Shower Pump with Electric Shower?

[mrpjones]

About a year ago I had my old mixer shower replaced with an electric shower. The mixer worked off a hot water tank and the cold water supply and was passed through a "showerforce turbo" pump.

Since the electric shower only runs off the cold water, should the pump have been replaced? Or would this not matter?

I ask as the pump has started to play up recently, losing power after about 10 minutes use, affecting the flow of the water which then turns cold. If I turn the shower off and on again the pump does not fire up.

Also, the settings on the electric shower do not seem to match up with the heat of the water coming out - on high power but on the lowest temperature setting, the water still comes out quite warm.

Sorry for the long post but I hope if i have given enough useful info someone may have seen this before and be able to tell me what I need to do.

Thanks!

[ChrisR]

Not sure what you have here.
Electric showers normally work straight off the mains and don't/can't use a pump.
Is your pump pumping water from a cistern into the electric shower, maybe??

[mrpjones]

Hi Chris, thanks for replying - I did wonder that myself to be honest but dont really know enough about plumbing to question it at the time

I think there are two tanks in the loft (cold and hot?) and there is a hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard (the central heating is very old - the boiler is a "Thorn Olympic").

Due to the age of the system, smallness of the hot water tank in airing cupboard and hardness of the water, I figured an electric shower would be the easiest option as it shouldnt rely on a hot water source. I guess the guy who fitted it left the shower connected up to the pump out to save himself some work??

Thanks again.

[mrpjones]

on closer inspection the cold water does appear to come from the loft, down to the pump in the bathroom then get pumped back into the loft, over the top of the bathroom and back down behind the wall to the shower.

So I am guessing the pump is only there to support itself and really the cold should actually bypass it altogether and go straight down into the shower? I have no idea what the hot is doing, although I think it has been blocked off behind the shower unit.

Strangely I have also always had a similar problem to this as well:

http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35562

[hi-spec plumbing heating]

why are you using a pump on an electric shower, it states in the manual connect to the mains