Cautionary plumbing tale

[Anonymous]

At the risk of offending the purists who wash in an open horse trough after breaking the ice with their bare fists.... this might be useful if anyone is installing a fixed head shower. We had one installed by a moron who didn't realise that there was insufficient pressure in the pipes to kick start the pump when water was required. Flick the lever, and nothing happens. Bang on the pipes, and eventually it works. After 8 weeks of this, discovered that undoing a bolt at the shower control, so allowing the water in the fixed pipe to drain away, meant that next time around pump worked first time. Water went everywhere, but at least the bloody thing worked. It might have something to do with the size of our water tank, but the long and the short of it is, if you're putting in a fixed pipe shower, make sure the pipe going up the wall isn't so long it counteracts gravity and so ruins your naked early morning as you stand there getting colder and increasingly irate...

Now we discover the tiling was badly done and all the woodwork around the shower is waterlogged. Never let a carpenter do anything other than carpentry. Well, not the one we employed, anyway.

Cheers

Robert

 

[Anonymous]

you should have used a negative head shower pump by the sounds of it

 

[Anonymous]

Horse trough? Bloody luxury...

 

[Anonymous]

I lived somewhere where the shower head was above the hot water fill level too. There was no pump...

b1oody luxury!

NT

 

[Anonymous]

That's why I love this site. Negative head shower pump?? Whassat?

 

[Anonymous]

...and you try telling that to people today, and they won't believe you!

 

[Anonymous]

"Negative head shower pump?? Whassat?"

It sucks the dirt off you - a sort of wet hoover.

 

[Anonymous]

Probable cause; the shower valve has spring-check (non-return) valves built into it; these are intended to stop back-siphonage and are required because the valve can be connected to mains-fed (combi-boiler) systems. The spring-check valves require a certain minimum head/pressure to open them. Once open, the small flow of water will then start the pump.

If you'd had a shower hose & handset, you'd probably find the pump started every time you lowered the handset below shoulder height.

If you want to stick with a fixed head, then you can get a shower drain valve, which opens when the pump stops & shuts when the pump starts/the pressure increases. These devices are intended to drain warm water out of the shower outlet, to avoid the legionella risk. It will have the same effect as undoing the bolt, but will close when the water flows; probably screw into the bolt hole. I think Pegler used to make them.

 

[Anonymous]

Correction to the above.

Shower drain down valves USED to be available, but the most recent HSE guidance on legionella, L8 paragraph 167, says that they can promote conditions in the shower that support the growth of legionella & are not recommended. You probably won't be able to find one now.

An alternative might be to dismantle the shower valve and remove the cold water spring-check valve, that is assuming it's supplied from a tank. The installation instructions should contain disassembley & servicing instructions. The valve is often easily accessible from the cold inlet.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah right <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=""> It's the stuff dreams are made of...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Aiden. I replaced the fixed pipe with a handset on Sunday, and you're right, it works every time now. Shame the tiles around the shower basin are all coming up because the grouting/cementing wasn't done properly - we can't use the shower! If you want a job done...

 

[Anonymous]

How do you know all that? Nobody in the world can carry esoteric stuff like that around in their head! I'm very impressed!

 

[Anonymous]

Been there & done that, :-0
Aidan
(reformed moron)

 

[Anonymous]

Well... talk about "specialist"!

David
(deformed moron)