Shower pump not kicking in.

[poolballboy]

We have just had a new bathroom fitted and the plumber installed a new shower pump and a mixer shower form Victoria plumb. The shower has a deluge head and a standard hand held shower head. When the shower is running with the deluge head the pump works fine without fault. However when you changE over to the hand held shower held the pump shuts down and you get zero water flow.

The plumber it is because the bore of the hose to the hand held shower head is too small to create enough pressure drop to start the pump. Has anyone else come across this problem also?

Could anyone suggest an easy fix for this? Ie get a hose with a bigger bore maybe. If so where could I purchase this from and would I need to change the fittings on the shower to accommodate also?

Thanks

Andy

 

[TCCHeating]

Seems a bit strange as normally its the other way around because the deluge head is higher than the handheld head. If there are no blockages or air locks then you need a negative pressure shower pump. They work off a pressure drop rather than a flow switch. If in doubt i always fit a neg head pump

 

[poolballboy]

Thanks for your quick response.

The plumber did say it was because the bore the the hand held shower hose was too small and not causing enough pressure drop to allow the pump to kick in. So I am assuming the pump works as a neg pressure pump.

 

[TCCHeating]

Whats the make and model of the pump? i would say its prob not a neg head pump as they are more expensive than positive pumps. But i have had similar probs before (even if the positive pump is within the reccomended height above the head) neg pump has always fixed the problem. If it is a neg head pump then i would say there is a blockage in the pipework somewhere

Also does the pump kick in if you lower the head?

 

[poolballboy]

I can't actually see any numbers on the unit. I'll have to check and see if I can find my receipt

I don't think it's as blockage as it runs through the head fine as you start changing over from deluge to hand held, running through both at the same time. It just knocks off the pump when the handle is in the position for the hand held shower head only.

Thanks for your assistance btw