Downstairs Shower

[Rockrose]

I have a shower downstairs that we have never used as I couldn’t fit in it.
Cleaned it today with a view of using it but after about 20 seconds it’s stopped running, it’s not electric there is a knob to turn water on and another with numbers on it starting at 20 up to 38, this has a little red switch on it.
Any ideas?

[bednobs]

20-38 is probably temperature. Cant you report it to your landlord?

[bednobs]

ps the red switch s probably to prevent it getting too hot (you have to atually positively do something to get it past the temp where it might burn say a child)

[bednobs]

you have water everywhere else? what water heating do you have?

[gingejbee]

...and if it's "not electric" do you know where the hot water comes from?
Are you sure it's not electric?

[Ryzen]

It may be the thermostatic mixer valve sticking ...due to lack of use.Will it run when its gone cold again.Try pushing the red knob and twisting it from min to max a few times.

[bhg481]

Showers come in three flavours:
1) Power shower - takes hot water from your cylinder, cold from your header tank and has a pump which is activated by water flow.
2) electric shower - takes only cold water and heats it to the required temperature.
3) As 1 but no pump ie, gravity fed. This is usually OK for downstairs showers because of the good water pressure without needing a pump.

Which type is yours?

[Ryzen]

and no4.....a mains pressure shower ...generally via a combi boiler :-)

[Rockrose]

I would say it’s number 3 and I have been playing and if I press the red switch and then turn it on it seems to run longer.
But I have run out of hot water now so will try again when the water heater is on.
Thanks for your help

[bhg481]

Ryzen - thanks. I've had no dealings with combi-boilers, so I know nothing about them.

[bhg481]

Thinking more about your problem it could be a problem with the cold water supply to the shower. When you first turn it on the hot water will be cold. As it runs it will get hotter until it exceeds the temperature set on the control knob. At this point the control will start to add cold water to keep the temperature below the set level; if there is no cold water flow the control will turn down (and eventually off) the hot supply to keep the temperature down. When you turn the control to "hotter", hot water will start to flow again until the temperature reaches the set limit and then stop.
I suggest you look for a stop-valve somewhere in the cold feed - it should come directly from your cold-water header tank and SHOULD have an isolator in it somewhere; if someone used a stop-cock instead of a gate-valve there it could have got stuck. If you don't know about these things, stop-cocks look like ordinary brass taps, gate valves usually have a red circular knob to turn them on and off.

[Rockrose]

Ok it didn’t work funnily enough just as it started to get hot enough to shower it slowed to a trickle again.
I will look for those things what do I do just turn them on and of?

[bhg481]

It's almost certainly the cold feed. If you find the stop-valve it should turn anti-clockwise to allow water flow; it might be stiff but try turning it both ways just to make sure it's completely open. If it's a stop-cock it could by tricky if it has been turned off as they rely on water pressure to open them (they have a rubber washer which gets stuck) - I would take the head off the shower and suck hard with the control valve set to fully cold and "on" ie, pretend you want a cold shower and that might free it. Bear in mind if you do that the water will start to flow so be ready to point it somewhere safe. Good luck.

[Rockrose]

Thanks so much the cold tap in the pantry wasn’t turned on

[bhg481]

Well done - that's better news to me than you giving me BA, but thanks anyway.

[Rockrose]

You deserve best answer because I got my shower working because of you without looking like a prat in front of a plumber or landlady

[bhg481]

It's nice to be useful.