Is this an airlock in my power shower?

[DrBrodington]

Hello I hope someone out there can help me.

My power shower has started playing up, the pipes either bang loudly or no hot water comes through at all. Could this be a airlock and how can I fix it if it is?

Here is the pump and hot water tank:

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• DrBrodington
• 19 Aug 2014
• 1

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• DrBrodington
• 19 Aug 2014
• 1

The shower mixer:

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• DrBrodington
• 19 Aug 2014
• 1

We have a cold water tank in the loft (2floors up) and the shower is slightly higher than the pump but on the same floor.

I have tried taking the shower head off and blocking the pipe with the shower turned on. ( in a vain attempt to flush out a airlock) but that didn't work.

All advice is very welcome as we cannot afford a plumber this month and need our shower!! What can I try next?

Thanks in advance,

Neil

 

[DrBrodington]

Any and all help / advice would be great.

Please help.

 

[longdogs]

You can first try running the shower with the pump switched off

Check to see if the pump filters are blocked

Remove any air by removing the flexi connectors (after shutting off the isolating valves) and then flushing into a bucket

Check to see if there actually is water in the tank

 

[DrBrodington]

Hi squeaky,

The shower will 'sort of' run with the pump switched off, it has to be throttled back to only a dribble to be anything other than freezing cold though.

I will have a look at the filters tomorrow and remove /refit the flex hoses while I'm at it.

The hot water is working fine in the rest of the house so I assume it has water in.... Or do you mean a different tank?

Thanks for your suggestions.

Neil

 

[JBPHS]

Try the following:

Isolate pump.
Isolate cold and hot supplies to the pump.
Remove shower mixer valve.
Slowly turn on the hot water valve and check flow through to valve.
Repeat for the cold.
Reassemble and reinstate water supplies and electrical supply to the pump.

If these are ok, assuming that the pump is fine, the shower mixer valve may need some maintenance work.

James.

 

[JBPHS]

Edit:
Deleted double post.

James.

 

[DrBrodington]

Great, that is something I can do!

Thanks,

Neil

 

[CombustionGuy]

Little note that is a shower pump so a pumped Shower not a power shower. Sorry I will go back in my hole now

 

[Nige F]

I`d start with the mixer valve

 

[DrBrodington]

I was thinking that the mixer valve looks a little lime scaled. So I might start there.

I have not taken one of these apart before so can someone check my thoughts:

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• DrBrodington
• 20 Aug 2014
• 1

Isolate water coming from the pump.
Undo the two pipes that come through the tiles to the mixer head.
Pull the mixer unit off the wall, dismantle and inspect for corrosion and lime scale etc.
Fit as reverse.

Is it that simple? What is the larger diameter part of the mixer that is sunk into the tiles? I'm assuming this will just pull out... Is that correct?

It'd be nice if I could find a manual for the mixer. I'll keep looking in google.


Thanks again for all your help people.

Neil

 

[DrBrodington]

I found a manual:
http://www.bathstore.com/uploads/files/store/products/1423/p18ocgeosk2u2sgv1mg6pgnj403.pdf

And lots of good helpful videos on YouTube about replacing the cartridge.

 

[DrBrodington]

First of all thank you for your help so far, I love forums like this.

So I have been tinkering.

I have checked the pump filters and they were clean.

I have removed the cartridge from the shower mixer, cleaned it and replaced. Now that the cartridge is back on the temp dial ( which has never really worked very well anyway) makes the shower run from full cold to pulsating the pump and very little water coming through when it's turned to hot....


More tinkering: I removed the mixer valve as suggested earlier in this thread and with the hot water on full only a dribble comes out and the pipes are banging gently.

So how do I fix this I wonder?

Thanks again,

Neil

 

[JBPHS]

If you look at the hot water outlet on the pump, there is a brass valve. This could be sticking, restricting the flow through pipework. As for the banging, hard to say without being there.

James.

 

[DrBrodington]

Hi james,

Thanks again for your reply.

I don't think it is a valve, seems to be a bleed nipple.

When I open it water squirts everywhere.

 

[JBPHS]

I'm sorry but it looks like a check valve as the screw is used for testing. What should have been fitted, (if required) is a non-return valve. The main difference is that a non-return valve has less resistance than a check valve.

James.