Low water pressure affecting electric shower (Updated 17/10 - mains problems)

pinkteapot

Until recently, we had two identical Triton electric showers in our house, both installed three years ago. One in our en-suite which is used daily and one in the main bathroom which is used very rarely.

We had an intermittent problem with our en-suite one with the heating element not coming on. The bathroom one did it too, though not as often.

We've replaced the en-suite one with a new Triton electric shower, installed 10 days ago. This morning, after a few minutes, the heating element cut out and the power light started blinking. Checked the instruction manual and this is its low pressure indicator.

I then checked the instructions for our old electric showers (we still have the one in the bathroom) and it turns out that water running cold was that model's way of saying 'low pressure' (though no warning light or anything).

This morning, when the new one cut out, I tried to use the main bathroom one instead and that refused to heat up. So, at the same time, both showers were doing their low pressure thing.

Both are mains fed (using separate pipes).

After about ten minutes, the new one started working again. I was late for work by that point so I didn't test the bathroom one to see if that started working again at the same time.

It could be that the brand new shower is faulty, and that the older one is just conking out due to age (we're in a hard water area). But it seems remarkably coincedental that both failed due to low pressure at the same time today?

Is there such a thing as an intermittent problem with the mains water pressure?

My brother's a plumber and he installed the showers. Spoke to him and he said mains pressure should be 4-7bar and the showers only need 1bar, so he thinks a problem there is unlikely (though possible). I've picked up a pressure gauge so we can monitor our pressure. He said it was also unlikely to be a blockage as there'd have to be blockages in both pipes for both showers to be affected. We've got no problem with our water tank refilling, so I don't think there's a blockage coming into the house.

Any suggestions on where we go from here? Next time we get low pressure at the showers, I'll check the pressure in our kitchen tap to try and narrow things down. Just seems odd that it's so intermittent...

As I said, could just be that the new shower is faulty, in which case I'll get a Triton engineer out as it's only ten days old. But I figure I need to test our pressure first so they don't just fob it off and blame that!

imho

Someone going through same thing as you.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4791219

southcoastrgi

Mains pressure or tank fed which is it ?

If you have 4-7 bar coming in on your mains then that's too high for everything & you should have a pressure reducing valve fitted set at 3.5 bar

pinkteapot

Sorry, my mistake in the OP. Just double-check with plumber-brother and they're definitely mains-fed (not tank-fed).

His point was actually that if there was a blockage in the pipe coming into the house (to the tank), it would also be causing problems with our tank refilling, as well as the showers.

I'll edit the OP now.

Funnily enough, seeing your comment about too-high pressure, my brother's had several call-outs in his town recently because the water company there had a leak and increased the pressure to about 7.5bar, which caused all sorts of problems with valves in toilets.

pinkteapot

Just to add some further notes:

We never run both showers at the same time, nor do we tend to use them when any other mains taps are in use (to avoid temperature fluctuations).

Ten day old shower is the Triton Aspirante and the older one is the preceding model, the Triton Inscriptions.

Both showers (previously two Inscriptions ones) worked perfectly for about 2.5 years. The low pressure cut-out has been happening intermittently in the last six months or so. We just thought the en-suite shower was dead from daily use in a hard water area, so replaced it. Didn't even realise that it was giving a low pressure warning. Next time I'll buy one with one of those neat lights that's actually labelled "low pressure".

Place your bets on whether it turns out to be a water pressure problem or three faulty shower units. Brother did comment that if our pressure is on the low side, then it's feasible that it could drop far enough at times of high use by our neighbours? (we're not in a flat or anything, but we're in a built-up area)

pinkteapot

Update:

Measured our mains pressure as 1.5bar.

Phoned Anglian Water who are sending someone out to make sure their supply is as good as it can be, but said the legal minimum they have to supply is 1bar.

Do they have to supply that much pressure 24/7? If we get readings of less than 1bar at peak times, can we insist they do something?

They did ask if there had been any major works in the area. I said that the pressure problems have happened in the last six months, when coincedentally about 1,000 new homes have been finished off over the road so a lot more people have moved in. They said that could cause a pressure drop at peak times.

So, next step is to see if Anglian Water can do anything to increase our pressure. If not, I guess we're f'ed and need to change from electric showers to another system, but not sure we can do that without ripping tiles out etc as at present there's only mains cold pipes coming through the walls. Or we could just shower at 2am when it's quiet and sell the house.

southcoastrgi

did you test the pressure with no water running ie a cold main tap open or with all the taps turned off ?

Myser

Your water pressure can drop during peak times e.g. when everyone is getting ready for work and having showers!

That may explain why you were able to have a shower a little later.

muckybutt

If needs be rather than ripping out the showers and going down the route of replacing them you could look at getting a pressurisation unit / booster pump fitted.

pinkteapot

southcoastrgi wrote: »

did you test the pressure with no water running ie a cold main tap open or with all the taps turned off ?

I tested the pressure using the outside tap, which is cold mains fed. Unfortunately the connector on the gauge I got (standard 3/4" threaded) didn't fit our kitchen tap.

Everything else was off at the time. Screwed the gauge onto the tap and opened it fully.

We'll take some readings at other times of day, including peak period in the morning. As I said, Anglian Water said they're only obliged to supply us with 1bar. Are they allowed to go below that during peak times?

So annoying - it would appear that we didn't need to replace the en-suite shower after all. Ah well, I've learned something.

It does coincide with people moving in to a huge new housing development opposite our road.

An idea did occur - if the pressure is 'correct' (i.e. there's nothing wrong), maybe a lower powered shower (ours are 9.5kw) would need less water pressure to run? Maybe replacing the electric showers with different models would be cheaper than changing to mixer showers with pumps.

If need be, I'll look into the pressurisation unit/booster pump options before we look at changing showers - thanks for the tip.

pinkteapot

Update - no showers this morning.... Pressure at 7:30am was 0.25bar. :eek: At 8am it was back to 1.6bar.

Anglian Water coming tomorrow but they've received no other complaints from our area. Phoned them with the reading to add to our notes, and they said that in some areas you get less than 1bar at peak time.

I'm really worried that we've got a leak on our property (the pipes coming under the house bringing the mains supply). What would we do, or who would we get to fix it, if that's the case?

At some point I'll see if any of our neighbours have an outside tap, so I can measure their pressure and ours at the same time. Assume that if we both have the same pressure, the problem isn't within our boundary.