Discussion
Have a normal low pressure piece of crap shower in the house. Starting to be exposed now it is getting cold.
Pressure lowers a lot as you turn heat up, takes ages to actually heat up. Literally a dribble on high heat, useless. No idea what rating it is, bargain basement Triton.
Am aware could install better,can't afford that right now.
But are there any cheap tweaks to help, better shower head etc? Have enough to do without having to buy a new one.
Pressure lowers a lot as you turn heat up, takes ages to actually heat up. Literally a dribble on high heat, useless. No idea what rating it is, bargain basement Triton.
Am aware could install better,can't afford that right now.
But are there any cheap tweaks to help, better shower head etc? Have enough to do without having to buy a new one.
I suspect he means it is a lower KW electric so to heat up the water more they tend to slow the flow.
OP.
If what I say is the case then no there isn't, as if you improve the flow you will lower the temperature.
Ideally for a simple electric you want 10kw, which means a new electric supply cable & circuit breaker in the consumer unit unless the electrics were done with the future in mind.
OP.
If what I say is the case then no there isn't, as if you improve the flow you will lower the temperature.
Ideally for a simple electric you want 10kw, which means a new electric supply cable & circuit breaker in the consumer unit unless the electrics were done with the future in mind.
Sounds similar to the problem we had. Is it possibly a ‘power shower’. We have one, I Understand these are not particularly common - it takes a hot and cold feed and works essentially as a boost pump. At 20 years old the pump was knackered, or possibly the filter was blocked (although we live in a very soft water area). Parts were not available so we replaced it with the closest modern equivalent (Triton AS2000SR) to tide us over until we redo the bathroom properly in a few years.
It is a triton enrich shower with a pull cord in the bathroom, upstairs so water is presumably pumped from boiler in kitchen, no tank in loft, just boggo electric, not power.
Even tap water takes a while to get warm upstairs.
I did try and find power rating, was not on label underneath where Triton say, but I very much doubt it is more than 7.5. They will have done it max cheap like everything else in the house.
Do higher pressure shower heads make any difference as a cheap cheat?
Even tap water takes a while to get warm upstairs.
I did try and find power rating, was not on label underneath where Triton say, but I very much doubt it is more than 7.5. They will have done it max cheap like everything else in the house.
Do higher pressure shower heads make any difference as a cheap cheat?
You might be able to fool yourself a bit by fitting a smaller head if it might give you a bit more pressure at the head, but in reality slightly less flow. This is last resort stuff though.
Another thing to check, is your stop cock fully open so the house is getting the most flow you can? Having said that, i guess if you could open it more that would make the shower colder! Forget that idea!
Another thing to check, is your stop cock fully open so the house is getting the most flow you can? Having said that, i guess if you could open it more that would make the shower colder! Forget that idea!
Edited by blueST on Thursday 12th November 08:32
bergclimber34 said:
It is a triton enrich shower with a pull cord in the bathroom, upstairs so water is presumably pumped from boiler in kitchen, no tank in loft, just boggo electric, not power.
Even tap water takes a while to get warm upstairs.
I did try and find power rating, was not on label underneath where Triton say, but I very much doubt it is more than 7.5. They will have done it max cheap like everything else in the house.
Do higher pressure shower heads make any difference as a cheap cheat?
It will be an electric shower that heats the water itself like a kettle. Even tap water takes a while to get warm upstairs.
I did try and find power rating, was not on label underneath where Triton say, but I very much doubt it is more than 7.5. They will have done it max cheap like everything else in the house.
Do higher pressure shower heads make any difference as a cheap cheat?
Do you get a good flow when it is running fully cold? You could try running it with the shower head removed, just using the hose to check.
If not a good flow there may be a restriction on the water supply to it , a clogged filter or perhaps a narrow bore isolating valve. If it's a good flow when cold then it is usually that the heater element in the shower is limescaled up (again like a kettle) so there is probably not much you can do.
A simple electric shower puts in whatever power it has.
The water flow dictates the temperature rise.
It could be worth checking the power it's actually drawing, the smart meter should tell you?
some of these things have multiple heating elements and one may have failed.
If you find your shower won't deliver enough water, hot enough, then maybe your shower isn't enclosed enough or the room is too cold?
