Dolphin shower

beardiedog

I have an old Dolphin shower (installed in the early 80s) which has been absolutely brilliant and still works well. It's the one with the oblong white case, mirror and large brown dial in the middle.

For a while now there has been a constant drip from the shower head which I assume requires a new washer. Would it be easy enough for me to replace the washer and would I be able to isolate the water within the shower itself or do I have to turn it off at the mains.

googler

There shouldn't be any water coming through to the shower head if the shower is switched off. The solenoid should close, and cut off the supply. If the shower head is above the level of the box, and it's dripping constantly, I'd say the solenoid is definitely gone.

I've replaced the solenoid on a Mira before now, and would imagine the process for yours to be similar.

I isolated the water supply first, and the mains electricity supply, both via the switch at the bathroom, and the breaker at the consumer unit. I also checked it was isolated with a multimeter before starting.

Essentially, I disconnected water outlet and inlet pipes, the electrical connections, and removed the whole thing from the wall, to work on a workbench. The solenoid was easily removed with a plumber's wrench, new one installed, and as the Haynes manuals say "assembly is the reverse of removal"

I doubt very much there's any means to isolate the solenoid within the shower itself.

I got the spare from http://www.showerdoc.com/

beardiedog

Thanks for your help. The shower head is normally kept below the unit on a spigot over the sink.