Shower to fix or buy a new one

jediquigley

Our electric shower has been playing up for about 6 months (my dad fitted some new taps for me at this time and was fiddling with the water supply) it will go hot then cold or sometimes the pressure icon goes red and it will cut out completely - rather annoying

i said to my dad that this started happening the day after he did some work for me but he thought it was nothing to do with what he had done.

anyway i am not sure what to do, i would like it fixed but not sure whether to just buy new shower (current one 5 years old)or get a plumber out to fix the current one. He may come out and just say we need a new shower then the call out fee will be wasted.

we are expecting a baby in july so trying to get things in the house sorted.

any idea about what could be wrong?
should we go for complete new shower or try to get the old one fixed?

opinions/help would be appreciated

Laura

yvonne13_2

OP get a new one.

New baby new shower better to be safe than sorry and I personally would not like to be in the shower when it decides to just jump out hot water.

A.Penny.Saved

Have you tried turning the mains water inlet valve up a bit?

After your Dad changed the taps, which he would probably of had to turn off the mains water, the water might of been turned back on to a lower inlet pressure. Now any water usage in your home or even possibly in other homes could be lowering the pressure below that needed by your shower. Hence activating it's safety heater off cut off system and causing the shower to go hot and cold.

A simple solution which is worth trying, it could save you money.

macman

Since the electric shower is fed only off the cold supply, it would appear that the only fault is a lack of flow or pressure. Changing the shower won't cure that. Check the stopc*ck as above.

sunshinetours

As above stop c*ck should be fully open. You would be surprised what difference just a quarter turn or less will make if it isn't fully open

WestonDave

Try cleaning and descaling the shower head - if something your dad did with the plumbing has sent some grot through, it may simply be that water can't flow fast enough and the shower is tripping off to protect you from scalding. Its more likely to be that the water flow needs adjusting as suggested above, but I know ours will exhibit similar symptoms to yours if the head needs descaling.

explumber

suggest turning electric off to the shower at consumer unit.
then turn off water at the main stopcock. ( unless it has its own service valve). you will need to take the face cover of the shower, and remove the screws fitting it to the wall. then undo the commpresion nut that attatches the copper pipe to the unit. then remove the shower and put to one side. with the shower of the wall, and removed from the pipework, turn on the water main(stopcock) to flush the pipe work out. also check the shower fillter for debris. then refit the shower. dont forget to follow commisioning instructions for the shower as per your manual.
just a chance that your dad might have let swarf or pipe jointing compound into the pipework, when fitting your taps.

best of luck.

mart.vader

explumber wrote: »

suggest turning electric off to the shower at consumer unit.
then turn off water at the main stopcock. ( unless it has its own service valve). you will need to take the face cover of the shower, and remove the screws fitting it to the wall. then undo the commpresion nut that attatches the copper pipe to the unit. then remove the shower and put to one side. with the shower of the wall, and removed from the pipework, turn on the water main(stopcock) to flush the pipe work out. also check the shower fillter for debris. then refit the shower. dont forget to follow commisioning instructions for the shower as per your manual.
just a chance that your dad might have let swarf or pipe jointing compound into the pipework, when fitting your taps.

best of luck.

Then mop up all the water that will have hit the bathroom ceiling !

explumber

i believe comon sense should prevail.

keystone

explumber wrote: »

i believe comon sense should prevail.

You have an overgenerous idea of peoples capacity to think things through logically where water is concerned.

What Mart said - rinse and repeat.

Cheers

custardy

another vote for checking the stop co_k
our shower recently died
fitted a new one
obviously I had the water off
when I turned it back on it must have not been fully on the last time
it s like a fire hose from the taps now!