no pressure to shower

[netdef]

well i am at the end of my tether with this. Have been doing the whole house up for th past year. first time giving everything a go myself. I have just fitted a new shower and my system or the shower does not seem to have enough pressure to even get it out of the shower head. I am not sure if it is the thermostat part giving me issues or (see picture) I had to put two angles on the pipes behind to get it over to where the shower fitted from the old shower. I have done nothing else, I replace a single outlet pipe thermostat shower with a twin outlet pipe thermostat shower. The cold water pipe comes straight from the tank if the loft above so is just gravity fed. and the hot water comes from the pressurised hot water cylinder which is directly behind the shower wall. I have just finished tiling and plubming it in (I am neither) I aint got a clue what is wrong. surely those two bends would not reduce my pressure that much it wont even come out the shower head. I have tried it with just the thermostat bar and water is coming out just piddling out. could the thermostat be faulty or is it my pipework ? please dont tell me i have to take my tiles back off!

 

[franky]

Ok is your shower made so you can have mixed pressure? also is there a filter on the shower? try taking off the shower with water switched off then turn on water cold first then hot to see if your getting flow?

 

[netdef]

there is flow as it comes with a small flexible shower head with joins just at the bottom(not shown) I can get water out of that as it is almost still from gravity. It just does not have pressure to get up a 2ft pipe! If I turn thermostat all way round to cold it dribbles out and same if it turn around to hot it dribbles out.

 

[netdef]

my shower is this one


THERMOSTATIC ROUND CHROME SHOWER MIXER TAP VALVE SS021 on eBay (end time 14-Feb-11 13:17:23 GMT)


This is what is says it's compatible with.
These taps & showers will work on the following systems
· Combination boiler systems
· Pumped hot water systems
· Un-vented hot water systems
· Standard pressurised hot water cylinder type systems

 

[jase158]

I went to one of these the other day, he had put a pump in and it still wasn't working,
Now a few questions.
1. Did you put an essex, surrey or S Flange into the cylinder so that you got direct water from the hot water cylinder
2. Did you make sure the pipes were flushed out before installing the shower
3. Is the shower thermostatic type

If you answered yes to all the above questions, put simply it is the shower which is too great a resistance for the water, it is not only the pipe leading up to the shower head but also the thermostatic valve and the shower- head.

These showers look excellent but they really need to be installed by somebody who has a lot of experience in showers. I would reccomend ringing up a plumber and making sure they have a lot of experience in these showers, I went to this blokes house and he had been charged £300 by the same plumber who had installed it and they still couldnt find out why it wasn't working.
Either that or install a negative head pump if you have the money to pay for one?

 

[netdef]

I went to one of these the other day, he had put a pump in and it still wasn't working,
Now a few questions.
1. Did you put an essex, surrey or S Flange into the cylinder so that you got direct water from the hot water cylinder
2. Did you make sure the pipes were flushed out before installing the shower
3. Is the shower thermostatic type

If you answered yes to all the above questions, put simply it is the shower which is too great a resistance for the water, it is not only the pipe leading up to the shower head but also the thermostatic valve and the shower- head.

These showers look excellent but they really need to be installed by somebody who has a lot of experience in showers. I would reccomend ringing up a plumber and making sure they have a lot of experience in these showers, I went to this blokes house and he had been charged £300 by the same plumber who had installed it and they still couldnt find out why it wasn't working.
Either that or install a negative head pump if you have the money to pay for one?

1. I assume this is already in as brand new house I have not touched pipes other than extend about 6 inches with two bends.
2. I had turned water off and drained pipe, hot water has been on since I just put cap over pipe while still working so had water around house.
3. Yes it is thermostatic, I have just replaced a different thermostatic one. (see picture of old shower)


this is my old shower, hot and cold water into the big round thermostat/water on water off. which then feeds the single pipe out wall up to shower head.


this is my new shower, hot and cold feed into back of thermostat bar. which then feeds the shower head above. nothing has changed in the pipework apart from the two bends you can see which I have drawn in.

 

[franky]

turn off water take it apart clean it put it back together thats the easiest thing to do start there look for a filter

 

[netdef]

turn off water take it apart clean it put it back together thats the easiest thing to do start there look for a filter

there are two rubber gromit filters at both the hot and cold water supply. and one just at the shower head.

 

[netdef]

turned off hot water and cold water, took all apart and could not see any blockage, blew through the thermostat housing nothing came out.

so what are my options here? am I buggered to this type of shower I am just coming to the end of all the work i started and really can not be ar*&*& to start taking tiles of and changing plumbing.

Salamander Pumps

would the above sort it out.

 

[franky]

Ok I dont think your hot tank is pressurised, I think the hot a cold both work off gravity?
Right so what is the difference in height between your tank and the shower?
you probably have an air lock just but it back together and just let it run out of the lowest point does that make sense