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[pscocoa]

Silly me - I thought I would have a chill out weekend but then the call comes from my daughter.

Basically the thermostat lock on the heat control valve cover has broken but in any case apparently the water temperature variation has been all over the place for some time - scalding one minute freezing the next.

At my house we are on gravity plus power showers so no problems but can anyone confirm that with a combi boiler and a theromstatic valve you are bound to have problems with water temperature control if someone runs a tap elsewhere and any solutions.

I suspect one of the problems is that as my daughter is in a victorian terrace on a shared supply with two other houses there is an increased problem.

I have had a go at trying to set the temp with a wrench whilst the valve cover is wrecked but it is impossible.

Anything recommended for  showers with combis?

[Kevin Wood]

As long as the shower valve is thermostatic it should be able to cope. Not ultimately as good as a pumped shower on a gravity fed system but they can be made to work.

One thing you could do is to fit a pressure regulator to the incoming mains to iron out any variations due to external influences.

Has the system previously worked acceptably? If not, do you know what has changed to cause this issue?

Kevin

[Marks DTM Calib]

Whats the hot water output in BTU?

Quite often these poor quality plumbers fit uber cheap combis with low water heating capacity.....

[feeutfo]

Silly me - I thought I would have a chill out weekend but then the call comes from my daughter.

Basically the thermostat lock on the heat control valve cover has broken but in any case apparently the water temperature variation has been all over the place for some time - scalding one minute freezing the next.

At my house we are on gravity plus power showers so no problems but can anyone confirm that with a combi boiler and a theromstatic valve you are bound to have problems with water temperature control if someone runs a tap elsewhere and any solutions.

I suspect one of the problems is that as my daughter is in a victorian terrace on a shared supply with two other houses there is an increased problem.

I have had a go at trying to set the temp with a wrench whilst the valve cover is wrecked but it is impossible.

Anything recommended for  showers with combis?

if this is on the triton i've had 3 go on one of ours, it cant tell the temp so it heats until the cut out resets and so on, 36 sobs from triton(?) web site.

but by the time i'd paid for 3 stats i could have bought a new shower unit  :-/


another resason why we need to fit a combi boiler, massive cold pressure, in our house and break all hot water pressure from the 30 year old plumbing to our gravity shower taps on the bath, rubbish

[pscocoa]

Whats the hot water output in BTU?

Quite often these poor quality plumbers fit uber cheap combis with low water heating capacity.....

The water is really hot - it is getting the comfortable balance that is the problem

[pscocoa]

As long as the shower valve is thermostatic it should be able to cope. Not ultimately as good as a pumped shower on a gravity fed system but they can be made to work.

One thing you could do is to fit a pressure regulator to the incoming mains to iron out any variations due to external influences.

Has the system previously worked acceptably? If not, do you know what has changed to cause this issue?

Kevin

I think it has worked in the past "acceptably" as you say and therefore I am tending to agree with Chrisgixer that the thermostatic valve unit is knackered and no longer able to regulate the temp.

Question is replace it with what?

I suppose short term get another unit which will fit the pipe configuration and give Triton customer service a going over.

[jimbobmccoy]

We had a combi boiler and triton power shower at our old place. The pressure wasn't that great, and when it got to the first winter we found that the water would get hot to the point of scalding, then cold then hot and so on. First thing we learnt was an 8.5 kw shower won't be much cop in winter.
After much umming an ahhing and speaking to an old school plumber we decided to fit mixer taps and run straight off the combi boiler. I was dubious as the tap pressure from the hot wasn't that good, but it actually worked really well. Better pressure than the electric and no temp fluctuations.
I was warned against tampering with the incoming mains pressure btw, aparantly very against the law!!( but I prob didn't grasp the point made by kw-I'm no plumber!)
for the more expensive route I was told you can feed a hot water tank from a combi boiler and then go the gravity fed with power shower route.

[jimbobmccoy]

Also, tho probably not relevant here, I had similar issues when I moved, and would thoroughly recomend a power shower to anyone with a grvity fed system.
Looks like an electric one on the wall, but way better.

[pscocoa]

sorry if it was not clear but it is not an electric Triton but a dual valve thermostatic. Some interesting observations - thanks guys.

[jimbobmccoy]

Ahh, it's just like school all over again, "young jimbobmccoy must pay more attention".
Your first post did make it clear what shower type it was.

[pscocoa]

but your info was great because my daughter is now asking for the electric version - so we need to take a time - out. I have a plumber coming at 10 tomorrow - but can I find a Triton Humber or similar mixer valve on its own on a bank holiday. Ebay has a kit but need to do job asap.

[pedroMV6]

We recently had a Worcester Bosch combi boiler and Mira mixer shower installed (within the last 2 1/2 years) and they're excellent in our house (3 bed, 1930's semi).
Water pressure does affect the shower a little, but never scalding.

[Kevin Wood]

another resason why we need to fit a combi boiler, massive cold pressure, in our house and break all hot water pressure from the 30 year old plumbing to our gravity shower taps on the bath, rubbish

I would keep the gravity fed system and pump the hot & cold to a decent shower mixer, personally.

Kevin

[jimbobmccoy]

The mixer I was referring to (rather unclearly!) was a set of mixer taps to replace the normal bath ones, the type with the shower hose attachment on the top of them.

I picked a pair up for about £35 and managed to bodge it myself, but beforehand did the following to check the pressure.
I went to Argos and got a cheap (£5-7) shower that you push on over the tap heads of the bath.
Got it to temperature and could see the pressure would be fine.
It was easier to replace the bath taps with the mixer sort than fit a seperate mixer shower (the type that sits mid way up the wall) an cheaper too.
I even used the hose an hose rail from the old electric shower.

In my limited opinion, I woulddo everything possible to find an alternative to am electric shower, as unless it's a very expensive one wit a high powered element they aren't that great.

[Taxi_Driver]

another resason why we need to fit a combi boiler, massive cold pressure, in our house and break all hot water pressure from the 30 year old plumbing to our gravity shower taps on the bath, rubbish

I would keep the gravity fed system and pump the hot & cold to a decent shower mixer, personally.

Kevin

Or depends where the header tank is for the hot water cylinder is. In my house, i have a loft above the kitchen....and that was where the header tank was fitted and i had low hot water pressure....i had it moved to the loft above the bedrooms upstairs...hot water pressure fine now  So basically, the higher up you can get the header tank the better the pressure