Showers- any help appreciated!

[Deleted User]

We are getting to our wits end with our shower and would really appreciate some advice/opinions. We are considering getting a new bathroom but suspect it might not solve any of the problems and could leave us in the same position but £££ down! The annoying thing about it is that it is very variable, we can't just say x happens or y doesn't happen so hard to describe to a plumber. I almost wish it would just outright break as at least then we could get to the bottom of it! Facts as follows (included heaps as I have no idea what is relevant!):

- Flat is second storey in a Victorian tenement (top floor) that is at the end of a road at the bottom of a small hill. Only one small bathroom.

- Worcester combi boiler installed in loft (i.e. third storey), approx 7 years old and regularly serviced.

- Pipes have not been updated in time I have lived here (12 years) and I suspect a long time before- building not well maintained!

- Non electric shower installed over bath- not sure what make but it is integral i.e. no box on the wall, silver plate with separate knobs for temp and water.

- Sometimes there seems to be a cycle whereby the water will go scalding hot, then cold. We run the bath hot tap (which stops any water coming from the shower) until it goes hot again (takes about 90 seconds/two minutes) then can continue. Hot seems to last about 3 mins before going cold again.

- Other times cycle happens as above but water doesn't get so hot.

- Sometimes the water pressure drops to the point that it is the briefest of dribbles (can't feel it on your hair when standing underneath). If it comes back stronger (not guaranteed, sometimes you have to give up), sometimes it goes cold, sometimes not. Pressure is very variable and can drop varying amounts for varying amounts of time.

- Other times the pressure is adequate, not good, but is "flickery"- you can see the flow coming and going really quickly like there is air coming through the pipes. If it is like this it also seems to go cold in cycles too, but not always.

- Of course there is the bog standard case of anyone else in the flat turning on another tap all water ceases coming from the shower immediately.

- On a very rare occasion, we get a perfectly good shower- maybe one in 50 times! There is no rhyme or reason to the timing of things- all the above scenarios have happened at all times of day and there's no time we find is guaranteed to give us a "good" shower.

- Shower head is an Ecocamel- I dread to think what the pressure would be like without it :eek:

- Previously we have assumed the low pressure was due to Scottish Water. Sometimes it has been and they have come and turned the pressure up. On other occasions they have advised that they supply the legally required pressure at the boundary of one bar and that should do it.

- Hot water from all other taps and central heating is A-OK. Pressure could be better from hot water taps at sinks sometimes but nothing to really complain about.

- At one point it was discovered that there was an ancient pipe going down the garden to the old outdoor toilets that had been capped off but the cap had failed and thus there was water seeping through the concrete in the garden- neighbours fixed this (not professionals!) and pressure improved but has since worsened again- however pipe does not appear to be leaking again.

Sorry for banging on- does anyone have any thoughts on what we could do to improve things? All I want is to be able to have a 5-10 minute shower with consistent hot water but it has been eluding us for literally years now!

Doozergirl

My first thought is that you don't have enough pressure coming in from outside to let the combi do it's thing.

Showers often say that they are suitable for low pressure, but often cannot cope.

I'm not sure what the solution is if it is pressure as I don't think you should have a combi boiler at all if it the pressure isn't good. And I don't think you can connect a pump onto a combi system (or maybe you just shouldn't have to).

Perhaps an elcetric shower would be better?

I'm not an expert at all on these things, just rambling this time

MX5huggy

I think this is just about the shower unit its self. If you run the hot bath tap do you get a consistent flow of hot water for an unlimited amount of time?

I had a shower that did what you discribe the cold was attached to the hot inlet and visa versa. It could never balance the temperature. If it did work in the past then probably easiest to get a plumber to fit a new one.

Midland45

As you have a very good combi boiler fitted you are best retaining the plumbed in shower u have. As you are experiencing a significant change in pressure/temperature on both the hot and cold water at times, you need to have a thermostatic type mixer shower valve. There are several really good manufacturers, Mira is one, who manufacture showers that feature thermostatic shower valves. These can react to changes in temperature/pressure and maintain a more constant temperature to the shower head, even if flow drops significantly. Your water supply sounds like the worst case scenario lol, but a good thermostatic shower valve will help to alleviate the problem to a degree. I fitted a Mira Excel shower about 15 years ago, and though expensive, it's been used 2 or 3 times a day and has had no problems over this period.
Hope u get your problems resolved.

andyhop

It's the shower, either cartridge needs replaced or striped back, filters cleaned and reassembled

[Deleted User]

Thanks folks, on further googling I think we have a thermostatic mixer fitted currently, but it is 7 years old so probably needs replaced. Surely we have a problem with the boiler as well as the shower though, as when the shower goes cold and we run the hot bath tap the water is freezing. I would have thought that if the shower was using hot and cold water, if there was no issue with the hot water the boiler was putting out then running the hot tap would yield hot water pretty quickly and not cold?

macman

Mak and model of your boiler? A combi is not designed to feed both a shower and a bath simultaneously, as it has a maximum flow rate which is determined by the kWh output of the boiler.
Firstly, check what the actual mains pressure is, and if below one bar, contact your supplier.
You don't need the shower replaced, just change or clean the cartridge (as above) and see if that fixes it.
If the hot water supply from the boiler to any hot water output (shower, bath, hot tap at sink) is intermittently going cold then hot, then the first thing to suspect is the diverter valve. Not a big job to sort that out.

Diychap

Sounds like the thermostatic control valve is sticking in various places giving erratic temperature control. I just fixed mine that was stuck on cold. Search on Google for youtube thermostatic shower comeinhandynow
Strip it down and clean it out. Will be like new!

southcoastrgi

my money is on the boiler or lack of flow rate but the shower prob needs cleaning/descaling as well