Help with power shower

[karansaraf]

Hey guys,

My housemate, who is renting a room in my house tells me that his power shower has been having problems.

The water starts fine, then might stop for a period of a few seconds up to maybe 20 seconds, before then coming back full blast.

The other power showers in the house are otherwise seemingly fine.

I've had this happen to my shower maybe twice in the last year, but the restriction of flow was always in the first 10 seconds of having turned the shower on, and only lasted for maybe 2 seconds, and once the flow came back, it didn't happen again for the duration of that shower.

Any ideas what might be the issue? Is this something that would require me to pay someone to come out and look at it (as my housemate wants me to do)?

Thanks for your help.

 

[oldbuffer]

What do you mean by a power shower?

1. An electric shower with a large ceiling switch and one cold water pipe going into it.
2. An electric power shower, possibly with a ceiling switch, but with one hot and one cold water pipes going into it.
3. A non-electric shower with an electric pump, perhaps in an airing cupboard, perhaps under the bath.
4. Something completely different.

The reasons for the stoppage may be different depending on which type of shower it is. Likely to be an airlock or water starvation somewhere.

Picture of shower and (if 3. above) the pump might be useful.

 

[karansaraf]

Apologies - this is the shower:

http://www.betterbathrooms.com/showers/shower-towers/latvin-luxury-thermostatic-shower-panel

I note that says "shower panel" - does that mean it's just a front or is it the actual shower?

Essentially, next to my boiler is a separate water tank (A megaflo unvented indirect cylinder - picture below) which heats up the water and then it goes up to the bathrooms.

So they are non electric showers. I guess there is a pump behind the wall. It's in a shower cubicle so the pump must be behind the wall (tiles).

Is that enough information?

 

[karansaraf]

bump

 

[picasso]

There is no pump on your shower (or at least there should not be) do you know if there is a pump before the hot water cylinder ?

 

[Agile]

Normally your system obtains its pressure from the mains water and does not involve any pump.

With that kind of system it would be pretty unusual to have that kind of fault.

Even difficult to guess at what could be causing it, possibly mobile dirt or obstruction.

Tony

 

[Madrab]

You need check valves strategically added to your system supply pipework. The only way this could be happening with a mains pressure system is the water from that shower feed is being drawn out of the pipe when other outlets are opened. When the shower is then subsequently turned on there is an empty section and the delay is that empty section being pushed out of the shower head until the water returns to the shower.

Usually down to bad HW system/pipe run design or an inadequate supply. It would be interesting to know how many HW/CW outlets there are against how good the mains flow and pressure is.