Shower issues!

[Miss-taken]

I've just moved into a new house and without a doubt, the shower is the worst I have ever used! Its an over the bath shower and is attached to the mixer taps (ie. you pull a lever to swap from taps to shower function) but there is just no water pressure - it literally just trickles out - took 10 minutes just to wash my shampoo out this morning! I don't have a combi boiler - the hot water is run on an immersion heater so maybe this is the problem??

Anyone got any suggestions on what I can do to improve the situation - if so how much will it cost (ball park)??

Thanks

PS: There seems to be a pump next to the immersion tank - I'm assuming this would be for the central heating - not the shower??

[angeldraws]

I had this problem with mine but it may just be that your shower head is clogged up with limescale (depends how old and if it's been taken off and cleaned tho') - i removed the showerhead and soaked it overnight in vinegar, this removes the limescale - may need to poke some of the holes with a pin if too hard-

if this isn't the problem, you may wanna simply try sittiing down as the lower the pipe and showerhead, the more pressure - altho only slight improvement.

Worst case scenario - get your water tank moved higher up.

[angeldraws]

PS - throw the vinegar away after use.....!

[Miss-taken]

Thanks for that - my first thought was also the shower head but I bought a brand new one at the weekend to no avail!

[buildersmate]

Now that you have eliminated the shower rose being partially blocked as the source of the problem, you are very likely to be right when you say it is because of lack of pressure. As you don't have a combi boiler, you probably have a cold water tank in the loftspace, and it is this that determines the pressure you have - the difference in vertical height between the water level in the tank and the shower rose. You can sort of check this by bringing the shower rose down in height to the bath floor - does the amount of water coming out seem much greater? Of course that's no use to you unless you fancy crawling on your knees every time you wish to wash your hair! The most economical solution is likely to be fitting an instant electric shower. These work off cold water mains pressure and heat the water as required - Triton, Gainsborough - that sort of thing. The other alternative is to have a pump fitted. This has to pump both hot and cold feeds (has twin impellers) so they are of equal pressure at the shower head - otherwise you won't be able to control it using the levers. Cost of a decent pump is about �150 but the cost of the plumber to do it will be much more - perhaps around �700 for the job (a guess - depends on your pipe layouts)

[antiguru]

might also we worth taking the fitment apart before you embark on getting a new shower. the bit that controls the flow of water from tap to shower may have got clogged too. i recently had to replace a washer (a few pence) in my fitment because the old one had perished and was stopping the flow.

[Miss-taken]

Thanks Buildersmate and Antiguru!

[markja]

the pump next to the immersion tank could possibly be for the shower. these 'booster pumps' only work when the water through them is flowing. does it have two pipes in and two out? try to find out where the wires on it go to,check it's conected. follow the pipes to see where they go, if it's to the bathroom then the reason you water is so slow is that the booster restricts the water slightly when it's not running.

[markja]

just a thought, pop into b&q, homebase or similar and have a look at a booster pump. this may help you identify what you've got by your immersion.