Salamander shower pump problems
Discussion
Will an airlock on the hot supply of a shower pump cause the bearings to fail? Before they failed, I never noticed any lack of hot water whilst using the shower.
About 20 years ago, I had a Salamander pump installed by a plumber and for about 17 years it worked fine. About 3 years ago the bearings seized due to a seal leak causing a limescale build up. I assumed this as when I took the end caps off I could see lots of limescale around the bearings. Not particularly upset as I thought 17 years was pretty good for a pump to last.
I replaced it with another Salamander pump, CT50+ Xtra. However, this only lasted just over 3 years before the bearings seized. I spoke to Salamander as they offer a 3 year warranty, but found out this is only valid if installed by a plumber. As I installed the new pump there was no warranty for the 3rd year.
Thinking the pump might have been a one off faulty pump, I bought another Salamander and installed it. It failed with seized bearings after about 2 months. I got it working by exposing the motor shaft and freeing it with a spanner.
I put it back in and it worked for about 6 months albeit with very noisy bearings. But, these failed for good last week. I've got a replacement on order under warranty from Screwfix but before I install it I'm now thinking my pipe work may have developed a fault.
The pump has a separate feed from the cold water tank and a Wessex flange for the hot supply. Both these were put in by the original house builder, albeit without a pump.
The hot supply to the shower goes down about a 1.5m to the pump from the flange and then up about 2 metres to the loft, across the loft about 2m and then back down about 1 metre to the shower valve. On the hot supply there is a bottle air vent in the loft.
The reason for the vent valve; I've owned the house from new and when I moved in the shower would get an airlock after a couple of uses. When I complained to the new build site office (luckily they were still on site when I moved in) they came along and added the vent. As I was none the wiser at the time, and it worked, I thought nothing more of it. Since the vent was fitted there have been no airlocks in the shower valve. i.e. the water comes through, albeit not great without the pump running.
But, when the latest pump seized after only a couple of months I had a look in in the loft and noted the vent valve had evidence of limescale round the bleed screw. Thinking it may have developed a fault and was not letting the air out I changed it before I tried the latest pump again after freeing the shaft.
I’ve just tested the unassisted water flow on both supplies and it’s in excess of the 2 litre per 30 secs recommended for the pump; cold is 3 litres, hot 2.5 litres and combined 3 litres.
Is there anything else I should check before installing the new pump when it arrives?
I’ve googled Salamander pumps and bearings and there are cases where the bearings have failed prematurely. But, if it happens again and I call out a Salamander engineer under warranty I wanted to check if I am missing something obvious.
About 20 years ago, I had a Salamander pump installed by a plumber and for about 17 years it worked fine. About 3 years ago the bearings seized due to a seal leak causing a limescale build up. I assumed this as when I took the end caps off I could see lots of limescale around the bearings. Not particularly upset as I thought 17 years was pretty good for a pump to last.
I replaced it with another Salamander pump, CT50+ Xtra. However, this only lasted just over 3 years before the bearings seized. I spoke to Salamander as they offer a 3 year warranty, but found out this is only valid if installed by a plumber. As I installed the new pump there was no warranty for the 3rd year.
Thinking the pump might have been a one off faulty pump, I bought another Salamander and installed it. It failed with seized bearings after about 2 months. I got it working by exposing the motor shaft and freeing it with a spanner.
I put it back in and it worked for about 6 months albeit with very noisy bearings. But, these failed for good last week. I've got a replacement on order under warranty from Screwfix but before I install it I'm now thinking my pipe work may have developed a fault.
The pump has a separate feed from the cold water tank and a Wessex flange for the hot supply. Both these were put in by the original house builder, albeit without a pump.
The hot supply to the shower goes down about a 1.5m to the pump from the flange and then up about 2 metres to the loft, across the loft about 2m and then back down about 1 metre to the shower valve. On the hot supply there is a bottle air vent in the loft.
The reason for the vent valve; I've owned the house from new and when I moved in the shower would get an airlock after a couple of uses. When I complained to the new build site office (luckily they were still on site when I moved in) they came along and added the vent. As I was none the wiser at the time, and it worked, I thought nothing more of it. Since the vent was fitted there have been no airlocks in the shower valve. i.e. the water comes through, albeit not great without the pump running.
But, when the latest pump seized after only a couple of months I had a look in in the loft and noted the vent valve had evidence of limescale round the bleed screw. Thinking it may have developed a fault and was not letting the air out I changed it before I tried the latest pump again after freeing the shaft.
I’ve just tested the unassisted water flow on both supplies and it’s in excess of the 2 litre per 30 secs recommended for the pump; cold is 3 litres, hot 2.5 litres and combined 3 litres.
Is there anything else I should check before installing the new pump when it arrives?
I’ve googled Salamander pumps and bearings and there are cases where the bearings have failed prematurely. But, if it happens again and I call out a Salamander engineer under warranty I wanted to check if I am missing something obvious.
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