Only Getting Hot Water With Taps Fully Open!

[MrPeeJay]

Hi,

I recently moved into a new house which has a Worcester 240 Combi-boiler installed (the kind with a programmer panel at the front).

There are a couple of issues we're having when it comes to hot water.

Firstly - we're only able to get hot water (at the sinks in upstairs bathroom, downstairs kitchen and downstairs shower room sink) when the hot water is fully open - resulting in the person in front of the sink, as well as the floor and anything in a 2 metre radius, getting soaked. We don't expect the boiler to fire at a trickle but is there any way of getting the boiler to fire / flow hot water at a more moderate request at the taps?

Secondly - there is a small shower room downstairs, the pressure of hot water out of the shower (Galaxy Aqua 3000) is quite low - the water comes out the head and droops away! As soon as you turn it to cold you get a proper full on shower. Ideally we'd like to get more oomph from the shower at the hotter temp. At the moment it is set to the very hottest setting (which in itself isn't all that hot).

For information the radiators all seem to work fine, although we have got them set to 'off' as we don't really need them yet.

Any help / advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Mr PeeJay

 

[cross thread]

sounds like the water diaphrgam is worn out

 

[MrPeeJay]

sounds like the water diaphrgam is worn out

Thanks for the response.

Where would I find the water diaphragm (and what does it do?!)? Is it something I would be able to replace myself or is it safer to get a professional in?

 

[East Kent Coastal]

It should be easy enough if you have the instructions and are a bit handy, aye. The slip pipe that communicates the cold water to the DHW heat exchanger can leak on re-fitting tho so beware of that. Silicon grease and new washer.

Am I right in thinking that your shower is an instantaneous electric type with single cold water inlet? In that case it's nowt to do with your boiler, just the shower.

 

[Whitespirit66]

Re. Shower

Which model have you got, the 8.5kw, 9.5kw or the 10.5kw?

This is a budget level shower, and especially if you have the lower powered one, that might well be all it is capable of producing on the hot side. If the cold comes through well, the head obviously isn't scaled up.

Combis are great with proper shower mixers. I always wonder why people have a combi and an electric shower. One of these will give a far better shower than electric and will be a lot cheaper to run.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/36111...Shower/Triton-Tesla-Thermostatic-Mixer-Shower

 

[kevplumb]

cos when the combi breaks down (and it will) your out in the cold literally

 

[Whitespirit66]

Thing is, I have a shower once a month, whether I need it or not.

So, it has to be a good shower!

 

[MrPeeJay]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

We're going to have a shower installed in the main bathroom upstairs at some point so I think when we call our plumber out sooner rather than later to take a look and quote and I'll get him to look at the diaphragm too.

We'll be sure to install a proper shower!