Electric shower - flows etc and possible replacement

FreeBear

grumbler said:

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.

One of the things I like about the thermostatic version of the Triton T80 is that it is full flow the minute you turn it on. No fiddling with knobs to adjust the flow rate. Just one knob to set the temperature. And if the water pressure is too low, it still maintains the temperature (and a low pressure warning light comes on).

An alternative to replacing the shower is to fit a booster pump to the cold feed. One I've contemplated is this one - https://showerpowerbooster.co.uk/ - If I find one at the right price on ebay, I might give it a go.

malexicon

grumbler said:

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.

Hi there - yes. I gave this a go - no blockages, and I have a spare shower head too (which seemed to be slightly different) - the flow rate was same out of shower with head on / head off / hose off with water coming out of main body of shower so no real difference. 

malexicon

FreeBear said:

grumbler said:

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.

One of the things I like about the thermostatic version of the Triton T80 is that it is full flow the minute you turn it on. No fiddling with knobs to adjust the flow rate. Just one knob to set the temperature. And if the water pressure is too low, it still maintains the temperature (and a low pressure warning light comes on).

An alternative to replacing the shower is to fit a booster pump to the cold feed. One I've contemplated is this one - https://showerpowerbooster.co.uk/ - If I find one at the right price on ebay, I might give it a go.

I think this is the way forward - the shower is over a bath and used by my daughters - it would certainly save them fiddling around constantly to try and find an acceptable setting temperature wise. I think we can live with the pressure not being brilliant out the shower as its never been great. I'm not overly keen to start looking at pumps though I guess I could do this at some point. If I change the shower over for the thermo one then it shouldn't be worse (hopefully). I know the Triton Enrich is pretty much the budget model for Triton so hope spending a bit more will help

grumbler

FreeBear said:

grumbler said:

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.

One of the things I like about the thermostatic version of the Triton T80 is that it is full flow the minute you turn it on. No fiddling with knobs to adjust the flow rate. Just one knob to set the temperature. And if the water pressure is too low, it still maintains the temperature (and a low pressure warning light comes on).

Thermostatic shower just has the valve designed differently - with en extra thermostatic element. It doesn't control the electric power and cannot make the max. flow higher than in a normal shower.

If the flow is low because of the mains, another solution can be to reduce the electric power. There are 7.5kW showers.

However, in summer, when mains water is warm, I always use my electric shower on the lower setting, so I don't understand why malexicon is having problems with this. If the heating element is faulty it doesn't heat at all.

malexicon

Hi Grumbler - had a ponder just on your post there on the reduced kw...

I will need to check cabling etc - but looking at the current kw of shower fitted it is a 9.5kw - so by reducing perhaps to an 8.5kw one this may help. I don't know if the higher kw is meaning issues with the possible lower flow and its operation. A quick search of google suggests the 40a should in reality be ok for this. 

We've been in the house for a while and this is the third shower we had. The first was here when we got here 16 years ago and was a Mira electric, that gave way and we had a Creda Florida for a while - I wasnt happy with how that fitted so we swapped it for the Triton. I dont know what kw the Mira (which seemed the best one despite its age) was - but if it from 20 years ago, I'd be surprised if it was 9.5kw (or higher) - though dont know. I cant really remember much of the 'Creda era' though given it was quite short lived.

BUFF

malexicon said:

 I dont know what kw the Mira (which seemed the best one despite its age) was - but if it from 20 years ago, I'd be surprised if it was 9.5kw (or higher) - though dont know. 

Mira were making 9.5kW showers more than 20 years ago.

plumb1_2

BUFF said

Mira were making 9.5kW showers more than 20 years ago.

Ya easy, good showers imo. And still made in Britain. Been going for over 100 yrs starting as walker croswell, used to fit them in my apprentice days, many many moons ago 😊