Cold cold new shower

[Concussed]

Hi,

We've had a new thermostatic shower installed (It's a Napier Cascade make) along with a new Worcester boiler.

The initial test of the shower produced a nice warm/hot water so all was well.

When we come to actually use it, all i can get is stone cold water.!
The hot water feeder pipe into the Shower is hot, but no heat at all in the water output.

I've tried increasing the boiler pressure to 1.5mb.
I've tried decreasing the cold water pressure slightly. No joy.
And - yes - i've tried all settings on the shower (there's only 2 - heat, and flow rate).

The plumber is away in Scotland for a week or two...

Any ideas please....? I'm starting to smell...

 

[sooey]

It sounnds as though the hot and cold feeds may be connected the wrong way around.

 

[Concussed]

It sounnds as though the hot and cold feeds may be connected the wrong way around.

But we have had some warmth out of the shower initially, but after that first trial, it's just been cold.

 

[dunny]

This happened to me (I am not a plumber by the way) and it turned out that the cartridge thingy in the shower had failed and a crossfeed from cold to hot ensued. This has now happened twice and is very inconvenient.

One of the experts on here will tell you how to test for this but the bolierman turned off the hot supply from the boiler and we still had water coming out the hot tap (or maybe the other way around , cant quite recall).

D

 

[Concussed]

I've spoken to the makers and they suggest to turn the temperature setting to the coldest, run shower for 2 minutes, then slowly turn the temp setting (spindle) towards the warmer setting and leave the shower running for 5 minutes until desired temperature is met.

Wish me luck...!

 

[Concussed]

After more attempts to get hot shower, i've noticed the following:

If i run the Bath hot tap, AND the shower, the Shower hot inlet gets hot, but still no warm shower.

When i turn off the Bath hot tap, and Shower inlet stays hot, but very rapidly cools to cold when i alter the temperature control of the shower.

The manufacturer has emailed me a trouble-shooting guide which hasn't worked.

Has anyone any ideas at all please ?

 

[petetheleak]

sounds like you defo have supplies wrong way round.Look at book supplied to reverse ,canny be bothered to explain should only take 10 mins .Be canny how things come off and watch you dinny snag any o seals a doddle!

 

[dunny]

Or the cartridge in the shower (if its a mixer type) might need replacing. This causes a cross feed and is exactly what happened to me. To make things worse it coincided with the fitting of a shower elsewhere in the house and the connection of a new plastic water main. AND it happened at 4am on the morning we where going on holiday !!!

D

 

[Concussed]

How can I check for a cross-feed ?

I don't think the supplies are the wrong way round as the Cold feeder is stone-cold and i feel the water running thru it. But i'm open to ideas.

I know nowt about plumbing so laymens terms please !

 

[dunny]

I am sure one of the plumbers will tell you more accutaely but I seem to remember that the bolier guy came out and turned off the hot feed from the boiler therefore no hot taps should be running (valves on pipes at rear of boiler). He then turned on taps and hey presto they where still running. Cold was cross feeding to hot and causing havoc!!!.

After I isolated the problematic shower all was well. The cartridge was changed and it was fine - except it happened again a couple of months later. Exactly the same issue but I was ready for it this time....

D

 

[tryitandsee]

Take off the connection to the hot inlet to the shower fitting (chrome elbow/straight connection, you know what I mean). There should be a filter to stop all the crud going into the shower valve.

I suspect flux, solder, filings etc. have blocked this fine gauze filter and stopped the flow of hot water, making the cold 'dominant'.........good word......the combi boiler will not fire up if there is no flow, did you notice that when running shower only.

Its a good idea to run hot and cold unrestricted without shower attached, at full pelt to clear the pipework of all crud.

 

[Concussed]

Re: Boiler firing up or not..

I will try that tonight and see if the boiler fires up.

Generally, how easy is it to dismantle the parts where the 2 feeder pipes (hot+cold) feed into the thermostatic bit of the shower

Will i need special tools? I will attach a photo later (or a link to one) so you can see what i mean

 

[tryitandsee]

I can only say how mine is.

Small allen key to remove main shower body from fixed base and then I have to dismantle the fixed chrome riser to the shower rose. Cover the chrome with a cloth whilst undoing nuts, thus protecting chrome finish.

Remember the sequence of washers/reducing washers/filter etc, so you can put it back the same.

You should have the fitting instructions somewhere!

 

[Concussed]

Well i wasn't able to do a test last night, but having spoken to Bristan (manufactures) today, they suggest that my cold water feed might be too powerful, so to test for this, to turn on my shower to a hot setting, and turn on my bath cold tap at same time (to reduce the cold water pressure) - to see if i get heat from the shower.
Fingers crossed...

 

[dunny]

Or turn the mains pressure down by turning stopcock down?? I tried all this - as I said it was the cartridge in the showe and it happened twice !!!

D