Electric Shower problem

daygalway

I turned on the electric shower this morning and nothing happened but heard a strange noise. Checked the attic and realised that our water tank went below the pipe level to feed the shower. Tank is now full again but the shower isn't working. And ideas on what may be wrong?

Buford T Justice

Could be an airlock in the pipe. It'll need to be bled first, if there's no damage to the shower.

Bruthal

Could be airlock, but it could also be the shower water pipe frozen somewhere. The tank being empty may suggest either the mains water supply went off, or also froze.

I have had all 3 of the above in my attic yesterday. Mains water froze at the attic tank stopcock. Tank emptied, shower did`t work. I managed to refill tank, thaw out mains into it. But shower still not working. Obviously frozen in the water feed to it.

Leave your attic door open a few hours and see does that fix it, it lets some heat into the attic. Dont run the shower more than a couple of seconds if no water comes out of it. There is a bleed screw inside the unit to let the water flow to it without having to run the pump. But there is a chance its just frozen.

Did you lose water at the kitchen sink cold tap at any stage, or a big drop in pressure? If not then the mains was frozen in the attic so stopping the water tank staying topped up. And if that froze then the shower may have also.

knockon

daygalway wrote: »

I turned on the electric shower this morning and nothing happened but heard a strange noise. Checked the attic and realised that our water tank went below the pipe level to feed the shower. Tank is now full again but the shower isn't working. And ideas on what may be wrong?

I know exactly whats wrong.

1. Attic warm.
2. Water in tank.
3. Pipes not frozen.

Ok - your inlet filter in the shower unit is clogged with dirt from the end of the water tank when it ran dry. Kill the power to the shower unit and very carefully remove the cover. On the T90i (my own that this happened) I took out the inlet water filter in the bottom l/h corner and cleaned it. I bet its full of dirt. Caution water will gush out the minute you take out the filter so make sure you have some else just to stick their finger in it while you rinse the filter. This is very easy to do. Just make sure the power is turned off to the shower before you go anywhere near it.

Bruthal

knockon wrote: »

I know exactly whats wrong.

1. Attic warm.
2. Water in tank.
3. Pipes not frozen.

Ok - your inlet filter in the shower unit is clogged with dirt from the end of the water tank when it ran dry. Kill the power to the shower unit and very carefully remove the cover. On the T90i (my own that this happened) I took out the inlet water filter in the bottom l/h corner and cleaned it. I bet its full of dirt. Caution water will gush out the minute you take out the filter so make sure you have some else just to stick their finger in it while you rinse the filter. This is very easy to do. Just make sure the power is turned off to the shower before you go anywhere near it.

I wish the 4 or 5 i looked at on this road were all that simple this week, but it could be that if the attick is nice and warm.

Bruthal

I had tried my shower yesterday after refilling attic tank and thaw out mains feed into it, shower did not work yesterday, left attic door open all night with heating on, shower still not working this mornng, but just tried it now, brand new. So it was frozen for certain.

daygalway

To those of you who took the trouble on Christmas Eve to offer advice and suggestions, sincere thanks. Problem solved (airlock, I think) - we will be smelling of roses for Christmas morning. Happy Christmas to you all. Thanks again.

Bruthal

daygalway wrote: »

To those of you who took the trouble on Christmas Eve to offer advice and suggestions, sincere thanks. Problem solved (airlock, I think) - we will be smelling of roses for Christmas morning. Happy Christmas to you all. Thanks again.

if it just cleared itself it was frozen, same as mine was. Have a good one

suitseir

robbie7730 wrote: »

I had tried my shower yesterday after refilling attic tank and thaw out mains feed into it, shower did not work yesterday, left attic door open all night with heating on, shower still not working this mornng, but just tried it now, brand new. So it was frozen for certain.

I put up a post on this some days ago as I had the same problem with a Triton T90. SOMEONE went up in the attic and yes, I had water in the tank. I reckon the water was too cold for the electric shower. I haven't even tried it yet, just using the gravity fed one.

Bruthal

suitseir wrote: »

I put up a post on this some days ago as I had the same problem with a Triton T90. SOMEONE went up in the attic and yes, I had water in the tank. I reckon the water was too cold for the electric shower. I haven't even tried it yet, just using the gravity fed one.

Where the shower water feed has a metal shut off valve is the most likely spot for freezing inside the pipe to begin, and one spot frozen blocks the pipe, the water would never be too cold for the shower to operate once its not frozen somewhere in the feed.

peasant

Have a different problem with a Mira Sport (ancient) mains fed shower.

