M
mikef
Hi folks, at my wits' end with this one and needing some advice, would appreciate any help you could give.
I have a 24kW combi boiler (Ferroli, between 5-10yrs old, serviced regularly and to my knowledge in full working order) which feeds my shower. I had a new bathroom fitted in August, the old shower which was just a single-handle, on/off affair was replaced with a new model with both flow control and thermostatic control valve.
About 3 weeks after installing, there was a sudden drop in pressure in the shower - significant, and a large amount of noise (high-pitched whining and vibrating but not a hammering) from somewhere within the system, under the bath. The hot water pressure at all taps in the flat had also dropped significantly.
The first plumber removed a flow restrictor from the boiler, which had some debris clogging it. This sorted out the hot water pressure from the taps, but not the shower. The flow of water coming out of the shower head (not the source of the problem as removing the head/hose had no impact) was about 2-2.5l/minute, whereas the flow rate out of the hot water pipe behind the controls was at least 10l/minute. So I got replacement control valves for the shower.
These were fitted by another plumber, last Friday morning and initially solved the problem, but later on Friday evening during a shower, the pressure again dropped substantially and a similar 'hissing' noise from within the control bar can again be heard. With any sort of hot water input to the water flow (i.e. anything other than pure mains cold water), the flow rate is insufficient to consistently fire the boiler - as was the case before the new valves were fitted - it fires up initially but does not stay. Turning the temp control valve fully to cold causes an initial burst of high pressure out of the shower head but this quickly dies back again.
Does anyone have any idea what might be the problem here? Please let me know if any more info is required - I've been as thorough as I can in describing the problem but may have missed some crucial detail.
Thanks
Mike
I have a 24kW combi boiler (Ferroli, between 5-10yrs old, serviced regularly and to my knowledge in full working order) which feeds my shower. I had a new bathroom fitted in August, the old shower which was just a single-handle, on/off affair was replaced with a new model with both flow control and thermostatic control valve.
About 3 weeks after installing, there was a sudden drop in pressure in the shower - significant, and a large amount of noise (high-pitched whining and vibrating but not a hammering) from somewhere within the system, under the bath. The hot water pressure at all taps in the flat had also dropped significantly.
The first plumber removed a flow restrictor from the boiler, which had some debris clogging it. This sorted out the hot water pressure from the taps, but not the shower. The flow of water coming out of the shower head (not the source of the problem as removing the head/hose had no impact) was about 2-2.5l/minute, whereas the flow rate out of the hot water pipe behind the controls was at least 10l/minute. So I got replacement control valves for the shower.
These were fitted by another plumber, last Friday morning and initially solved the problem, but later on Friday evening during a shower, the pressure again dropped substantially and a similar 'hissing' noise from within the control bar can again be heard. With any sort of hot water input to the water flow (i.e. anything other than pure mains cold water), the flow rate is insufficient to consistently fire the boiler - as was the case before the new valves were fitted - it fires up initially but does not stay. Turning the temp control valve fully to cold causes an initial burst of high pressure out of the shower head but this quickly dies back again.
Does anyone have any idea what might be the problem here? Please let me know if any more info is required - I've been as thorough as I can in describing the problem but may have missed some crucial detail.
Thanks
Mike
