Replacing a shower

rottie 11

We had w newly fitted triton safeguard pump shower installed. It broke because apparently it was never sealed and water got inside

I’m looking to replace it with a cheap shower for the time being. M question is , would I have to yet another pump shower or would it be easy to install a Mains one instead

Thanks

Sleeper12

rottie 11 wrote:

We had w newly fitted triton safeguard pump shower installed. It broke because apparently it was never sealed and water got inside

The shower itself is sealed. It's possible for water to get into the wall but unless someone literally runs water onto the shower itself constantly then the shower won't fail & is covered by the two years parts and labour warranty. Electric showers aren't waterproof but are water resistant

If it is newly fitted then you should be us the two year parts and labour warranty. If you need a replacement shower I'd recommend the triton t90sr. The safeguard is intended for hospital and nursing homes. They aren't really suitable for the home environment imo

rottie 11

Sleeper12 wrote: »

The shower itself is sealed. It's possible for water to get into the wall but unless someone literally runs water onto the shower itself constantly then the shower won't fail & is covered by the two years parts and labour warranty. Electric showers aren't waterproof but are water resistant

If it is newly fitted then you should be us the two year parts and labour warranty. If you need a replacement shower I'd recommend the triton t90sr. The safeguard is intended for hospital and nursing homes. They aren't really suitable for the home environment imo

Thanks for your reply. Well when you take off the cover of shower everything is rusted inside , the shower was originally put in for an elderly woman so that explains that.

My main question is , would it be a big job to replace the pump shower with a shower connected to the mains supply.. thanks

Sleeper12

rottie 11 wrote:

My main question is , would it be a big job to replace the pump shower with a shower connected to the mains supply.. thanks

It shouldn't be tbh. Assuming it's installed correctly it has its own half inch supply coming from the cold water tank in the attic. Blank this & connect to the mains filling the water tank.

I'm not sure what advantage this would have. The performance of a pumped electric is usually better than the mains fed shower. You definitely need to ensure that the pressure & flow rate are good enough for the mains fed shower

rottie 11

Sleeper12 wrote: »

It shouldn't be tbh. Assuming it's installed correctly it has its own half inch supply coming from the cold water tank in the attic. Blank this & connect to the mains filling the water tank.

I'm not sure what advantage this would have. The performance of a pumped electric is usually better than the mains fed shower. You definitely need to ensure that the pressure & flow rate are good enough for the mains fed shower

Well I just see that the mains showers are a lot cheaper. My landlord is refusing to replace the broken shower so want to do it myself cheap as possible.

There’s a shower upstairs aswel but it’s dodgey, could be nice and warm and all of a sudden it’s boiling or freezing. Other times the flow goes so weak it can’t even be used to shower.

So my only option ino is to replace it cheap as possible

Sleeper12

rottie 11 wrote:

So my only option ino is to replace it cheap as possible

Taking the Pumped electric shower off the wall & swapping it with a mains fed shower without altering the pipework won't work. Unless you are 4 floors below the water tank there won't be enough water pressure to activate the pressure switch in the shower. The pressure switch basically sends electricity to the element. Not enough pressure = stone cold showers.

You will pay a lot more to alter the pipework to accommodate the mains fed shower than you will installing a tank fed shower. Installing a mains fed shower even connected to the mains does not guarantee that you will have enough pressure or flow to be able to make a mains fed shower work. You will need 1 bar of pressure & a flow rate of 8.5 litres of water per minute from your mains water. The really cheap ones have higher requirements

mad m

If there is a cold supply from tank, then do as sleeper12 advised , blank off hot and use cold supply. Look on adverts, some Triton T90z on their for €40.

rottie 11

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Taking the Pumped electric shower off the wall & swapping it with a mains fed shower without altering the pipework won't work. Unless you are 4 floors below the water tank there won't be enough water pressure to activate the pressure switch in the shower. The pressure switch basically sends electricity to the element. Not enough pressure = stone cold showers.

You will pay a lot more to alter the pipework to accommodate the mains fed shower than you will installing a tank fed shower. Installing a mains fed shower even connected to the mains does not guarantee that you will have enough pressure or flow to be able to make a mains fed shower work. You will need 1 bar of pressure & a flow rate of 8.5 litres of water per minute from your mains water. The really cheap ones have higher requirements

Ok I get what your saying. So if I buy another pump shower then all the pip work should be ok to use ?

