Electric Shower Issues - Water doesn't heat up on high

[sensory]

Hi all,

The house I rent has had the same electric shower for years now, and it's always had the same problem: if the 'tap' for the electric shower is on low the water will heat up quite nicely, but once you crank it up so the waterflow increases, the water doesn't heat up any more and goes near cold.

The electric shower is a RedRing SuperTX.

There's no issue with pressure because when it's cranked up to full the water comes out very fast.

Does anyone have any advice on what I could do to fix this? The knobs on the front indicating "HI" and "LO" work fine and it's currently set to one of the two labels marked "HI" but the temperature dial doesn't have any effect on the water temperature at all.

Thanks all!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The house I rent has had the same electric shower for years now,

It's sh*gged.

There's no issue with pressure because when it's cranked up to full the water comes out very fast.

All instant electric showers have the same basic behaviour of the faster the water the colder it is, because of a clause in the Laws of Physics.

Does anyone have any advice on what I could do to fix this?

You don't - that's what your landlord is for.

The knobs on the front indicating "HI" and "LO" work fine and it's currently set to one of the two labels marked "HI" but the temperature dial doesn't have any effect on the water temperature at all.

Yup, it's sh*gged.

Actually - I suppose you could take a few minutes to turn off the power and remove the cover just to check that no connections have come adrift. Bit of a long shot, but not much effort.

 

[stem]

Unfortunately this is how they work. The shower will have electric elements that will supply a set amount of heat when they are 'on' The temperature of the water then depends on how much water you put through them. The more water you put through it the lower the temperature, and vice versa.

The temperature knob is just a tap that controls the flow of the water though the heating elements.

The shower will have probably have two heating elements, on the low setting one will be on , on the high setting both will be on.

Summer and winter will also have an effect, because the cold mains water is colder in winter and so will need to pass through the heater more slowly than in the summer.

If you want more heat, you could consider a more powerful shower. Electric showers are rated on Kilowatts. If yours is 8 or 9 consider upgrading it to a 10. it may need rewiring though to come with the more electricity it will use.

 

[sensory]

Thanks for the reply guys. Would it be worth buying a new showerhead, one similar to this one? I've heard good things about that particular showerhead increasing the flow in showers with pretty lousy pressure.

I'd love to get my landlord to sort it but there's little I can do since I'm lodging and he's fine with semi-horrible water pressure when showering. The pressure isn't that bad after all, but it's not adequate but a long shot.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I've heard good things about that particular showerhead increasing the flow in showers with pretty lousy pressure.

Ummm....

There's no issue with pressure because when it's cranked up to full the water comes out very fast.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

The pressure isn't that bad after all, but it's not adequate...

 

[sensory]

What I'm referring to is that you need to keep the flow LOW to get WARM water. I explained this in the first post.

Then what I asked was would it be a good idea to buy a showerhead that could, even if the flow had to be low, still produce what seemed to be adequate pressure.

Please stop spam-replying to this topic with smilies or unhelpful one-liners, ban-all-sheds.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And anyway - the more water you put through the shower the less it will heat up.

As I see it you have 3 choices.

1) Fix or replace the shower.

2) Put up with it how it is.

3) Move.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What I'm referring to is that you need to keep the flow LOW to get WARM water. I explained this in the first post.

Then what I asked was would it be a good idea to buy a showerhead that could, even if the flow had to be low, still produce what seemed to be adequate pressure.

I've heard good things about that particular showerhead increasing the flow in showers with pretty lousy pressure.

If it increases the flow it will lower the temperature.

Please stop spam-replying to this topic with smilies or unhelpful one-liners, ban-all-sheds.

OK - I'll reply without using a smiley.

The pressure isn't that bad after all, but it's not adequate

That makes no sense.

 

[EFLImpudence]

The new shower head may cure the problem. It just has smaller holes to restrict the flow but 'squirt' farther.

Perhaps the problem has been caused by someone putting on a shower head which is too big for the heater.

