Victorian Plumbing Shower

[Brettles1986]

Hi All,

 

I am new here and looking to draw on your wealth of knowledge.

 

I bought a shower from Victorian Plumbing around 6 months ago that was not fitted until around 8 weeks ago, on having the shower fitted my plumber informed me that although following the instructions to the letter the shower pressure was rubbish despite it being great without the shower attached and the water was not heating up.

 

I complained to VP and they eventually replaced the unit but only after around 6 weeks of too and fro'ing with the manufacturer and not getting anywhere.

 

The problem I have now is that the replacement is displaying the exact same issues. Wondering whether the installation was the issue I had an electrician check it over and he told me to get an engineer out as the power was getting to the unit but the heater element was not warming up at all.

 

Now I have decided to go direct to the manufacturers website and email them asking for an engineer visit, they responded asking for a number of pictures but have not since replied other than to tell me they are chasing the manufacturer.

 

This has been ongoing for around 9/10 weeks now and I'm at the end of my tether.

 

What would you recommend I do from here?

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that whenever people buy equipment from one supplier and have it installed by somebody completely different, it is always a recipe for problems if things happen to go wrong.

 

I'm afraid that you put yourself squarely into "piggy in the middle". Each one of the traders will pass the buck onto the other and eventually you won't get anywhere until you get some independent expert to identify a particular problem.

 

If you have had two identical units and the water pressure is still poor and it does suggest that there is a water pressure problem. Presumably your previous shower was working correctly?

 

You are also suggesting that when the system is simply passing cold water, that the pressure is good. This possibly suggests that it is your water heater which is reducing the flow. Is it an electric water heater? Is it a Combi system? In other words is the system a "heats as it flows" instant hot water system? The systems often cause pressure problems because in order to become properly hot, the water flow has to slow down. If the water flows too fast then it doesn't heat up sufficiently.

 

If that is the case then you have third element involved and that is your water heater.

 

I'm really not too sure what to suggest in this case. If you can identify the cause of the problem then we can probably advise you as to your rights. Of course it's a bit late now but in future you are best off talking to the installer first and asking the installer to source and fit equipment and in that case the entire responsibility/liability remains in one place.

[king12345]

I always install full bore showers because of this problem.

Even with combi boilers where the pressure is constant at 1.5 bar, showers for "high pressure" systems sometimes present this problem.

Look out for the minimum operating pressure which should be 0.5 bar if you want to avoid problems.

If your shower is a full bore for "low pressure" systems, then it means that the shower itself it's a bad model.

[CraigMcK]

I assume from your comments it's either an electric shower or an electric pumped shower. If you can confirm the make model that would help suggestions.

However a couple of things to note. Electric showers all limit the flow,this is the only way they can heat the water to a suitable level, so I suspect the flow rate is what you are going to get with that particular shower.

Secondly it's really unlikely the two showers are faulty, but you never know, I would phone the maker directly and see what they suggest. It may well be wired incorrectly, was the electrician part of an approved body like NICEIC?

[Brettles1986]

Thanks for the replies.

 

It is indeed an electric shower and an expensive one at that. It operates at a minimum of 1.5 bar, the shower that was present before this was a straight mixer and it gave good pressure.

 

I understand that the pressure could be related to the fact that the flow would likely be restricted as it needs to heat up the water first but there is no heat whatsoever, the pressure does change slightly however when changing the temperature to cold.

 

The electrician is a fully qualified individual who has gained all qualifications through a local housing body which is where he works, my father is a retired electrical fitter who has had a look also and he has confirmed it's wired correctly and power is getting to the correct places.

 

The boiler is not pressurised as it's an old house and is gravity fed from up stairs.

 

This is the shower an AQUAS AquaMax Flex Manual X-Jet 9.5KW Full Chrome Electric Shower (can't submit link due to post count).

[AndyOrch]

Link provided.....

 

https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/brands/aquas?gclid=Cj0KCQjwre_XBRDVARIsAPf7zZgoDaO5u3C_hc5nYNUwax0ZBHhgcSTBEvjCzs-Qi1PbDmD1WjU-RTMaAkKsEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Power Input:

A Power Input of 240 V and 40 amp circuit breaker is required for max output ( 9.5 KW ) anything less and the heater will not operate at max efficiency

[sgtbush]

I'm of the thought that there is not enough pressure and the system detects it and wont heatas it will boil the water as the Flo is insufficient.

[CraigMcK]

Ok, so that shower needs 1.5 bar, it sounds like you have a header tank for cold water? If so I doubt if you have 1.5 bar as that would need 15m vertically from the tank to the shower head.

So you have a couple of options to fix it, one check your mains water pressure us above 1.5 bar and get a plumber to connect it in from the mains rather than the tank

Two, change the shower, but it sounds like it's a selection issue and nothing directly wrong with the shower.

 

Andy, just to confirm, the shower would run from a smaller MCB but at some point it would trip, however until that point it would heat as designed. I'm not suggesting this is an acceptable solution, but not quite as you described.

[AndyOrch]

Hi Craig

 

I simply copied the above from the manufactures specs......in the link provided above.

[king12345]

Minimum operating pressure of 1.5 bar.

That's your problem.

As said, you need a low pressure shower operating at 0.5 bar to get good pressure.

Nothing wrong with the shower, it's just the wrong model for you.

As suggested you could try connecting it directly to the main, but in my experience it won't make much difference.

[CraigMcK]

Hi Andy, must be a Thai translation!

 

Further update to OP

There is a note in the FAQ about removing a safety clip? It's noted on page 17 of the instructions too, was this removed, it looks like it stops the tank trying to heat without water in it.

[ericsbrother]

not just pressure but volume of water as well. You couild have a massive inlet pressure but no flow and you wont get it to work.

[K.beard]

I have the same shower looks are better than the performance the volume control " hot to cold " hardly changes the temperature, would like a warm or cold shower but always runs hot with the control fully turned down. Instuctions for the volume control from the manual state " when turning the volume control handle this will change slightly the output temperature of the water " for a £400.00 it has some issues I have cleaned the filter and head still doing the same ...

[stu007]

Are you sure the shower is getting the correct pressure required to operate properly?

 

If the pressure at the shower itself is low have your considered the option of fitting a shower pump suitable to your system layout/shower?