Grohe Avensys mixer shower luke warm

[shagster]

Hi,

I installed one of these and I'm sure I paid attention to which way round the hot and cold were supposed to go. I also checked the water pressure and put in the relevant bits of plastic into the supply pipes to suit.

Anyhow, switched it on today for the first time and got luke warm water no matter what temperature setting. One of the supply pipes is hot, the other cold, so the there's definitely hot and cold getting to the unit. No problems with hot and cold supply to any other taps or the bath.

Here is the mixer:
http://www.grohe.co.uk/en_gb/avensys-modern-dual-control-shower-mixer-1-2-34222000.html

Any ideas what could be the problem?

thanks,
S.

 

[flameport]

Which side is the hot supply? Should be the left inlet.

 

[shagster]

Yes, it's on the left. I forgot to say, this is fed off a combi, and the mains water pressure is 7 bar, although the mixer is only supposed to be good up to 5 bar, I didn't think this would be too much of a big deal, especially since I measured the 7 bar on the ground floor and the shower is on the 1st floor.

 

[Madrab]

Pressure loss to the 1st floor will only be say .5bar, if your shower is approx 5m above ground level.

According to the MI though as long as the correct limiters are in then up to 10 bar is fine. Green in cold - Yellow in hot

I'd be looking at the thermostat settings as the 1st place to start, page 10 of the MI.

 

[shagster]

Thanks Madrab, by adjusting the thermostat as per page 10 of the manual I was able to get cold at least. But full on hot adjustment still gives only luke warm.

 

[shagster]

But there is now another problem: After mucking with the thermostat settings, the shower won't switch off properly and drips .
With four sinks, two toilets, a bath, this shower and an outside tap can you guess the one item that doesn't have isolation? Yup, right first time!

Anyhow, there is another clue - the thermostat lever slowly rotates counter-clockwise when the shower is switched off, until it reaches the end-stop.

 

[Madrab]

Reset the thermostat back to where it was originally. It does sound like you have too high a cold pressure causing this especially if it's driping and the thermostat is being pushed towards the cold side, the cold pressure is pushing past the controls/seals.

If you were fitting a new shower you really should have installed iso valves

The insert limiters are usually there to sort out flow differences when fitted correctly but they don't seem to be working in this instance, either that or they're just not limiting the pressure enough and @ 7bar it's just too much for the control thermostat, either that or there is an actual issue with the thermostat.

 

[shagster]

If you were fitting a new shower you really should have installed iso valves

Indeed. It wasn't so much that I didn't want to do it, just there being nowhere convenient to put the valves. Next time I'll do whatever it takes to add them, even if I have to loop to the other side of the bathroom! I did try to reset to the previous position but that didn't help, and still leaking. I think on this occasion I'll just get someone in.

 

[Madrab]

if your getting to that point then I'd contact Grohe and see what they have to say. If it's still leaking then either the seals or controlis letting by, that certainly sounds like a pressure issue.

 

[shagster]

The Grohe showers get a 5 year warranty. After a lot of phone calls (thank god for SayNoTo0870), and two visits by two different Grohe engineers the shower got fixed just yesterday.

First engineer only fixed the mixer, second engineer fixed the leak, removed the yellow plastic restrictor from the hot side, and told me the high pitched whine coming from the unit could be fixed by simply turning down the stop-cock as it was open too far(!)

The unit still rotates the temperature control when you turn it off so it never stays put, but it at least works and doesn't leak.

I don't think I can recommend Grohe, as my cheap no-name bar mixer that I put in 10 years ago is still going strong. All I can say is the Grohe looks nice but that's it. I also find it a bit odd about the pressure being any problem, as pressure in Germany is generally high.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Rip the piece of sh*t out and fit a Mira. Grohe are a crap company with crap products.

I tried to fit over a grands worth of their top line digital range to my bathroom (shower and bath filler). The piece of crap wouldn't fill the bath over 40 degrees. There is an override apparently, but neither I nor they could get it to work (I even have videos of the operation).

They then decided it was supposed to work this way. Even though the manuals say otherwise.


Fitted the Mira equivalent and happy days.