Why is my shower so cold?

mikey72

The bewitch has got hot medium and cold buttons on the front, and a dial for the flowcontrol hasn't it? Are you sure you have only got on/off on yours?

donnaessex

Hi Mikey - we always use the hot button (the top one). The dial is for the heat (goes from blue to red around the dial).

donnaessex

pinkteapot wrote: »

OP said she is a DIY numpty. There was no mention of how old the house or current electric shower are. If it's recent, no problem.

Hi Pinkteapot - sorry I missed your post.

The house was built in 1960 and from the tiles/colour of the bathroom suite I presume it was decorated in the 90's maybe. Have no idea if the shower was fitted then or after as it was an empty house and we couldnt ask the vendors any questions.

red_devil

we used to have this. When it was cold the only way you could get nice hot water was to put the heating on and shower. We have had a new boiler recently and it seems better you can shower without putting the heating on.

blackshirtuk

electric showers are designed to raise the temp of the water by a set ammount (40 deg c?), so as the incoming water temp drops in winter the shower will feel colder.
eg summer water temp 10 deg shower = 50 deg
winter water temp 1 deg shower = 41 deg

numbers used for illustration only!

only way round this is as others have suggested a 10.5kw shower. Make sure the electric cables can handle it though!

thescouselander

donnaessex wrote: »

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!)

You can adjust the flow. Basically when you turn the heat dial that changes the flow of water through the heating element. So when you turn the dial to hot the flow is reduced which means the element has less water to heat and the temperature goes up.


As another poster has said - the problem is that the water feeding the shower has become colder due to the wether therefore when the element increases the temperature by a set amount it still feels cold.

What you need to do is change the position of the temperature dial relative to the valve. To do this you need move the dial to the hottest position then take the cover off and move the dial more towards the cold position and then replace the cover (do the opposite if the water becomes too hot) - continue the adjustment until you get a good temperature range when moving the dial.


IMPORTANT - Make sure you isolate the electrical supply before you take the cover off the shower.


Just be warned that doing this will reduce the flow of water through the shower and if this becomes unacceptably slow the only solution would be to get another, more powerful, shower.

donnaessex

Thanks so much scouselander! I shall ask my stepdad to do this over Christmas - he is pretty handy.

Thanks to everyone who replied!