Electric shower temperature issues

[ErenVae]

Hi, I've struggled on with this problem for quite a while and finally decided to see if anyone could help out.

I have an electric shower - an Aqualisa quartz electric 10.5 - and I'm having problems with the temperature.

First of all, the water pressure is fairly low, this isn't particularly an issue, but thought I'd mention it in case it is relevant.

To the main issue...when I turn the heat up, over the course of a couple of seconds, the water gets hotter and hotter, to the point that it's uncomfortable (almost feels scalding sometimes), and then it will quickly goes back down to a normal temperature.

The problem is that the normal temperature that it goes back down to isn't hot enough for me (I like hot showers, hotter than people normally do!).

So somehow I want to raise the overall temperature of the shower. And possibly look at why the temperature suddenly rises so extremely for a second or two before returning to normal. (raising the overall temperature of the shower is more important to me though).

Can anyone suggest anything or point me in the right direction? I have no idea about DIY but this is something I'd like to fix.


Cheers

 

[ErenVae]

I've taken the front of the electric show off, can't see anything there that obviously controls anything.

What should I start by looking at?

 

[seco services]

Your more likely lacking replies as your post is abit confusing.
Your problem doesn't really make any sense.

 

[JohnD]

Run the shower into a bucket and time it to full. How many litres per minute does it deliver

At max. heat

At half heat

Use the knob not the buttons if any

If you have a thermometer tell us the temperature in the bucket, and also the temperature of the incoming cold water.

It is of course fed from the incoming water main and not from a tank, isn't it?

When was the shower fitted, and who by?

When did it last work properly?

 

[ErenVae]

Your more likely lacking replies as your post is abit confusing.
Your problem doesn't really make any sense.

Cheers, to clarify...

*I turn heat up
*the water goes very hot for a couple of seconds
*and then returns to a normal temperature
*but that normal temperature is still not particularly hot
*therefore i need to make my shower hotter
*and also find out why the shower gets so hot initially for those couple of seconds after turning temperature up

 

[ErenVae]

Run the shower into a bucket and time it to full. How many litres per minute does it deliver

At max. heat

At half heat

Use the knob not the buttons if any

If you have a thermometer tell us the temperature in the bucket, and also the temperature of the incoming cold water.

It is of course fed from the incoming water main and not from a tank, isn't it?

When was the shower fitted, and who by?

When did it last work properly?

Thanks for the reply, the water pressure isn't really an issue, perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned that, it was just an observation that I thought I'd bring up in case it was relevant to the temperature issue.

I haven't got a thermometer unfortunately.

And yes it's fed by water mains rather than a tank.

We bought a new build house and the shower was pre-installed...it has always worked in the way that it does now.

I guess I could simplify my question a lot by just asking how I can make the shower hotter? I've checked the temperature on the boiler and it is on 60 (which seems to be the max).


EDIT - also, the water from taps is fine, it is runs very hot steadily. This is just a shower thing, it's like it automatically adjusts the temperature somehow.

 

[seco services]

you say that normal temperature is still not particularly hot
*therefore i need to make my shower hotter.

So can you not turn the dial any further round so it gets hotter ?

The boiler has nothing to do with this type of shower.

 

[ErenVae]

you say that normal temperature is still not particularly hot
*therefore i need to make my shower hotter.

So can you not turn the dial any further round so it gets hotter ?

The boiler has nothing to do with this type of shower.

Using the external controls on the shower, I turn it to the hottest setting.
And when I took the front of the shower off, the dial underneath goes to the max.

 

[JohnD]

please answer this

Run the shower into a bucket and time it to full. How many litres per minute does it deliver

At max. heat

At half heat

Use the knob not the buttons if any

It is of course fed from the incoming water main and not from a tank, isn't it?

You can buy a thermometer on Monday.

 

[Bosswhite]

you say that normal temperature is still not particularly hot
*therefore i need to make my shower hotter.

So can you not turn the dial any further round so it gets hotter ?

The boiler has nothing to do with this type of shower.

As its mains fed, its Winter at the moment so the water underground outside is colder than in Summer,

You have water in the mains pipe indoors so that is already warmer that the water in the mains outside hence it gets hotter quicker for a short spell

That probably explains your hot water temperature problem !

 

[ErenVae]

As its mains fed, its Winter at the moment so the water underground outside is colder than in Summer,

You have water in the mains pipe indoors so that is already warmer that the water in the mains outside hence it gets hotter quicker for a short spell

That probably explains your hot water temperature problem !

Thanks, I got this house in August, and it's been exactly the same the whole time.

 

[ErenVae]

please answer this

You can buy a thermometer on Monday.

I'll invest in a thermometer and get back to you, thanks

The difference between half heat and full heat is not much though.

I was hoping it'd be a case of just opening up the shower and adjusting something to make it hotter, I guess that was a bit of wishful thinking

 

[JohnD]

please answer this

Run the shower into a bucket and time it to full. How many litres per minute does it deliver

At max. heat

At half heat

Use the knob not the buttons if any

It is of course fed from the incoming water main and not from a tank, isn't it?

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

I do not understand your problem, say the knob reads 5, you feel that the shower is too cold, so you turn it up to 5.5, it now gets too hot, and you duck out of the way, after a few seconds its back to where it was. If the next time you shower is it too hot at 5.5?
Electric showers are extremely simple (ignoring the safety devices) A three way switch normally, cold, heat 1 and heat 2. The variable knob is actually a stop cock that regulates the flow. So any any given "heat" setting, you vary the temperature by passing more or less water through the boiler.
So what you are implying is that when you turn the temperature "up" (actually reducing the flow), this works for a few seconds, then the flow increases again, so bringing the temperature down again. It looks a bit like a over temperature protection thermostat might be switching if its faulty, or an intermittent joint whose connection is changing with the boiler temperature.
Frank