Redring Expressions shower..fault (moved from Electrics).

[amfisted]

Hi All

We moved into this property in 2014 and in doing so, inherited a Redring Expressions 500s 8.5kw electric shower.

We were told by the vendors that the shower was 2 years old when they sold the house, so it would be around five years old as of now. Its been fine, or as fine as electric showers go, given the limitations of the flow. Until recently, that is, when the length of time between turning the shower on, the flow reducing and the temperature stabilising went from just a handful of seconds to about half a minute. (lest that not be clear, when you hit the On switch the shower comes on with the full force of mains pressure, remains cold for a short period then the flow reduces and the shower stabilises at the preset temperature.)

Once it's up and running, the temperature remains stable and the shower is fine, and the above problem is still intermittent. My issue is that being on a water meter we're wasting a lot of water waiting for the temperature to stabilise, and I wondered whether anyone knew whether an economical repair is feasible. If not, I'll probably replace the shower rather than continue wasting water unnecessarily.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[deadshort]

Have you asked the question in the plumbing section ?

DS

 

[amfisted]

No. Prior to asking my question I put the word shower(s) into the site search box and the first few threads that came up were split between electrics and plumbing.

I'll put it on there also. ;0)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Thanks in advance for any advice.

So less than once per use of the shower there's a "waste" of, say, ½p worth of water.

If you want to replace the shower for other reasons that's fine, but my advice is to get a sense of perspective if you think that you'd recoup the cost in water savings before you die.

 

[amfisted]

I suppose its also about having confidence in an appliance that we inherited. If it were something expensive like a boiler, for example, and the fault, though annoying, didn't affect the overall performance of the appliance, I might be tempted to leave things lie. To change a shower will cost me about eighty quid. Unless anything goes wrong, of course.

As above, we don't know how old it is, and it isn't performing as well as it did just a few months ago. There's the extra water, which admittedly is minimal, but there's also the time factor, which is something you can't put a price on: having to wait up to a minute to get into the shower rather than just a few seconds. Its also my experience that once an appliance develops one fault, others are rarely far behind.

So I'd rather change it and start from scratch.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

OK - sounds like there are other reasons for changing it, although I do still wonder why you are so fixated on the beyond-price time factor of a short wait.

When you get a new shower, do not under any circumstances buy a Redring Selectronic. Normally I'd strongly recommend one - they do a 10.8kW model, and they are properly thermostatically controlled, so if the pressure suddenly drops, e.g. from someone flushing the toilet, rather than you just having crude anti-scald protection (in my experience you still need to jump out of the way, cursing), it keeps the temperature stable. But when first turned on you do have to wait 15-20s for it to stabilise at whatever temperature it was set to.

And don't ever, ever, install a shower off a combi boiler.

Another thing:

To change a shower will cost me about eighty quid. Unless anything goes wrong, of course.

Something could well go wrong, not long after - £80 is far to cheap to get anything even halfway decent.

The one I referred to above, for example:

 

[amfisted]

If we had a shower which had been designed in the factory to stabilise after, say 15-20 seconds, it wouldn't have been a problem. This one used to stabilise within a handful of seconds but no longer does that. To me that indicates a fault, so its time to change.

I've bought a Triton Easy Fit, which has good reviews, a 2 year warranty, and like the current shower is a basic model. Basic is all we need. If I had the money to buy a shower that cost as much as a second hand car, I'd spend it on...a second hand car. But thanks for the links anyhow.

We had an Aqualisa thermostatic shower in our previous house, working off a combi boiler. It was absolutely brilliant, but the volume of water used would probably have bankrupted me within a year if we'd had a water meter at the time. My bad, but since the kids left home and the missus and I set up home on our own, my water consumption has reduced to a dribble, and I'd prefer to keep it that way; even if it means smelling a bit high now and again. ;0)

 

[flameport]

If we had a shower which had been designed in the factory to stabilise after, say 15-20 seconds, it wouldn't have been a problem.

The shower you have now is exactly that.
20 seconds for the temperature to stabilise.
What you are describing is normal operation, not a fault.

Source: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/DataSheets/Redring/RREX5007S.PDF

 

[ban-all-sheds]

We had an Aqualisa thermostatic shower in our previous house, working off a combi boiler. It was absolutely brilliant, but the volume of water used would probably have bankrupted me within a year if we'd had a water meter at the time.

And how long did it take to stabilise?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Don't you have to use an enormous amount of water to pay more with a meter than the charges without one?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There is certainly a break-even point, above which (e.g. when you have teenagers who spend hours in the shower despite being quite happy to have bedrooms ankle deep in old pizza boxes etc) a meter is a bad idea, and below which (e.g. when they have left home) it is cheaper.

What the actual consumption point is, and whether the price of metered water is so high that it makes sense not to have a decent shower, IHNI.

 

[flameport]

Don't you have to use an enormous amount of water to pay more with a meter than the charges without one?

Almost always, unless you have a very small property with unusually large numbers of people living in it.

Metered water is about £3.50 per unit including sewage charges, or 3p per minute for a typical electric shower at 8 litres/minute.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You must like tepid showers if you get 8l/m out of yours. At that flow rate even a 10.8kW one will raise the temperature by less than 20°C.

If we assume a desired delta of 30°C an 8.5kW device like the OP's will deliver about 4l/min.