Mira Power Shower Pump squeek - anyting to be done?

[pauljs]

Hi everyone,

I have a Mira Enduro "Universal" 1.5 bar double ended pump. the wife turned on the shower this morning and nothing happened (she had a shower with no power).
I am tasked with troubleshooting and have read the appropriate guide.
When I tried the shower it worked fine a little later on

• I left it running on C 5 mins H+C 5 mins H 5 mins and then stopped restarted it a few times - worked each time
• I used a magnet to test the reed switch on each side and they are both working (now at least).
• It then failed to turn on once for me but its now fine again.

I have noticed a startup and shutdown squeek and the recording is available but the forum will not let me post it. I will try to post it in a reply to this.

Can anyone tell me if the noise is normal for a 4 year old pump and if not what the troubleshooting steps might be? Also I am not sure if the noise is related to the intermittent failure to start but it does seem likely.

Many thanks
Paul

 

[pauljs]

link to sound recording of squeek: picosong.com/jwsm/

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

to be honest, 4 years isn't too bad from a shower pump

Check the connections to it are correct as the squeak could be air, but it doesn't sound like it from the audio file?

Tom

 

[pauljs]

Thanks Tom. All the connection seem fine. It could certainly be air and I will bleed and clear inlet filters in that case.

4 years not bad for a £500 pump that's used 3 times per week (we have 2 showers - we are not dirty) . Blimey. That seems pretty bad to me. 80p per shower for the pump alone.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[pauljs]

sorry - direct replacement is £410 so thats down to 65p per shower....

 

[Mike Jackson]

I replaced a pump that had been in under a year about a month ago. I'm surprised it lasted that long as it was dragging in air every time it was used.

 

[Unregistered]

Fair play..... I hope the cleaning sorts it. We are in a 0 limescale area so I'm not too hopeful unless a piece of crap has found its way in.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

sorry thought it was a shower pump

brass pumps do usually last longer, check the filters and check the feeds to it. the biggest enemy to pumps, especially centrifugal ones, is air. Incorrect draw off for the hot is usually the worst culprit

 

[Unregistered]

Ah well. I have checked the pipework and it seems to follow the rules to avoid airlocks and suck - its definitely a "pro" job. I reckon the pump is getting close to having had its day. I will take it apart and clean the impellers etc. I will also "annoy" the reed switches with a magnet a few dozen times to see if that helps.

On the subject of "inexpensive" replacement pumps - I can see that a similar 1.5 bar pump is in the region of £120 at the cheaper end. Any recommendations?

Looking at Salamander Pumps CT50+

Stuart Turner Showermate Eco S Positive Head Shower Pump 1.5bar

Both from Screw-it-up-Fix...

Cheers,
Paul

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

both very good manufacturers of pumps

The pump you have currently is overkill if it is just feeding 1 shower

Where is the hot drawn off from? any pictures?

 

[pauljs]

Hi, Good to know - thanks.

Well looking a little closer at the pipework. It looks like I have a short horizontal run from the cylinder (maybe even 1-2 degrees up). Would that be a problem do you think? The rest of the run (after the horizontal bit) is all downhill.... Pics attached:

i.*********/9gwkLYb.jpg
i.*********/vCZ2O9A.jpg
i.*********/8IF2kGh.jpg

 

[pauljs]

Hi. This forum software is infuriating Grrrrrrr. I just tried to reply with some pictures (links) but I was not allowed. I then replaced the URL dots with <dot> and now its waiting for a moderator to approve. ........

Post is now above..........

Cheers,
Paul

 

[pauljs]

he he..... Tom I see you are a moderator. The forum is great and the help is also great by the way

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

plumbing looks okay tbh, the horizontal run is fine as long as its not going up hill but its very short any way

 

[pauljs]

Hi Tom,

That's good to know. If I can't fix the pump then I will simply replace with existing pipework. I will go for one of the two pumps mentioned earlier as £120 is a bit better than the £500 the original owner of the shower paid for the mira pump (ouch).

 

[Dotty]

he he..... Tom I see you are a moderator. The forum is great and the help is also great by the way

Thank you for the feedback, all goes in your favour!

 

[pauljs]

Well, I appreciate you Plumber types are pretty busy and you give up your time to help people for free. That is worth thanking. I fix computers for a living and if I help someone for free then I expect the same.

 

[pauljs]

btw. If you allowed links to imaging websites (assuming you moderated them and you did not get a ton of spam) it would free up a ton of space on your servers - not having to store them and reduce the cost of bandwidth with your ISP etc.

I do appreciate that you would then be open to spammers more though so I do get it.

 

[Best]

Hi. I think Stuart and Turner might actually make the Mira Enduro pump for Mira! Stuart & Turner are a century old top quality pump manufacturer.
As far as I know they did make the older Mira pumps & that one looks quality.
It might be just a bad connection in the wiring / pcb board inside the unit wiring area. Very common for intermittent working. Sometimes a gentle tap on the wiring area on the pump will start it if it is not going while shower valve open. Could also be capacitor possibly I suppose.
I bet you can get any part for that pump. Probably worth fixing as it is built to last a long time.

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks Best. I will persevere with it using my magnet, my persuader and my multimeter. I agree it must be quite a good pump if it cost £500 notes originally - even if that did include a 50% mark-up or whatever.......

 

[Best]

Thanks Best. I will persevere with it using my magnet, my persuader and my multimeter. I agree it must be quite a good pump if it cost £500 notes originally - even if that did include a 50% mark-up or whatever.......

If you have a pcb board inside it, the wiring connections to the board is very delicate & it or a break in the rest of the board can cause pump to stop. Very common on anything that heats or vibrates obviously. Your mutimeter might not find it easily. If you are not a hands on electronic engineer, I suggest you get one to look at that first.

 

[rpm]

If you take both the impellers out for cleaning then apply a squirt of WD40 to the shafts as near to the body as you can, might be dry lip seals squeaking (if fitted).

 

[Unregistered]

I reckon your'e on to it there rpm. It seemed to be coming from the RHS shaft where there is a seal. being a computer chap I have Silicone spray, oil and graphite grease as well as silicone grease.

Is WD40 the best option with all of those others in my arsenal?

Also, I have a suspicion that the squeak is not related to the failure to start a couple of times. I suspect either a PCB malfunction or a reed switch malfunction. I will look into replacement reed switches but...... If it has 2 reed switches and I assume either one turns the motor on then it would be unlikely that both would fail together so that points possinbly towards a motor bush or a PCB problem.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Paul

 

[Unregistered]

or... a blockage in the impeller or inlet filter. As soon as it happens again I will take it out and strip it down. I'm reluctant to do it just now though as it is behaving at the moment. I suspect it will get more frequent though so watch this space and it may be some time but I will report back when I have some news.

 

[rpm]

I reckon your'e on to it there rpm. It seemed to be coming from the RHS shaft where there is a seal. being a computer chap I have Silicone spray, oil and graphite grease as well as silicone grease.

Is WD40 the best option with all of those others in my arsenal?

Also, I have a suspicion that the squeak is not related to the failure to start.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Paul

Agree the squeak has nothing to do with the other problem, graphite can be aggressive so my choice would be the silicone spray.