Big draughty wet room needs a lot more kW of shower than a small enclosure with just a small vent.
Unless the room is at twenty-several degrees.
The water flow dictates the temperature rise.
It could be worth checking the power it's actually drawing, the smart meter should tell you?
some of these things have multiple heating elements and one may have failed.
If you find your shower won't deliver enough water, hot enough, then maybe your shower isn't enclosed enough or the room is too cold?
Big draughty wet room needs a lot more kW of shower than a small enclosure with just a small vent.
Unless the room is at twenty-several degrees.
How are you with DIY?
I once changed a 7KW shower to a 10.5KW, but I had to change the power cable. Bought a few meters of 10mm T&E, then routed it down the same as the existing one to the consumer unit. Changed the MCB for a 40a.
The cost might be £100-150 all in for the three items if you diy.
Of course, this means nothing if you have a poor water flow. How long does it take to fill a pint glass from the cold water tap?
I once changed a 7KW shower to a 10.5KW, but I had to change the power cable. Bought a few meters of 10mm T&E, then routed it down the same as the existing one to the consumer unit. Changed the MCB for a 40a.
The cost might be £100-150 all in for the three items if you diy.
Of course, this means nothing if you have a poor water flow. How long does it take to fill a pint glass from the cold water tap?
Assuming it's a basic shower head on a pipe, I found some years ago that the cheapest shower head in B&Q made a massive difference. a lot of shower heads are quite restrictive to build up pressure and give you a powerful jet (think finger over the end of the hose pipe), but if your pressure's low you end up with a tiny flow rate. A less restrictive head, or giving your current one a thorough descale, might do the job.
Has it always been this bad? - Unsure of this exact model, but I have had an electric shower heater half fail (there were two elements, one failed).
Turn shower on, look at smart meter, if smart meter instant useage goes up by 7.5kw then it is working as well as can be expected.
Randomly, I replaced another one, like for like, despite wanting to increase the kW - thought I could not as the amount of work needed to pull up floors, walls etc was not worth it.
Later was chatting to an electrician, who calmly pointed out the main fuseboard was half a meter away from the shower, just ignore the switch and feed a new wire straight from the board to the shower.
Turn shower on, look at smart meter, if smart meter instant useage goes up by 7.5kw then it is working as well as can be expected.
Randomly, I replaced another one, like for like, despite wanting to increase the kW - thought I could not as the amount of work needed to pull up floors, walls etc was not worth it.
Later was chatting to an electrician, who calmly pointed out the main fuseboard was half a meter away from the shower, just ignore the switch and feed a new wire straight from the board to the shower.
As you wind the heat up the flow drops a fair bit, it looks fairly new sadly.
It is lukewarm for a fair while we'll over a minute before any real heat chines in, the hit tap upstairs takes that long too
Stop cock is open as far as it can be
I thought about setting non eco mode on the boiler before a shower to pre heat maybe,
It is lukewarm for a fair while we'll over a minute before any real heat chines in, the hit tap upstairs takes that long too
Stop cock is open as far as it can be
I thought about setting non eco mode on the boiler before a shower to pre heat maybe,
bergclimber34 said:
As you wind the heat up the flow drops a fair bit, it looks fairly new sadly.
It is lukewarm for a fair while we'll over a minute before any real heat chines in, the hit tap upstairs takes that long too
Stop cock is open as far as it can be
I thought about setting non eco mode on the boiler before a shower to pre heat maybe,
Electric showers like this usually have a cold water feed only don't they?It is lukewarm for a fair while we'll over a minute before any real heat chines in, the hit tap upstairs takes that long too
Stop cock is open as far as it can be
I thought about setting non eco mode on the boiler before a shower to pre heat maybe,
bergclimber34 said:
I think so yes, am not a expert with this stuff and worried about breaking it if I mess with it,might try a bath!
We used to have the same shower (came with the house). They're cheap, not very powerful so there's not an awful lot you can do really. The boiler has nothing to do with it - it will just have a cold feed from your mains water supply. Never found the shower heads to make much meaningful difference - easiest thing you could do is upgrade to a more powerful model, depending on how big your incoming power cable is. I'm happy to DIY most things but I wouldn't touch an electric shower personally. Each to their own
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