Triton electric shower cuts off mid shower

Starrygem

Hi, my Triton Enrich is 3yrs old. Its been working perfectly but now cuts out after a few mins, then comes back on again after a few seconds.
The length of time it runs for is random, guessing abt 4 - 6 mins. I rarely get through a whole shower.
After its come back on it runs another couple of minutes then cuts off again.
Suggestions I've read are to replace the solenoid. Also to check the pull cord  connections, but I'm no electrician. It scares me 😔
I dont know if I need a plumber, an electrician or if I can change the solenoid myself. Is there anything else it could be? 
If it was the solenoid...would it go off and on, or would it just stop completely?

FreeBear

Might be worth giving Triton a call and see if they would do a replacement either free or at a heavily reduced price. You are only just out of warranty, but an electric shower should last considerably longer than just three years. 10 to 15 years would be a reasonable expectation in my opinion.

If you don't have any experience of working with electrics, get a plumber in (some will refer you to an electrician) to diagnose & repair. There will be 240V mains inside the casing, and getting it wrong could kill. Turning the mains off with the big red switch on the consumer unit (fuse box) should render it safe to work on the shower, but you still need to check for voltage before touching anything (I have come across a faulty isolation switch before now and found out the hard way it was still live).

QrizB

FreeBear said:

Might be worth giving Triton a call and see if they would do a replacement either free or at a heavily reduced price. You are only just out of warranty, but an electric shower should last considerably longer than just three years. 10 to 15 years would be a reasonable expectation in my opinion.

We're in a hard water area. While my shower is a mixer, a near neighbour has instantaneous electric showers and the scale kills them in 3-5 years. The OP might have the same problem with theirs?

Starrygem said:

Hi, my Triton Enrich is 3yrs old. Its been working perfectly but now cuts out after a few mins, then comes back on again after a few seconds.

How hard is your water? How often do you have to descale your kettle?

Mr.Generous

I've just replaced a Triton that did the same thing, It had a 2 year guarantee and luckily tenant notified me after 22 months. Screwfix refunded in full, and the replacement shower was £10 cheaper. They do usually last at least 5 years+ even with daily use.

For the cost of a new shower not worth trying to repair - a 9.5kw Enrich is currently £70 at Screwfix.

ThisIsWeird

Hi Starry.
Try removing the handset from the hose, and see if it now runs without shutting off.
If it works ok, it could be partially blocked nozzles, restricting flow, and causing the overheat stat to operate.

Doonhamer

Run it cold and see if it does the same thing, that eliminates overheating, and would point to the solenoid if it does the same thing. As others have said it might be as well to replace the shower by the time it's diagnosed and a part ordered and fitted

grumpy_codger

ThisIsWeird said:

Try removing the handset from the hose, and see if it now runs without shutting off.
If it works ok, it could be partially blocked nozzles, restricting flow, and causing the overheat stat to operate.

Electric showers control the temperature by changing the water flow rate (at the given power setting). If, for whatever reason, the flow gets too low, then the temperature gets too high - that doesn't seem to be the case.

FreeBear

grumpy_codger said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Try removing the handset from the hose, and see if it now runs without shutting off.
If it works ok, it could be partially blocked nozzles, restricting flow, and causing the overheat stat to operate.

Electric showers control the temperature by changing the water flow rate (at the given power setting). If, for whatever reason, the flow gets too low, then the temperature gets too high - that doesn't seem to be the case.

My electric shower maintains the same flow rate regardless of temperature.

QrizB

FreeBear said:

grumpy_codger said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Try removing the handset from the hose, and see if it now runs without shutting off.
If it works ok, it could be partially blocked nozzles, restricting flow, and causing the overheat stat to operate.

Electric showers control the temperature by changing the water flow rate (at the given power setting). If, for whatever reason, the flow gets too low, then the temperature gets too high - that doesn't seem to be the case.

My electric shower maintains the same flow rate regardless of temperature.

Yours might, but the OP has a Triton Enrich which works in the usual way (for an electric shower) by having a constant-power electrical heating element and then varying the flow rate to adjust the shower temperature.

See strip-down here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCu4K2cqrmE

grumpy_codger

FreeBear said:

grumpy_codger said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Try removing the handset from the hose, and see if it now runs without shutting off.
If it works ok, it could be partially blocked nozzles, restricting flow, and causing the overheat stat to operate.

Electric showers control the temperature by changing the water flow rate (at the given power setting). If, for whatever reason, the flow gets too low, then the temperature gets too high - that doesn't seem to be the case.

My electric shower maintains the same flow rate regardless of temperature.

What model? It's hard to believe. Some showers do have thermostatic control on top of manual, but again, the power remains the same, the flow changes.

Starrygem

QrizB said:

FreeBear said:

Might be worth giving Triton a call and see if they would do a replacement either free or at a heavily reduced price. You are only just out of warranty, but an electric shower should last considerably longer than just three years. 10 to 15 years would be a reasonable expectation in my opinion.

We're in a hard water area. While my shower is a mixer, a near neighbour has instantaneous electric showers and the scale kills them in 3-5 years. The OP might have the same problem with theirs?

Starrygem said:

Hi, my Triton Enrich is 3yrs old. Its been working perfectly but now cuts out after a few mins, then comes back on again after a few seconds.

How hard is your water? How often do you have to descale your kettle?

It is a hard water area but not had this problem with my other tritons. The last one lasted more than 10yrs with one small repair for it kept going hot & cold. Descale kettle roughly 6mthly