 

[flameport]

The instructions for most (all?) electric showers state to only use the shower head supplied with the unit, as others won't have the correct flow rate.
Using a different one will either cause the flow to be too high (so cool/cold water) or the flow is far too low, resulting in scalding hot water and the thermal cutout in the shower operating.

Are you sure it's a Super TX rather than a Super 7X ?

Irrelevant anyway, since if it's a Redring Super anything, it must be well over 10 years old and therefore way past it's expected lifespan.

 

[sensory]

That makes no sense.

The speed at which the water needs to come out of the showerhead to stay warm enough to actually shower isn't terrible, but it isn't great either. As soon as I start cranking the tap to get more pressure, the water temp drops to near cold.

I explained it to the best of my ability in the first post and if you didn't understand my explanation you could have asked politely without being sarcastic.

I appreciate your attempts to help but they're no longer needed.

The new shower head may cure the problem. It just has smaller holes to restrict the flow but 'squirt' farther.

That's what I was thinking, too. I bought a showerhead a little while back that helped, but it was just a cheap old thing from Tesco and didn't have reviews from people saying how much better the 'squirt' from their shower was like this one does. I might give this new one a test-drive and see if that helps even more. Thanks.

The instructions for most (all?) electric showers state to only use the shower head supplied with the unit, as others won't have the correct flow rate.

I bought a new showerhead about a year ago that seemed to work fine. I don't have the instructions to this electric shower so I couldn't check before buying it. I'll keep your advice in mind and if it doesn't end up working I'm sure I can return the showerhead. At least I'll know what's wrong if it doesn't work as expected. Thanks.

 

[radioredcat]

I had a look at a triton shower last for a friend with the same problem and it was 1 element O/C i advised them to replace it rather than repair as it is over 10 years old.

Andy

 

[ban-all-sheds]

That makes no sense.

The speed at which the water needs to come out of the showerhead to stay warm enough to actually shower isn't terrible, but it isn't great either.

So it isn't that bad after all, but it's not great either.

Oh hang on - it's not adequate.

As soon as I start cranking the tap to get more pressure, the water temp drops to near cold.

Yes, that's what that sort of shower does.

It shouldn't drop to near cold though.

I explained it to the best of my ability in the first post

In your first post you said "There's no issue with pressure because when it's cranked up to full the water comes out very fast."

And if you want to go back to first posts, go back to mine, where I told you that the shower was sh*gged, which I think was a pretty clear explanation.

and if you didn't understand my explanation you could have asked politely without being sarcastic.

" " is not sarcasm.

I appreciate your attempts to help but they're no longer needed.

And I appreciate that you simply don't realise that you don't have any way to stop me replying to posts made on an open forum like this.

The new shower head may cure the problem. It just has smaller holes to restrict the flow but 'squirt' farther.

That's what I was thinking, too.

You were thinking it would restrict the flow?

I've heard good things about that particular showerhead increasing the flow in showers with pretty lousy pressure.

I bought a showerhead a little while back that helped, but it was just a cheap old thing from Tesco and didn't have reviews from people saying how much better the 'squirt' from their shower was like this one does. I might give this new one a test-drive and see if that helps even more. Thanks.

There is no point fiddling around changing shower heads. It is 99.999.....9% certain that the shower is sh*gged, and nothing you do to the showerhead will change the fact that the specific heat of water is 4.19J/gK.

I'll keep your advice in mind and if it doesn't end up working I'm sure I can return the showerhead. At least I'll know what's wrong if it doesn't work as expected. Thanks.

If you're expecting it to turn a shower that's over 10 years old with one of its two heating elements broken into something which will work well then prepare yourself to be disappointed.

And as for "I'm sure I can return the showerhead" you should read their Terms & Conditions...

Seriously - don't waste your time or your money - you need to replace the shower.

 

[kai]

In simple terms, an electric shower is a type of flow-heater, the lower the flow rate the hotter the water, and the faster the flow rate, the cooler the water. This is because the faster the flow, the less time the elements will have to heat the water up.

If you want a faster and warmer rate you need a higher wattage shower, say a 10.5. kw instead of an 8.5. kw unit.