Also regarding the shower upstairs , any idea why it’s not performing so well ? Hot and cold completely randomly and only has decent flow the very odd time. I’m not sure what type of shower it is though

Sleeper12

mad m wrote:

If there is a cold supply from tank, then do as sleeper12 advised , blank off hot and use cold supply. Look on adverts, some Triton T90z on their for €40.

Be careful on Adverts & Donedeal. Anything for 40 is going to be faulty or will come from a high limescale area and the element will preform like a 30 year old element. There are reconditioned ones for around 100. Reconditioned by shower engineers and come with a warranty. We've had dozens of clients have to dump a shower they just bought 2nd hand for 50 euros and end up paying us to install a new one in the end. Don't buy from anyone in a high limescale area. In Dublin this is anywhere north of Swords. Limescale gets worse and worse into Balbriggan & further north.

Sleeper12

rottie 11 wrote:

Ok I get what your saying. So if I buy another pump shower then all the pip work should be ok to use ?

Exactly yes

rottie 11 wrote:

Also regarding the shower upstairs , any idea why it’s not performing so well ? Hot and cold completely randomly and only has decent flow the very odd time. I’m not sure what type of shower it is though

If it's a mains fed shower upstairs then the water pressure & lack of flow will cause it to be uncontrollable

mad m

The upstairs shower might be affected if someone uses a hot tap elsewhere in house. Plus head pressure is crap.

rottie 11

It used to work fine though as far as I know. Been really crappy lately though if my partner uses it then it would be dodgey for me to have a shower that day cos I could get roasted.

I’ll have a look at the model when I’m home to see if it’s main fed or not.

Cheers for the help

rottie 11

The shower upstairs is a triton t80xr. If that’s a pump shower then I wonder would it be any benefit to change it to the downstairs set up , might work better down there ?

Sleeper12

rottie 11 wrote: »

The shower upstairs is a triton t80xr. If that’s a pump shower then I wonder would it be any benefit to change it to the downstairs set up , might work better down there ?

It's a mains fed shower & I was pretty certain it was one when you described the problems you are having with it. Try clean the filter & shower head. Make sure it's a genuine Triton shower head & make sure the hose isn't a spurious hose & make sure it isn't damaged inside.



Once you have ruled out all the above you are left with not enough water pressure or enough water flow. These are what I warned you about if replacing the tank fed shower with the mains fed shower. You can ring Irish Water & they will come out free of charge & test the pressure & flow going into the building. Most likely there is nothing they can do but sometimes you help them identify a leak on the road that they can repair within days & your shower might behave better. if Irish water can't improve the flow & pressure you can get a mains pump fitted like a Homeboost pump but they aren't cheap. Another option is to replace the mains shower with a tank fed shower & alter the pipework. The LL mightn't want to spend money but he/she must provide you with at least one working shower.

vandriver

Does no one see fit to even mention that electricity and water is a dangerous combination for a have a go hero who honestly doesn't sound able to do the job.

rottie 11

vandriver wrote: »

Does no one see fit to even mention that electricity and water is a dangerous combination for a have a go hero who honestly doesn't sound able to do the job.

I’m not going to go replacing a shower myself , I’m not stupid.

rottie 11

Sleeper12 wrote: »

It's a mains fed shower & I was pretty certain it was one when you described the problems you are having with it. Try clean the filter & shower head. Make sure it's a genuine Triton shower head & make sure the hose isn't a spurious hose & make sure it isn't damaged inside.



Once you have ruled out all the above you are left with not enough water pressure or enough water flow. These are what I warned you about if replacing the tank fed shower with the mains fed shower. You can ring Irish Water & they will come out free of charge & test the pressure & flow going into the building. Most likely there is nothing they can do but sometimes you help them identify a leak on the road that they can repair within days & your shower might behave better. if Irish water can't improve the flow & pressure you can get a mains pump fitted like a Homeboost pump but they aren't cheap. Another option is to replace the mains shower with a tank fed shower & alter the pipework. The LL mightn't want to spend money but he/she must provide you with at least one working shower.

Cheers I’ll try cleaning the shower head hopefully helps some bit. Thanks for all the help

vandriver

rottie 11 wrote: »

I’m not going to go replacing a shower myself , I’m not stupid.

Fair enough,I obviously took you up wrong.

John.G

rottie 11 wrote: »

Cheers I’ll try cleaning the shower head hopefully helps some bit. Thanks for all the help

Also don't forget to clean the filter, IW reduced my water pressure to 1.9 bar static, my own 14 year old Mira Sport was OK ( I clean the filter every year) but a neighbours Triton was running hot/cold until I cleaned the filter for him.