Over the last few days water flow was very poor and then it stopped working altogether. So there must have been a plug of ice in the pipe to it somewhere.

This morning now it is gushing water even though it's switched off. So I guess the internal stop valve has broken/burst or whatever.

The only way to stop it is to turn off water to the whole house. No access to the pipe that feeds it anywhere.

Until I can get a plumber, is there something I can do?
I'm fairly reluctant to try and open this thing and possibly make matters worse ...but I'd give it a try if there was any chance of me provisionally stopping the water. I just don't know what these things look like inside and if there even is a chance of plugging the leak.

Anyone any ideas?

Bruthal

peasant wrote: »

Have a different problem with a Mira Sport (ancient) mains fed shower.

Over the last few days water flow was very poor and then it stopped working altogether. So there must have been a plug of ice in the pipe to it somewhere.

This morning now it is gushing water even though it's switched off. So I guess the internal stop valve has broken/burst or whatever.

The only way to stop it is to turn off water to the whole house. No access to the pipe that feeds it anywhere.

Until I can get a plumber, is there something I can do?
I'm fairly reluctant to try and open this thing and possibly make matters worse ...but I'd give it a try if there was any chance of me provisionally stopping the water. I just don't know what these things look like inside and if there even is a chance of plugging the leak.

Anyone any ideas?

You could be lucky and have had a piece of ice or dirt in the solenoid valve in it holding it open. You could try putting the water back on for a minute and try turning the shower on and off a few times.

If that does not work, there should be a valve for the shower water feed itself. Look in attic above the shower and follow the water pipe coming from above it and there should be a seperate valve to isolate its water.

Buford T Justice

There should definitely be a valve on the pipe just feeding the shower. See if you can find it and turn it off if you can't get it to stop.

Have a look in the attic above the toilet. it should be there.

peasant

Thanks guys.

But this shower is a somewhat unorthodox installation. The pipe feeding it doesn't go through the attic. It branches off from a covered underfloor pipe feeding a basin and a toilet and then goes up inside a stud wall to the shower ...must have been in there that it froze. Definitely no visible valve though

Bruthal

peasant wrote: »

Thanks guys.

But this shower is a somewhat unorthodox installation. The pipe feeding it doesn't go through the attic. It branches off from a covered underfloor pipe feeding a basin and a toilet and then goes up inside a stud wall to the shower ...must have been in there that it froze. Definitely no visible valve though

Probably t`d off the hydrodare pipe under floor so. Still should of been a valve fitted. You should get one fitted whatever you do with shower now. Quite easy to fit them.

peasant

robbie7730 wrote: »

Probably t`d off the hydrodare pipe under floor so. Still should of been a valve fitted.

Yepp ...most likely inside the stud wall (behind the tiles and all) :rolleyes: :mad:

EDIT: the whole plumbing in this house is a desaster anyway. No shut off valves or stopcocks bar one under the kitchen sink. I've retro-fitted about five of them already after different leaks/broken appliances. Whoever plumbed this place deserves to be shot.

D Hayes

I had the same problem with my Mira shower - water working in rest of house but not in shower. This is a solution to the air lock issue.

This is how I fixed it - it sounds bizarre but hear me out!

Rang plumber and he said to take off the shower head and turn on the shower. Next, start sucking on the nozzle to get the water going in the pipes (insert joke here ). Apparently this gets rid of any air locks. Couple of seconds of this and it was working.

Not the most scientific solution but works!

Bruthal

buysellswap wrote: »

I had the same problem with my Mira shower - water working in rest of house but not in shower. This is a solution to the air lock issue.

This is how I fixed it - it sounds bizarre but hear me out!

Rang plumber and he said to take off the shower head and turn on the shower. Next, start sucking on the nozzle to get the water going in the pipes (insert joke here ). Apparently this gets rid of any air locks. Couple of seconds of this and it was working.

Not the most scientific solution but works!

I have done that one myself once or twice, usually the bleed screw in the showers does it though.

Hannibal

If you use electric showers particularly T90's when there's no water there's always the potential that you can burn the motor out in them... which means new unit basically.

Bruthal

No they wont last long running dry, thats why the showers have the bleed screw, to avoid having to run the pump until the water is through to the shower.

Buford T Justice

peasant wrote: »

Whoever plumbed this place deserves to be shot.

Seems like a lot of the places I seem to visit in Sligo alright. Seems like its retrofit after retrofit after retrofit gets done in this place. Ends up as a disaster.