Thermostatic shower panel won't start

[Sambora]

I ‘m hoping someone can give some advice.

I have recently had a thermostatic shower panel fitted, fed with its own hot and cold supplies (so not shared) from the loft above, via a 2bar Salamander pump in the airing cupboard.

The cold comes from the storage tank, the hot via an Essex flange in the hot water tank. Distance from the pump to the back of the shower panel is around 9 or 10 metres. As the pump and panel have 15mm connections, there is around 2 metres of the pipe run in 15mm the rest is 22mm.

So its all pretty conventional stuff. There is nothing in the pipework other than gate valves.

The problem is that the shower panel is a real pig to “get going”. It offers a monsoon overhead shower, body jets or a shower hose. It never starts on the overhead shower or body jets. As a minimum we have to drop the attached shower hose into the shower tray and that generally gets it going, however on a couple of occasions I’ve been down on hands and knees sucking at the hose to prime it.

A couple of thoughts I’ve had are around the distance from pump to panel and the fact that its being top fed. Also the rating of the pump, as I gather these panels can operate on up to 5bar feed.

Any help will be welcomed!

 

[simond]

Sounds like you have insufficient water head or the pipework is airlocking after use.

How high is your water tank above;

- the shower head
- the highest piece of shower related pipework

 

[picasso]

might be worth looking at negative head pumps, could be a better alternative than changing pipework ect

 

[Sambora]

Hi Simon,

thanks for the prompt reply!

The tank isn't that high off the loft floor - probably no more than 30cm/1 foot so I'd say:

60cm / 2 feet above the monsoon shower head.

30cm / 1 foot above the highest pipework.

Thanks also Picasso! Can a negative head pump go in the airing cupboard? I had read about them.

 

[picasso]

have a read here

http://www.salamanderpumps.co.uk/Download/instructions.pdf


the negative head pump should be a straight swop.

 

[simond]

The neg head pump would be a swap but they are more expensive and also have a tendency to start and then stop unexpectedly.

This is due to air loss in the pipe and if you are unlucky it could wake you up.

If there is a flow from the head but it does not trigger the pump, on some pumps you can tweak the reed switches to be more sensitive. Could be as simple as that.

I'm not familiar with all makes of shower pump as we don't fit them; IMHO they should have a callback number on the side and a pair of earmuffs in the box.

 

[Sambora]

This is due to air loss in the pipe and if you are unlucky it could wake you up.

Sorry I'm not sure what you mean "air loss in the pipe"

Do you main air is getting into the feed pipe?

If there is a flow from the head but it does not trigger the pump, on some pumps you can tweak the reed switches to be more sensitive. Could be as simple as that.

There is no flow whatsoever until I drop the shower hose down, and on a couple of occasions even that hasn't worked.

have a read here

http://www.salamanderpumps.co.uk/Download/instructions.pdf[/QUOTE] Looking at that (Figure 21) it suggests that there should be air vents in the feeds above the shower panel. Does that overcome the possibility of air getting into the feed pipe?