ran a little slow since I replaced it about 10 years ago but it wasn’t a big issue. When I was replacing the piece of hot water pipe in the en-suite I stopped the cold water feed to the hot water cylinder and then left the taps open to empty the water that was in the pipes. After the plumbing was done I restored the supply. The hot water basin tap has ran about 4 times faster since I did this. Now, the en-suit shower seems to have got the problem that the main bathroom basin tap used to have. Could these be related? Is there anything I can try to resolve?
I consider myself a competent DIYer but I am stuck about what to do from here. Is it worth admitting defeat and getting a plumber in? I am worried that he will just say that a shower pump needs to be fitted. This defies logic because it was fine before and the shower in the main bathroom, on exactly the same system is fine.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated...