Triton T90XR heating issues

frossessnake

Hi, my shower is 4 yrs old, and as seen plenty of use without issue until now. With the hot setting set to full, the water temperature increases only slightly above cold. just bearable to stand under and use. water filter clean, water pressure/flow is fine. no air lock issues. no lime scale issues.
The water flow from the shower decreases as the temperature setting is increased(normal enough). if i turn the shower off and on right away, the usual spurt of hot water comes out but then goes back to cold. It doesn't change sound like it use to when selecting hot water(i.e making an effort to heat the water).

Sometimes however it will work fine again, but resort to the same problem at the next time of usage. im thinking it might be the Thermal Cut Out switch 22010070, or the heater can, or maybe replace the shower unit completely as 4 yrs service isnt too bad, and next week something else may need replacing..

your suggestions are very welcome...

Billy Bunting

The cut out would cut all the heating, sounds more a thermostat issue or element but the element doesn't usually fail intermittently but does suffer from burnt connections, check the connections on the element and check that both elements in the heater are receiving power, I am assuming your competent to do so otherwise you require an electrician.

frossessnake

hi Billy, thanks for the reply, i will check over the connections and the elements.

Sleeper12

frossessnake wrote: »

Hi, my shower is 4 yrs old, and as seen plenty of use without issue until now. With the hot setting set to full, the water temperature increases only slightly above cold. just bearable to stand under and use. water filter clean, water pressure/flow is fine. no air lock issues. no lime scale issues.
The water flow from the shower decreases as the temperature setting is increased(normal enough). if i turn the shower off and on right away, the usual spurt of hot water comes out but then goes back to cold. It doesn't change sound like it use to when selecting hot water(i.e making an effort to heat the water).

Sometimes however it will work fine again, but resort to the same problem at the next time of usage. im thinking it might be the Thermal Cut Out switch 22010070, or the heater can, or maybe replace the shower unit completely as 4 yrs service isnt too bad, and next week something else may need replacing..

your suggestions are very welcome...

It's not the TCO. If it was it would be cold all the time.

Also there is no thermostat in electric showers so it's not that.

If it works perfectly some times then it's not the elements. They are either blown or not. They wont work intermittently.

It's possible a micro switch is faulty but more likely the Power selector assembly

frossessnake

well I had a closer look at the shower, checked to see if either of the 2 elements in the can were getting power, and they weren't. flowed the wires back to the 2 micro switches. I metered both switches, but there was no continuity through them.

I took off the plastic assembly which activates the switches, and pressed the switches by hand. bingo, I was now getting hot water, so the switches themselves are fine. I looked closer again and found that when the pump is running a white plastic piston shoots up underneath the micro switches, which in turn activates them.

for some reason this piston wasn't coming up far enough to press the micro switches fully. I applied some silicone spray and worked the piston up/down, but no different. eventually I fitted a spacer to the top of the piston to make up the distance to press against the micro switches. shower is now fully working again.

thanks for your replies guys

vedwards

Thanks frossessnake,

solved the same issue with my Triton T90xr. I just have to make sure that when I switch to cold to allow the water in the tank to cool down that the water does indeed run cold as sometimes it sticks and this could fuse the thermostat into an open circuit....and I don't want to have to by-pass it again...not recommended!

frossessnake

hi vedwards,

getting the correct size of a spacer is the key, like you said, too thick and the piston cant travel away allowing the micro switches to stay switched and thus the water stays hot only. the bigger issue might be a slight water pressure drop which prevents the piston travelling high enough to activate the switches, but for me the problem doesn't require any further investigation for now.

kopkidda

Hi frossessnake, should of read through these threads before posting a new one, i have the same problem with my t90 xr, where abouts will i find these micro switches on the shower I have the t90 xr manual.

Thanks

frossessnake

Hi kopkidda,

As well as trying to explain the location of the micro switches i have tried to word my experiences in finding a solution to this issue. If you are competent is dealing with mains voltage it might be of some help.

