Gahhh! I need a new shower!

shar46y

We have a 9/10 year old Showerforce "shower panel" type of shower (installed by previous owners of the house) and a couple of weeks ago it started acting up.

It turns on fine, but is very hard to turn off - you have to turn the control knob round and round and round, and slowly the flow of water slows down and eventually stops. I have visualised it as if some part of the control knob is 'slipping' on the inside, but only when turned anticlockwise, if that makes any sense.

I have tried Googling for the relevant spare parts, and just been on the phone to Bristan customer services (they took over Showerforce some time ago) and there seem to be no spare parts available for this shower.

I'm throwing myself on the mercy of the wise people at MSE in case anyone has any suggestions for this problem... if not we will have to replace the entire unit for £££, which will of course leave an unsightly mess of pipes and brackets on our bathroom wall

macman

Try here:
http://www.showerdoc.com/shower-spares

shar46y

macman wrote: »

Try here:
http://www.showerdoc.com/shower-spares

Already been there

abankerbutnotafatcat

Ours did something similar for a couple of weeks and then it started dripping and wouldn't properly switch off at all. I contacted Aqualisa tech support who advised that I needed a new thermostatic valve which cost c£100. We got a new shower (same brand, we confirmed with customer services it would fit where the old one had been) with brand new guarantee!!

BlueC

Long shot, but try taking the cover off the control knob and tightening the screw inside. A picture of said control knob may help.

shar46y

It was remarkably hard to find an image of my particular shower model online, but this shower panel is made by the same people and the control knobs look virtually identical (see detailed images).

We will try pulling the control knob off to see what's underneath (will wait for daytime so we can get hold of an emergency plumber in case an uncontrollable jet of water spurts out! :rotfl:)

macman

You could always turn off the supply first...

abankerbutnotafatcat

The OH and I gawped slightly when clicking the link!! I can see why you would prefer to go down the repair rather than replace route now even if it ends up being a £100 part!! Good luck OP - that doesn't seem like good customer service at all. Hopefully, if you do end up replacing it you can find one that covers all the old holes so that you won't need to do any re-tiling.

sunshinetours

ebay worth a shot if you end up finding out what part is required

ListysDad

abankerbutnotafatcat wrote: »

... that doesn't seem like good customer service at all....

Not really. Think about it. No supplier will support kit for ever! Bristan bought this business nearly seven years ago. Five years is the time most reasonable companies will guarantee to provide support for.

abankerbutnotafatcat

ListysDad wrote: »

Not really. Think about it. No supplier will support kit for ever! Bristan bought this business nearly seven years ago. Five years is the time most reasonable companies will guarantee to provide support for.

I still think that obtaining parts for a £700 shower 9 or 10 years later is not unreasonable. It's a shame that we've become such a throw away society.