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

WIAWSNB

FreeBear said:

The shower head could be restricting flow, especially if you are in a hard water area and there is a build up of scale. Some heads can be dismantled to allow for a thorough clean.

Just unscrew the handset and run the shower without it to check this. 

vic_sf49

If they were in a hard water area, I'd bet all my money, on the shower not living to the ripe old age of 30.

I'm in Lincolnshire, and get about 3 years per thermostatic mixer cartridge thingy, before limescale kills it (handily replaced under warranty). 

WIAWSNB

vic_sf49 said:

If they were in a hard water area, I'd bet all my money, on the shower not living to the ripe old age of 30.

I'm in Lincolnshire, and get about 3 years per thermostatic mixer cartridge thingy, before limescale kills it (handily replaced under warranty). 

If you lube the thread and washers with a nice smear of sili grease, then it should be a simple task to remove the cartridge and leave it soaking in 'scale remover overnight. Just in case they get tired of your warranty claims...

MothballsWallet

FreeBear said:

MothballsWallet said: Also, the 1 litre in 47 seconds at 01:30 am and 1 litre in 16 seconds at 10:50 am tests were done with the shower itself and not the kitchen tap.

I asked on the Hive forum about whether what I did would affect the shower and someone there suggested that there may be extra debris inside the shower unit and the filter's not handling it properly?

The shower head could be restricting flow, especially if you are in a hard water area and there is a build up of scale. Some heads can be dismantled to allow for a thorough clean.

Most (all ?) showers will have a gauze filter on the inlet - It is possible that this is partially blocked. The manual will tell you how to get to the filter - But do make sure that both the water AND electricity is turned off first.

There should be an isolator valve in the pipe feeding the shower - Worth checking that it is fully open.

If you are in a hard water area, there is a possibility that the heating canister inside the shower is clogged up with scale. If you like really hot showers, this would cause scale to be deposited at a higher rate.

Highlighting is mine - yes, there is an isolator on the pipe feeding the shower but it's not been touched since we moved into the house.

There was a water company man in our street today so I went and asked him whether there are any water pressure issues in our area - turns out another one of our neighbours is also having problems with their electric shower so we'll be talking to them today too so he was there checking their water pressure.

Apparently, our area gets 1.6 bar pressure (which is above the required 1.0 bar), so there are no issues with the water pressure here - any work they're doing in our area is for the fire hydrant supply.

I did ask him about the shower working in the daytime but not working at night time, and he suggested that the inner workings could be affected by debris build up: we're in a hard water area and 30+ years of use will have seen a lot of water and debris coming through the pipes and into the unit itself.

He also told me that when he moved into his house, he changed the electric shower for a mains-fed one as that doesn't lose pressure (or is less likely to).

I just thought of something else: is it possible that there's some issue with the cold water tank that's only affecting the shower feed at night as it's a separate pipe from the tank that feeds the shower (I need to measure the diameter of the pipe as well).

My wife is the one with the most doubts over whether replacing the shower will fix the issue since the slow feed issue is only occurring at night time.

MothballsWallet

WIAWSNB said:

FreeBear said:

The shower head could be restricting flow, especially if you are in a hard water area and there is a build up of scale. Some heads can be dismantled to allow for a thorough clean.

Just unscrew the handset and run the shower without it to check this. 

It doesn't look too bad to me, but it could probably do with a thorough cleaning - we do have some scale remover stuff that we use with the kettle.

WIAWSNB

MothballsWallet said:

WIAWSNB said:

FreeBear said:

The shower head could be restricting flow, especially if you are in a hard water area and there is a build up of scale. Some heads can be dismantled to allow for a thorough clean.

Just unscrew the handset and run the shower without it to check this. 

It doesn't look too bad to me, but it could probably do with a thorough cleaning - we do have some scale remover stuff that we use with the kettle.

What I mean is, if you unscrew the handset, and the shower still doesn't work with a nice jet of water coming out the hose end, you can discount the cause being a blocked handset.

WIAWSNB

MothballsWallet said:

There was a water company man in our street today so I went and asked him whether there are any water pressure issues in our area - turns out another one of our neighbours is also having problems with their electric shower so we'll be talking to them today too so he was there checking their water pressure.

Apparently, our area gets 1.6 bar pressure (which is above the required 1.0 bar), so there are no issues with the water pressure here - any work they're doing in our area is for the fire hydrant supply.

I did ask him about the shower working in the daytime but not working at night time, and he suggested that the inner workings could be affected by debris build up: we're in a hard water area and 30+ years of use will have seen a lot of water and debris coming through the pipes and into the unit itself. His answer doesn't provide an answer to your Q; why only at night?

He also told me that when he moved into his house, he changed the electric shower for a mains-fed one as that doesn't lose pressure (or is less likely to). Oxyishmoron. Electric showers are mains-fed. If he means he fitted an unvented hot cylinder which is also mains-fed, then that too will be affected by fluctuations in mains pressure in the same way.  

I just thought of something else: is it possible that there's some issue with the cold water tank that's only affecting the shower feed at night as it's a separate pipe from the tank that feeds the shower (I need to measure the diameter of the pipe as well). Your electric should be, and almost certain is, being fed directly from the mains, so has nothing to do with your cold tank. 

My wife is the one with the most doubts over whether replacing the shower will fix the issue since the slow feed issue is only occurring at night time. Sensible woman

Bits in BOLD above.

How DIYish are you? Can you wield general hand tools with some aplomb? Do you understand that leccy and water are not good bedfellows? Cool.

