8.5 KW shower problems

[wasmp]

Hope this is the right forum have a 8.5 kw instant shower which works fine until I try ant turn up the water temperature. As soon as I turn the knob the water continues to flow but goes cold. Turn the temperature knob down ant the water is warm again. Any ideas??

[Chris]

With an electric shower, you increase the temperature by decreasing the water flow, which means the water spends more time in contact with the heating element and therefore runs hotter.

However if you turn it too hot, there isn't enough water flowing over the element to prevent it overheating. All electric showers will have some sort of safety feature for such occasions - such as switching off power to the heating element until it has cooled down. It sounds to me as if you're turning the dial up too much, which is reducing the water flow and allowing the element to overheat.

Now, is it doing this in a way that it never used to? If so, something has changed. Has the water pressure in the house changed? If so, you would not need to turn the shower dial as high before it would reach maximum temperature, because remember all the shower dial is doing is reducing the water flow to allow the water to spend longer in contact with the heating element.

Or, possibly, the heating element is going on the blink and is more prone to overheat, or the safety cut-out is going on the blink and is more likely to operate. If there is an electrical problem in the shower, the solution is probably to buy a new shower unit. Unless the one you have is seriously expensive and therefore worth repairing.

Give the manufacturer a call - often, they can supply you the guts of a new shower, which is cheaper than buying an entire new unit complete with outer casing.

[Uncle Peter]

Did the person who fitted the shower check that the wiring was up to the task? Sometimes this will need upgrading when you fit a new shower.