Our shower has stopped working: did switching our thermostat off while away affect it?

Lorian

They usually don't last anything like 30 years you've done well.

Exodi

Lorian said:

They usually don't last anything like 30 years you've done well.

Agreed, my last one gave up the ghost after 16 years,and I thought I'd done well!

WIAWSNB

All true, but we don't know if the shower is at fault yet.

This is MSE - I'm sure Mothball can squeeze a few decades out of it yet. 

Lorian

WIAWSNB said:

All true, but we don't know if the shower is at fault yet.

This is MSE - I'm sure Mothball can squeeze a few decades out of it yet. 

Most of the parts are obsolete.  Probably worth waiting for the mains issue to be fixed though.

MothballsWallet

Okay, so we've now run a basic flow test as suggested by @WIAWSNB using a plastic washing up basin and jug:

• Day (4:40 pm): 3.5 litres in 10 seconds = 21 litres per minute
• Night (10:40 pm): 3.3 litres in 10 seconds = 19.8 litres per minute

One thing we can't rule out for the difference is that we were better coordinated on the night test than on the day test - we put the basin in the sink and my wife ran the cold tap while I ran the stopwatch.

I'm going to contact our water company (Severn Trent Water) and see if there's a pressure issue in our area: we asked one of our neighbours and they did have a pressure issue with their bathroom sink tap but not their shower from what they remember, but they're going to check for us and let us know.

We've got the video clips for day and night flow tests which I'll edit together and share via my YouTube account later - hopefully those can help answer many of the questions.

WIAWSNB

MothballsWallet said:

Okay, so we've now run a basic flow test as suggested by @WIAWSNB using a plastic washing up basin and jug:

• Day (4:40 pm): 3.5 litres in 10 seconds = 21 litres per minute
• Night (10:40 pm): 3.3 litres in 10 seconds = 19.8 litres per minute

One thing we can't rule out for the difference is that we were better coordinated on the night test than on the day test - we put the basin in the sink and my wife ran the cold tap while I ran the stopwatch.

I'm going to contact our water company (Severn Trent Water) and see if there's a pressure issue in our area: we asked one of our neighbours and they did have a pressure issue with their bathroom sink tap but not their shower from what they remember, but they're going to check for us and let us know.

We've got the video clips for day and night flow tests which I'll edit together and share via my YouTube account later - hopefully those can help answer many of the questions.

Don't bother contacting your WB - both these rates are perfectly fine.

Another aspect of the supply is 'pressure'. This needs a gauge, but a good check is to simply try and stop the kitchen cold flow using yer thumb :-)

Could you try this and tell us how wet you got?

It's interesting that the evening flow is slightly less - I'd have expected the opposite. Perhaps the WB can throttle back their pumps overnight to reduce water leak loss, I don't know. But, the recorded differences are only marginal in any case.

Would you say that the flow coming out your shower handset is normal? It doesn't look noticeably reduced compared to, say, a year ago? The inlet inside the shower will have a filter, and if debris has built up, that can reduce the flow to the point the shower stops working. You need to be reasonably DIYish to sort it, tho'. Are you? If you fancy a bash, let us know. Bear in mind the mains leccy in the unit...

Albermarle

I'm going to contact our water company (Severn Trent Water) and see if there's a pressure issue in our area

The water companies only have to supply a minimum one bar pressure ( I think), which is quite low.
As long as it is above that ( and looks like yours is) then it is not an issue for them if it is varying at times,  not officially anyway.

Eldi_Dos

WIAWSNB said:

MothballsWallet said:

Okay, so we've now run a basic flow test as suggested by @WIAWSNB using a plastic washing up basin and jug:

• Day (4:40 pm): 3.5 litres in 10 seconds = 21 litres per minute
• Night (10:40 pm): 3.3 litres in 10 seconds = 19.8 litres per minute

One thing we can't rule out for the difference is that we were better coordinated on the night test than on the day test - we put the basin in the sink and my wife ran the cold tap while I ran the stopwatch.

I'm going to contact our water company (Severn Trent Water) and see if there's a pressure issue in our area: we asked one of our neighbours and they did have a pressure issue with their bathroom sink tap but not their shower from what they remember, but they're going to check for us and let us know.

We've got the video clips for day and night flow tests which I'll edit together and share via my YouTube account later - hopefully those can help answer many of the questions.

It's interesting that the evening flow is slightly less - I'd have expected the opposite

Even if everyone on the street was going to bed around the same time ?
May even have been major story /event on the telly that night.

WIAWSNB

Eldi_Dos said:

WIAWSNB said:

MothballsWallet said:

Okay, so we've now run a basic flow test as suggested by @WIAWSNB using a plastic washing up basin and jug:

• Day (4:40 pm): 3.5 litres in 10 seconds = 21 litres per minute
• Night (10:40 pm): 3.3 litres in 10 seconds = 19.8 litres per minute

One thing we can't rule out for the difference is that we were better coordinated on the night test than on the day test - we put the basin in the sink and my wife ran the cold tap while I ran the stopwatch.

I'm going to contact our water company (Severn Trent Water) and see if there's a pressure issue in our area: we asked one of our neighbours and they did have a pressure issue with their bathroom sink tap but not their shower from what they remember, but they're going to check for us and let us know.

We've got the video clips for day and night flow tests which I'll edit together and share via my YouTube account later - hopefully those can help answer many of the questions.

It's interesting that the evening flow is slightly less - I'd have expected the opposite

Even if everyone on the street was going to bed around the same time ?
May even have been major story /event on the telly that night.

Everyone taking a midnight wee.

FreeBear

MothballsWallet said:

Okay, so we've now run a basic flow test as suggested by @WIAWSNB using a plastic washing up basin and jug:

• Day (4:40 pm): 3.5 litres in 10 seconds = 21 litres per minute
• Night (10:40 pm): 3.3 litres in 10 seconds = 19.8 litres per minute

Dang. Wish my flow was that good.

Best I can get is ~10l/min out of the bath tap. All the others are like 7l/min.