Why is my shower so cold?

donnaessex

Hi experts.

A complete DIY numpty here - I do apologise.

We moved into our house in Feb this year and during the summer and milder months the shower is fine. Now that the snow is here though, even at top temperature it is barely warm.

I think its an electric shower (we have to pull a switch to turn it on before we press the power button on the shower) and its not extremely powerful like the one we had in our old house (which was run on the gas).

Is it run off a tank? Our immersion heater is always warm and the baths for the children are fine.

Sorry for the stupid question. How can we make it warmer?

shaven-monkey

Upgrade it to a higher wattage model.
It's effectively a kettle element with a pump to drive water past and through the shower head.
It can only heat the water by a certain amount in the time the water is exposed to the heating element.
As you say you're a DIY newbie I'd say ... get someone qualified to fit a more powerful power shower or install a mixer shower run from the immersion tank.

If you know someone competent at plumbing, you could reroute the feed pipe to the shower around your immersion heater tank or in a long route through your airing cupboard to pick up some waste heat although this may decrease water pressure to the shower itself.

Party_Animal

No it won't be fed from a tank. It'll be mains fed and the incoming water will be much colder at the moment than it is in the summer and need more heating up. Can you see a name and model on it? It might be one of the older less powerful models.

lucylucky

It certainly sounds like an electric shower which means it has nothing to do with the hot water in the rest of the house.

When you reduce the flow of water does it get warmer, it should?

I assume it is at its highest heat setting.

It may be that the water coming in is so cold that it struggles to heat it up sufficiently.

MrsBartolozzi

Mine does this too. If yours is like mine it will be heating up the cold water from the cold tank in the loft rather than takingfrom the hot tank. At this time of year the water up there is much colder and so the element in the shower is having to heat up really cold water and not really succeeding. Not much help I know, but lagging the tank and pipes up in the loft seemed to help a bit with t his (we no longer need to have it on a dribble flow to get hot water, more like light rain, still not great but an improvement). I'm hoping to get my bathroom redone this year and will get a more powerful shower to combat this.

donnaessex

Thanks everyone for the speedy replies!

It only has one setting for power - on! So we cant vary the flow of water. The only dial on the shower is for heat so its at full whack.

How much would it cost to replace a shower (both electric and gas) - does anyone know? The central heating is old-ish - its not a combi boiler I know that. I live in Essex (obviously!)

lucylucky

Not sure about the cost of fitting but a new 10.5kw shower from Screwfix is approx £160.

What make and model do you currently have?

jennikitten

I bought a new shower less than a year ago and it cost me about £100 from B&Q. Do you know anyone who could fit it for you? The only thing is that you have to know which side the connection stuff is on (left or right) before you buy it.

donnaessex

Hi Lucylucky.

Just got the manual out and its a Triton Bewitch 10.5kw.

Dan_Gleebitz

donnaessex wrote: »

Hi Lucylucky.

Just got the manual out and its a Triton Bewitch 10.5kw.

10.5kw should be more than adequate.
Search showerdoc.com for your shower/parts
Probably cheaper to buy a new shower.
Copied from showerdoc. The Triton T80z 10.5kw is designed as a retrofit for almost all electric showers and is suitable for you.
I have just fitted one of these for my parents. A very good shower.
Dan

donnaessex

Thanks Dan - so do you think the shower is broken then? If its not heating the water properly I presume so...