Electric shower hot water temp question

mel.b

I have two Mira Elite 2 showers in my house. The one in my ensuite, the temp dial at the moment is pretty much at 12 o'clock, however the one in the guest bathroom is at 3 o'clock which means that there is only a dribble water coming out. I'd say even at that position, the water is only warm judging by when I was cleaning the shower yesterday.

The showers would be about 10yrs old I think. For the past 4yrs the guest shower hasn't has much use (maybe a couple of weeks a year in total), and the ensuite one is used everyday. Before that, the guest shower would have had a lot of use, as the previous owners had 4 teenage kids and this was the shower they used. I know that the showers can have a problem where the water is scolding even when set to a low temp and that you need to take the shower apart and clean gunk out of the filter. Is this the case here or is it more likely that the heating element in the shower is on the way out?

Sleeper12

Mira elite 2 is 10 to 18 years old now. The average life span of an electric shower is 10 years.

Each shower has two elements in a sealed heating can. From what you are describing it sounds like one of the elements has blown. You can test this by using the higher dial. This controls the elements. Switching from one element to two elements you should notice a big temperature difference after 10 to 30 seconds. If you don't then most likely only one element is working.

A new element is around 130 for the partition or around 200 supplied & fitted. I don't believe it is worth spending this sort of money on a 3 years old shower let alone one over 10 years old. Rule of thumb is if repair costs more than half the price of a new one then the new one is better value

mel.b

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Each shower has two elements in a sealed heating can. From what you are describing it sounds like one of the elements has blown. You can test this by using the higher dial. This controls the elements. Switching from one element to two elements you should notice a big temperature difference after 10 to 30 seconds. If you don't then most likely only one element is working.

Thanks for that. It was set to medium so I switched it to high and the water was scalding. When I switched it back to medium there was a definite change in the temp, so it may not be the element.

As the water was scolding with the top dial set to high and the lower dial at about 3 o'clock I turned it back to 12 o'clock. The water was still hot on my hand - I don't think you'd be able to shower under it and if I try to go any colder the low pressure light comes on. So should i take it apart and clean out the filter now or is it something else?

Sleeper12

There's a restriction of water going through the machine so. Clean the filter. Run it without a shower head. If you can regulate the temperature without the shower head then it needs to be descaled or its not a genuine mira shower head.

Is the low flow light coming on?

There's only two parts in the shower itself that could be at fault. Motor running slow or the flow control valve is faulty. It's most likely to be filter or shower head

mel.b

Sleeper12 wrote: »

There's a restriction of water going through the machine so. Clean the filter. Run it without a shower head. If you can regulate the temperature without the shower head then it needs to be descaled or its not a genuine mira shower head.

Is the low flow light coming on?

There's only two parts in the shower itself that could be at fault. Motor running slow or the flow control valve is faulty. It's most likely to be filter or shower head

Brilliant, thanks. I took the shower head off and the low flow light isn't coming on anymore when I turn it lower than 12 o'clock and I'm getting cold water through. I've got it soaking to try and descale it and will see how that goes.

washman3

Is there a major difference between a 'genuine mira shower head' and a head bought in say Lidl/Aldi.?
Is temperature or flow rate/pressure affected.?
I've often wondered why some shower cost so much and others a pittance.
What's the best head to minimize limescale build-up.?

Sleeper12

washman3 wrote: »

Is there a major difference between a 'genuine mira shower head' and a head bought in say Lidl/Aldi.?
Is temperature or flow rate/pressure affected.?
I've often wondered why some shower cost so much and others a pittance.
What's the best head to minimize limescale build-up.?

Assuming you have an electric shower the buildup of limescale is from the element. It just ends up in the head.

Mira and triton shower head are expensive but they are designed for electric shower. Some of the cheaper brands can make the temperature uncontrollable and some work ok