Isolate power supply and remove outer cover allowing it to hang from on/off button wires, you will see (2) shafts, one on top of the other in the middle of the unit.. the top one is the Heater selection or power selector as called in the manual(P15211000), bottom is water flow. above the top shaft you should notice a series of wires running into the back of it and leading onto the top of the heater can.. this is where the the (2) micro switches are located. they are part of the power selector assembly. when selecting low heat, one of the micro switches is activated, and on full heat both micro switches are activated. Firstly i checked the Micro switches were working by using a long plain screwdriver to press the tip on each switch and check for a closed circuit at the other end using a multimeter.

if theses are working ok, you will have to operate your shower with the front cover hanging off and look to see if the white piston raises high enough to touch the tip of the switches. (Important) remember you will have to turn the heat selector shaft fully (full heat position) in order for the micro switches to be in the correct position to touch the top of the white piston. at this point with the shower running you can press the tip of the micro switches with a long screwdriver and the noise of the shower should change and full heat return to the water.if your problem is the same as mine, you need a "spacer" to fill the distance between the micro switches and the top of the white piston. too thick of a spacer and the switches will be activated all the time, even when the selector is set to cold. trial and error worked for me. I super glued the spacer to the piston when happy with its thickness.

like i mentioned before, the cause of the problem seems to be pressure drop resulting in the piston not lifting high enough. my solution costs nothing and is doing the job so far .

kopkidda

frossessnake wrote: »

Hi kopkidda,

As well as trying to explain the location of the micro switches i have tried to word my experiences in finding a solution to this issue. If you are competent is dealing with mains voltage it might be of some help.

Isolate power supply and remove outer cover allowing it to hang from on/off button wires, you will see (2) shafts, one on top of the other in the middle of the unit.. the top one is the Heater selection or power selector as called in the manual(P15211000), bottom is water flow. above the top shaft you should notice a series of wires running into the back of it and leading onto the top of the heater can.. this is where the the (2) micro switches are located. they are part of the power selector assembly. when selecting low heat, one of the micro switches is activated, and on full heat both micro switches are activated. Firstly i checked the Micro switches were working by using a long plain screwdriver to press the tip on each switch and check for a closed circuit at the other end using a multimeter.

if theses are working ok, you will have to operate your shower with the front cover hanging off and look to see if the white piston raises high enough to touch the tip of the switches. (Important) remember you will have to turn the heat selector shaft fully (full heat position) in order for the micro switches to be in the correct position to touch the top of the white piston. at this point with the shower running you can press the tip of the micro switches with a long screwdriver and the noise of the shower should change and full heat return to the water.if your problem is the same as mine, you need a "spacer" to fill the distance between the micro switches and the top of the white piston. too thick of a spacer and the switches will be activated all the time, even when the selector is set to cold. trial and error worked for me. I super glued the spacer to the piston when happy with its thickness.

like i mentioned before, the cause of the problem seems to be pressure drop resulting in the piston not lifting high enough. my solution costs nothing and is doing the job so far .

That is a great explanation, ill have a look at this.

My problem was intermittent at first but now its all the time, so it could be that the switch is constantly not touching now.

Will have a look when i get home and report back.

Have a multimeter coming over the weekend so if the switches are working properly is probably the heating can, we live in a hard water area so I would say its feasable that the element has clogged up and stopped working with all the calcium.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

kopkidda

Is this where them switches are?

Sleeper12

yes they are there.

kopkidda

frossessnake Nice one for pointing me in the right direction, my shower is fixed now.

CJ Haughey

Adding spacers to components in a shower to make it work is dangerous and downright stupid.
Fix the cause of the problem, doing the Macgyver in a shower is a total no no.

kopkidda

CJ Haughey wrote: »

Adding spacers to components in a shower to make it work is dangerous and downright stupid.
Fix the cause of the problem, doing the Macgyver in a shower is a total no no.

I fixed mine by getting a new micro switch unit from a friend of mine, being pointed in the correct direction is always helpful.Would of probably ended up getting a new shower unit if I hadn't of known were to look in the first place.

Thanks to frossessnake again

2011abc

Helped me too ! ThanksFrossensnake !