Power shower advice, please

frugalfairy_3

We had our bathroom refitted two and a half years ago and had a New Team power shower installed. The pump on the shower has just gone for the second time. I've just had a visit from a plumber who said he thought New Team were rubbish and he would recommend our buying a Mira or a Triton instead. This would involve taking out and replacing at least four of our huge tiles in the shower cubicle and I'm not convinced about his suggested method of just retiling over the pipe holes and drilling new ones to put a new shower unit in.

He quoted me over £300 for a Mira shower (have found it for over £150 less online though) and of course we'd have to have a proper tiler in since my OH is incapable of DIY.

Does this advice sound correct? Are Newteam rubbish or have we just been unlucky? I don't know whether our model is still available but hopefully we'd be able to replace it without as much disruption to the shower cubicle.

Any advice would be gratefully received! Thanks, FF

moneysavingplumber

I'm not a big fan of New Team and they are generally considered a budget brand, but so are Triton.

I'm assuming you have the power shower which has the integral pump inside the shower itself?

In my experience the best integral power shower is the Aqualisa Aquastream, although not cheap. These have a low voltage supply from a transformer supplied with tthe unit and require a dedicated cold feed and a hot either from a Surrey flange on the cylinder, or first draw from the horizontal outlet of the cylinder at no higher than 65 degrees C. It's worth checking whether any of these factors have contributed to the early demise of your pumps, as an incorrectly supplied hot or cold supply can allow air into the impeller which can ruin it. If the hot and cold have not been supplied in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations then it will invalidate the warranty anyway, but if it has been fitted correctly it may be worth calling New Team customer services and explaining that two pumps have packed up within two and a half years and that this isn't really acceptable. The warranty period may be only a year, or maybe as long as two years, but it should last a reasonable amount of time after the warranty ends and you may get a free part from them even if you have to pay somebody to come out and fit it.

Check the following also:

http://www.showerdoc.co.uk/shower-spares/newteam/

gavinp

I would definitely recommend checking your thermostat on the cylinder - I had two of those NewTeam power showers from Argos and the cylinder stat was set to 90 degrees C (which I was unaware of at the time) which killed them.

I fitted a proper pump in the airing cupboard and a mixer valve in the bathroom which works far better IMHO.

Thanks

Gavin

Interest-Ed

I fitted a proper pump in the airing cupboard and a mixer valve in the bathroom which works far better IMHO.(Quote)

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Do you have a problem with noise from the pump?

We've done exactly the same thing but find that it pretty noisy and it vibrates through the wall into the bedroom on the other side. (Luckily our daughter seems to have got used to it and sleeps through).

Has anyone any tips on making it quieter.

Thanks in antic.

moneysavingplumber

The cheaper the pump, the noisier it will be. I usually cut a piece of a paving slab and then mount the pump on a piece of carpet on top of it.

Interest-Ed

Thanks for that. It's certainly not a solution I'd have thought of.

I'll suggest it to the OH.

plumb1_2

moneysavingplumber wrote:

The cheaper the pump, the noisier it will be. I usually cut a piece of a paving slab and then mount the pump on a piece of carpet on top of it.

I use a piece of 3/4" ply with strips of foam lagging underneth, screwed to the floor. And when screwing the pump to the plywood use tap washers to mount it.
Always best to have a seperate shower valve and pump.