Power shower noise

simonts

Oddly whenever we now turn our power shower on your get a 1-2 second sort of BRRRRRRRRR noise from somewhere in the pipes below. The reason its odd is that it didnt do it until a few weeks ago and oddly the house nextdoor (semi detached) exactly the same thing is happening with theirs.

I dont know what could cause this in two houses where nothings connected other than the walls

John_3:16

Could a drop in pressure if you have mains feed to the pump?

bestyman

Power shower should be fed from a tank ( both hot and cold) . The noise could be the tank filling up ( from the mains) as it starts to empty .
To take the mains pipe out of the equasion do this;
Turn off the cold water supply to the house, open cold kitchen sink tap to drain supply .
Turn on power shower and see if noise is still there ( do not run for more than a minute or so )

Post back with `results` and will help more .

Bestyman

simonts

when i turn off the mains nothing comes out of the tap at all if i open the cold..if i turn the mains back on slowly the water comes straight out of tap

bestyman

When you say nothing comes out of the tap , what tap do you mean? If you mean sink tap then thats ok .
What happens with mains turned off when you operate the shower?( remember only for a minute)

simonts

with the mains off if i turn the shower on i get about half a cup of water and thats it

John_3:16

This indicates tha you cold water is fed from the mains so a drop in pressure could cause the noise. How do you heat your water and have you a hot water tank?

simonts

Gas boiler in kitchen which then goes to a tank with immersion heater upstairs...its apparantly a pressurised system with expansion tanks if that makes any sense?

bestyman

Strange. If you have a genuine power shower piped up correctly the hot and cold supplies should be both tank fed. Possibly power shower not installed correctly or you dont actually have a power shower .
Any makes/models on the shower? Do you see a seperate pump in airing cupboard/loft?
Do you have any tanks ( usually square black plastic, possibly with black jacket) in the loft? Do you have a smaller cylinder ( an expansion vessel) above or near the cylinder with the immersion heater?
Sorry for all questions but just trying to establish what system you have.

simonts

The shower is branded Hydramax. in the airing cupboard we have a grey tank branded PremierPlus and above it to the side a red tank with a pressure gauge(central heating) and a grey tank. As far as im aware theres nothing in the attic

bestyman

Hi,
It seems that you dont have a power shower but a high pressure mains fed shower connected to a unvented hot water system. This rules out problems with tanks, pumps and ballvalves etc.

Hydromax might be part of Aqualisa showers, I would phone them on 01959 560010 and ask for advise. The setup you have is quite rare ( only found in some new houses usually ) and in 20 years plumbing Ive never been called out to a noisy hydromax shower so Im afraid thats the best advise I can offers. Perhaps other plumbers on this board have other ideas?