The next obvious check for you is to fully cut the power and water to the shower, and remove the front cover. Where the inlet water pipe connects, there should be an unscrewable filter. Any debris from the supply pipe - and there's pretty much bound to be some after all this time - should be caught in there.

Once you take the cover off, we can guide you. And if you don't know how to take the cover off, post a photo so we know the model. 

MothballsWallet

Thanks again everyone, so another update: we spoke to our neighbour who the STW guy told us was having a similar issue.

She's replaced her shower about a month ago and the supply pressure is dropping at night time (she has a shower between 5 am and 6 am), but it comes back to normal around 7 am. She's getting the shower manufacturer's engineers to come and have a look at it in a few weeks under the warranty.

I've since spoken to STW after raising an issue on their website and they've told me that they've implemented measures to conserve water because of the lack of rainfall this summer, but a lot of people in our area have reported a pressure drop at night - so it's not just us and our neighbour, there are more people affected.

They're still investigating because the measures they put into place shouldn't be causing such a large reduction in our water flow at night, we should still be getting the minimum 1 bar pressure at night, and they don't have a timeframe for fixing it.

My wife was surprised that STW admitted there was an issue - she thought that they'd deny everything (she's not from the UK and utility companies in her home country are far more likely to not tell you anything), but it looks like it wouldn't be worth us spending the £230 + VAT just now to get a new shower supplied and fitted at the moment if there's a water supply problem at night (my wife prefers to shower at night and I prefer to shower in the morning).

WIAWSNB

MothballsWallet said:

Thanks again everyone, so another update: we spoke to our neighbour who the STW guy told us was having a similar issue.

She's replaced her shower about a month ago and the supply pressure is dropping at night time (she has a shower between 5 am and 6 am), but it comes back to normal around 7 am. She's getting the shower manufacturer's engineers to come and have a look at it in a few weeks under the warranty.

I've since spoken to STW after raising an issue on their website and they've told me that they've implemented measures to conserve water because of the lack of rainfall this summer, but a lot of people in our area have reported a pressure drop at night - so it's not just us and our neighbour, there are more people affected.

They're still investigating because the measures they put into place shouldn't be causing such a large reduction in our water flow at night, we should still be getting the minimum 1 bar pressure at night, and they don't have a timeframe for fixing it.

My wife was surprised that STW admitted there was an issue - she thought that they'd deny everything (she's not from the UK and utility companies in her home country are far more likely to not tell you anything), but it looks like it wouldn't be worth us spending the £230 + VAT just now to get a new shower supplied and fitted at the moment if there's a water supply problem at night (my wife prefers to shower at night and I prefer to shower in the morning).

That sounds like the cause, then.
You could fit a Stuart Turner Stormboost mains booster pump which will deliver a minimum 12lpm at up to 3bar. Your neighbours will love you...

MothballsWallet

WIAWSNB said:

MothballsWallet said:

There was a water company man in our street today so I went and asked him whether there are any water pressure issues in our area - turns out another one of our neighbours is also having problems with their electric shower so we'll be talking to them today too so he was there checking their water pressure.

Apparently, our area gets 1.6 bar pressure (which is above the required 1.0 bar), so there are no issues with the water pressure here - any work they're doing in our area is for the fire hydrant supply.

I did ask him about the shower working in the daytime but not working at night time, and he suggested that the inner workings could be affected by debris build up: we're in a hard water area and 30+ years of use will have seen a lot of water and debris coming through the pipes and into the unit itself. His answer doesn't provide an answer to your Q; why only at night?

He also told me that when he moved into his house, he changed the electric shower for a mains-fed one as that doesn't lose pressure (or is less likely to). Oxyishmoron. Electric showers are mains-fed. If he means he fitted an unvented hot cylinder which is also mains-fed, then that too will be affected by fluctuations in mains pressure in the same way.  

I just thought of something else: is it possible that there's some issue with the cold water tank that's only affecting the shower feed at night as it's a separate pipe from the tank that feeds the shower (I need to measure the diameter of the pipe as well). Your electric should be, and almost certain is, being fed directly from the mains, so has nothing to do with your cold tank. 

My wife is the one with the most doubts over whether replacing the shower will fix the issue since the slow feed issue is only occurring at night time. Sensible woman

Bits in BOLD above.

How DIYish are you? Can you wield general hand tools with some aplomb? Do you understand that leccy and water are not good bedfellows? Cool.

The next obvious check for you is to fully cut the power and water to the shower, and remove the front cover. Where the inlet water pipe connects, there should be an unscrewable filter. Any debris from the supply pipe - and there's pretty much bound to be some after all this time - should be caught in there.

Once you take the cover off, we can guide you. And if you don't know how to take the cover off, post a photo so we know the model. 

As to DIY, I can use stuff like a screwdriver and I do know that leccy + water = bad times all round.

So these photos show the set up in our airing cupboard at the wall between the cupboard and the bathroom (the shower unit is on the other side of this wall):


This next photo shows the pipes above that - I think the 2 pipes at the back are the ones that go to floor level and then into the bathroom for the bath taps and sink taps (those are on the opposite of the bathroom when you go in):



Both of those pipes go through the ceiling into the attic where a (or the) cold water storage tank should be located.

That stop tap is the one for the shower and the consumer unit has a dedicated RCD for the shower on it, so I should be able to isolate the shower's leccy and water without stopping everything else in the house (unlike in my mum's house as we found out while we were up there).