Electric shower - flows etc and possible replacement

malexicon

Hi everyone - looking for a bit of general advice and thoughts here. I have an 8 year old Triton Enrich electric shower fitted in my bathroom (from cold main only) - I think its probably an 8.5kw one as the RCD in the box seems to be a 40amp one. 

The shower turns on, heats up etc, but the hot setting is really very hot, the eco setting doesn't seem to heat up much at all - so I am wondering whether its just old and not working as well as it should or if there might be something else.

I wont touch plumbing or electrics and naturally if I was replacing I'd get a trusted local plumber in to fit - but there seems to be no obvious blockages - the shower deliver approx. 6l of water per minute into a jug (both with the shower head on and the hose totally removed) - I don't know if this is low or not - we don't have terrific pressure in the house to be honest, but I am getting 10l out the bath tap so presume the shower pipe can deliver less due to size or something.

Any thoughts on this? Is the amount of water its throwing out good / bad etc? ... but I guess on the whole it still works, but not in a way we want it too with the temperature issues.

Many thanks

FreeBear

Had a similar problem with the old electric shower here. Was either too cold, or too hot, and was impossible to set it to a comfortable temperature. Replaced it with a Triton T80 thermostatic - Cost a bit more than the plain model, but the thermostatic control was well worth the extra. Have low water pressure here which was part of the problem with the old shower. The T80 has a low pressure warning which will light up fairly regularly for me..

malexicon

Thanks for coming back - thats most helpful to know - I didnt even know you could get a thermostatic electric shower to be honest (!) - I presume these just come off the cold mains but the thermo element is insider to control the temp? I wont mind paying a bit more if I replace it if it does the job for a few years

plumb1_2

malexicon said:

Thanks for coming back - thats most helpful to know - I didnt even know you could get a thermostatic electric shower to be honest (!) - I presume these just come off the cold mains but the thermo element is insider to control the temp? I wont mind paying a bit more if I replace it if it does the job for a few years

Correct and a easy swop
triton T80 easy fit thermo about £180

FreeBear

https://www.tritonshowers.co.uk/t80-easi-fit-thermostatic-electric-shower - Once set to a temperature you like, you can turn it off, switch to a low power setting, come back, and it will still be at the same temp.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/triton-t80-easi-fit-white-chrome-8-5kw-thermostatic-electric-shower/8178V - Price has gone up since I purchased one...

malexicon

brill - thanks very much - will have a proper look. Very much sounds like a new unit is in order

plumb1_2

The size of the cable needs checking , so you can determine what Kw shower you can have, but should be ok with 8.5. But best to check 

malexicon

Cheers folks - I'd always get a plumber in for something like this and he'll be in a better position than I will to double check to ensure we get the right Kw.

grumbler

malexicon said:

 I presume these just come off the cold mains but the thermo element is insider to control the temp? I wont mind paying a bit more if I replace it if it does the job for a few years

Heating element (two actually for two settings) is there to heat. The temperature is controlled by the flow of the water.

malexicon said:

...the hot setting is really very hot,

This means that you can't increase the flow to make it colder. Hopefully, the problem is with the shower, not with the mains supply, in which case you are likely to have the same problem with a new shower, thermostatic or not.

malexicon

Hi Grumbler, yes, that's my thinking re the flow... Pressure is not brilliant in the house but should be sufficient enough hopefully. I guess it can't hurt to have someone have a look though I read elsewhere, on another forum that the 6l a minute output from the shower isn't that ridiculous 

grumbler

Did you try removing the shower head? 
Regarding 6L, this depends on the mains water temperature. One thing is to heat it from 5C to 40, another - from 20.