Today, in true MSE style, i have become a plumber ! (Well sort of )

meer53

I'm so happy !

My shower has been playing up for some time. Local plumber came round today ( i know him so i won't knock him ) and looked at it for me. It's been installed for 12 years so when he said it would be best to replace it, i agreed and set about looking for a replacement online.

Whilst searching for a new one, i read the troubleshooting guide for the one i already have.

"Water too hot ?" it said.
"Yes" i thought.
"Not enough water pressure through the unit" it said.

Aha ! Lightbulb moment ! Last year my water pipes were making a knocking sound so the plumber turned down the pressure, shower started playing up at same time.

Cleared out the cr*p from under the sink, turned the water pressure back up and hey presto, shower now working again. Bonus too that the pipes no longer make a knocking sound !

Feeling pretty pleased with myself and saved £110+ too !

Wouldn't want to try any other plumbing related issues, but will definately be using Google again before paying a plumber !

loracan1

We once had a shower replaced, only to find a day or so later the dishwasher cutting out when switched on. Turned out that was due to the water not being turned on properly. (took a couple of expensive dishwasher visits first though)

mart.vader

Don't give up the day-job, just yet !

Nilrem

Another one to remember for future reference with some showers (mainly thermostatic ones rather than electric ones), is that they usually have some form of inline filter that can get clogged by things like limescale (especially if the hotwater is from a hot water cylender with pressure supplied by a header tank).

In some cases to clean the filter all you need to do is turn off the water to the shower (both hot and cold), and undo about 4 screws to pull out the thermostatic mixer and filters (I've got a Mira shower here that suffered from blocked filters from time to time - first time round I was stumped, but I can do it in under 5 minutes now I know how to do it, and the screwdriver to use).

meer53

mart.vader wrote: »

Don't give up the day-job, just yet !

I could never make it as a plumber ! I have osteoarthritis in both knees and kneeling down is extremely painful !

I'll be sticking to banking (sits back and waits for abuse !)

[Deleted User]

Hi,

meer53 wrote: »

I could never make it as a plumber ! I have osteoarthritis in both knees and kneeling down is extremely painful !

I'll be sticking to banking (sits back and waits for abuse !)

what about the poor people with osteoarthritis in both knees who have to crawl to you for a loan?

keystone

Your plumber isn't very good. First thing he should have done is troubleshoot and come up with the same answer that you did. Secondly throttling back the main stopcock off to prevent water hammer is really pretty poor The problem should be isolated and dealt with properly.

For reference he didn't change the pressure and neither did you. What you have done by opening up the stopcock is increase the flow rate. By the way don't be too optimistic about the water hammer not coming back. Almost certainly it will idc.

Cheers

keystone

@ Frugal

Ouch!!!

Cheers

ValHaller

keystone wrote: »

Your plumber isn't very good. First thing he should have done is troubleshoot and come up with the same answer that you did. Secondly throttling back the main stopcock off to prevent water hammer is really pretty poor The problem should be isolated and dealt with properly.

For reference he didn't change the pressure and neither did you. What you have done by opening up the stopcock is increase the flow rate. By the way don't be too optimistic about the water hammer not coming back. Almost certainly it will idc.

Cheers

^^^ Says everything I would say. If I got to the stage of needing someone to plumb for me and they tried fixing waterhammer by turning the stopcock partially off and said they were reducing the pressure, that would be the last bit of plumbing they did for me!

meer53

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,



what about the poor people with osteoarthritis in both knees who have to crawl to you for a loan?

Very funny

All my customers are on the phone so they don't have to kneel when speaking to me !

meer53

keystone wrote: »

Your plumber isn't very good. First thing he should have done is troubleshoot and come up with the same answer that you did. Secondly throttling back the main stopcock off to prevent water hammer is really pretty poor The problem should be isolated and dealt with properly.

For reference he didn't change the pressure and neither did you. What you have done by opening up the stopcock is increase the flow rate. By the way don't be too optimistic about the water hammer not coming back. Almost certainly it will idc.

Cheers

He's a neighbour and doesn't charge me, so as long as he solves my problem, even if only temporarily, i'm happy. He did change the pressure at the main stop tap at the top of my drive.