Shower Not Fuctioning Properly

[Linda Breach]

We had a new bathroom fitted in June by a local plumber. Within two weeks the shower started to play up not allowing the hot water through intermitantly. We contactacted our plumber who fitted a new washer which made absolutely no difference. We contacted Victoria Plumb who gave us a replacement shower bar which our plumber fitted. Two weeks later, the same thing happened again.

Sometimes we can get it to work by running the cold water through the hand held bit of the shower and things like that. If it helps, I do know that the cold water pressure was lowered when the shower was fitted. We do not have a pump fitted.

I personally would get back to the plumber straight away but my husband is trying to think what it could be before doing so as it is getting expensive. We are retired and would be grateful for your advise.

 

[just pumps]

Edit.

 

[terryplumb]

What supplies your hot water ? Combi boiler , or gravity fed hot water cylinder ( with a large cold water tank in loft ) or some other means ?

 

[Linda Breach]

We have a gravity fed hot water cylinder with a large cold water tank in the loft. Thank you for replying.

 

[terryplumb]

Ok.,then i presume the bathroom is underneath the loft ,not directly but on the next floor down. That will give a very poor pressure at the shower head. Is this so ? And is the cold supply to the shower from the loft tank or directly from the mains.

 

[Linda Breach]

Yes. Our bathroom is downstairs and the cold water is from the mains.

Everything was fine for the first two weeks and then fine for two weeks after the new shower bar was fitted.

The only other thing to add is that we did get a bit of grit in our hot water when we ran a bath the other week. I don't know if that is of any importance.

 

[ianmcd]

if the cold water supply to the shower is off the coldwater mains then that is your problem

 

[terryplumb]

So you may have a totally imbalanced supply of hot and cold to the mixer valve ,which i assume is a thermostatic bar type. Your hot water pressure is going to be around 0.3 to 0.5 bar if your property is only two floors ,shower on ground floor and loft tank above bedrooms. Unless the plumber has reduced the mains pressure to a similiar pressure as the hot ( which i doubt ) the valve is not likely to work properly. Anyway ,it is more likely to be an installation issue ,rather than two duff valves. You should get the plumber back to sort it out. Some valves need minimum pressures to work well.

 

[Linda Breach]

Thank you. The cold water was reduced but perhaps not correctly. Very kind of you to explain so clearly.

 

[terryplumb]

How was the pressure reduced to match the hot ? Dont confuse reducing the flow with pressure. You can turn down the flow on your kitchen tap ,and it will deliver less water but it will still be at the same pressure.

 

[Linda Breach]

Apparently it has a pressure valve on it (husband says).

 

[terryplumb]

In my experience best practice is to take the cold feed from the loft tank ,that guarantees equal pressure. Good luck with it.

 

[Linda Breach]

Thank you. Now all I need to do is to convince husband to make that call.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

These types of showers need independent feeds from both hot and cold stored water. As Terry has said, it needs cold supplied from the storage tank, and an independent feed from the hot cylinder, ideally via a Surrey type flange in the outlet of the tank, to minimise the risk of the shower supply altering if water is drawn off elsewhere in the house. Properly installed these should give a perfectly adequate shower without the need for a pump.

Is the shower a 'Thermostatic' version do you know? This would be better and safer, as in the event of the cold supply failing, the shower will cut out and prevent possible scalding.

 

[Linda Breach]

Yes, it is a thermostatic version. Thank you for the information.