Shower looses power, air in system.

[koontz]

Recently I am having problems were after a few mins my shower looses presure not completley but enough so cant really have shower properly, Also when I turn of the HOT water tap downstairs or in the bathroom it triggers the shower pump, I have lookded into this and it seems to be air getting into the hot water pipes, how and why is this happening?, and what can i do to stop this, I have normal heating system with 2 tanks in loft, hotwater cyclinder in airing cupboard and shower pump next to this, When shower is working it works fine although shower pump is very noisy but this is standard according to a plumber I know, I would love to take of shower pump and check if there is any blockedge, but the pushfit connectors do not have any isolaters on them so would have to drain whole system is this correct?.

 

[koontz]

Can anyone help, or at least point me in the direction of what could be causing this.

 

[terryplumb]

Have you checked the loft tank water level ,and that the ballcock is allowing water in at full pelt ?
Pump Flexi hoses often have isolators within the plastic fitting, can you see a slot for a screwdriver in them ?
Has your problem has only recently started ,if it is historic I would suggest the pump is sucking air from the vent pipe as there doesn't appear to be dedicated flange for the hot supply to pump.

 

[koontz]

The hot water flexi pipe has an isolator, but the other 3 don't. I did recently change the heating pump myself, as the old one was making a racket, But this has been happening on and off since I moved in, regarding the water level how would I know what is full pelt, when pressing down on ballcock water comes in at decent rate. Don't understand last part of your comment about dedicated flange to pump?.

 

[terryplumb]

Hot water cylinder should have a dedicated flange (warix for example). These are fitted into the cylinder to give the pump an air free supply of hot water. Your set up appears to have the supply to pump from the domestic hot water distribution pipe / expansion pipe.
With regard to the loft tank ,run the pump/ shower and watch the water level in the tank ,as pump starts to pull water from the tank the ball cock should open and replenish water as quick as the pump depletes it.

 

[koontz]

Regarding the water tank is this the small tank?.

 

[terryplumb]

No it's the large one . The small one feeds the boiler / central heating system.

 

[koontz]

just ran shower and checked and water does fill back up in large tank abeit slowly, left running a few mins and stayed around the same level.

 

[terryplumb]

Follow the hot water pipe( that brings hot water to the pump from the cylinder),up to where it connects to the cylinders outlet. Take pics of that area to show us.

 

[koontz]

Here you go.

 

[terryplumb]

Highly likely the pump is sucking air in from the vent pipe . Consider having a flange fitted to the cylinder to provide the pump with an air free supply.

 

[koontz]

Ok thanks.

 

[koontz]

Is this something I could do, or does it require cutting the copper, and soldering ect.

 

[terryplumb]

It requires the Pipework in the area of your last pic to be re arranged and the flange fitted. Bound to be some you tube videos on how to do it. Take a look ,and you can then decide if it's within your skill set to do yourself

 

[koontz]

If it was a matter of unscrewing the top of cylinder connection and replacing with flange I would do it, but cutting and soldering, is beyond my skill and I don't have the tools, may just live with it till I get a combi, or new boiler.