PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi???

[W0ZZA1]

Hello everyone,

I'm really hoping I can get some good advice on what could be wrong with my Bristan Colonial Mixer Shower / Britony Flexiflu Chaffoteaux & Maury Combi-bolier (the bolier heats the water only and isn't connected to the heating by the way).

Just over a week ago, I went to shower in the morning and found the water wouldn't heat up? I checked the bolier and discovered that it had stopped firing when calling for hot water when using the shower however, there is no problem when using the kitchen and bathroom sink hot taps, the bolier kicks in as it should and the water gets lovely and hot? I have also noticed that the hot water pressure has dropped in the shower to what can only be discribed as a dribble but there has been no change to the kitchen and bathroom sink hot tap pressure (the cold water pressure is fine in the shower, kitchen and bathroom sink).

Basically, there doesn't seem to be enough pressure to fire up the boiler when showering. The only way I manage to get any hot water is by keeping the kitchen tab on constantly when showing to get the bolier to stay on, this of course cuts the pressure even more as it has to go to the kitchen tab also! It's taking me over 30 minutes to take a shower in the morning as its a drip - knightmare!

I live in a first floor flat, over the past couple of weeks all the flats have had independant central heating installed (mostly gas). It could be a coincidence but the pressure drop seems to have happened since our neighbours had their gas central heating fitted. I got in tough with the company who service our bolier to get them to check it, they said there was no problem as the bolier works fine when the kitchen and bath hot tabs are on and put it down to poor water pressure. I then got onto the water board, they can only vouch for the outside water pressure, which again is fine. They advised me to get onto our managment company as they would look after the internal water pressure. I got the management company to send their maintenance company over to check, they said there is no problem with the internal water pressure, he checked the shower and put it down to a broken shower valve/cartridge.

Does this sound correct? Can a broken valve effect the water pressure like this?

We've ordered a complete new replacement shower in hope that this works but I'm not convinced this problem isn't down to everyone having gas central heating fitted and effecting the pressure in our flat.

Yours thoughts and advice would be really appricated.

Thanks
Emma

 

[philtheflush]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

it does actually sound like a faulty cartridge

 

[moony]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

yep id put it down to the cartridge too

 

[ecowarm]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

filter blocked in hot supply to shower.

Eco

 

[kay-jay]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

its actually the cold water pressure that feeds the combi, and as it fires up when using other hot services, it has to be a flow restriction problem in the feed to the shower.
therefore as above it is gonna be a faulty cartridge or blocked filter.

KJ

 

[W0ZZA1]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

Hi Everyone...

Happy New Year!

It's been a couple of months since I first wrote about my issue. Unfortunately, I still have the same issue despite trying numerous things. I'll give you a quick run down of what's happened to date, any suggestions to what this problem may be would be much appreciated as I'm at a total loss!

I'll pick up where I left off. So, we we're told the problem was due to a broken shower valve/cartridge. To overcome this, we had a brand new shower fitted. Unfortunately, this made no difference what so ever so the problem pointed back to the boiler.

I called our gas engineer back in to look at it, they spent most of the day trying diagnose the problem, they checked everything, PCB board etc, the whole boiler was pretty much taken apart and no joy...the last thing they tried was the diaphram. They replaced the diaphram and this worked - kind of (?)....I shall explain.

The boiler began to fire when calling for hot water from the shower however, it seemed to be really struggling (i.e. wasn't responding as quickly as the kitchen or bathroom sink taps when they were turned on) and the burner was only half lighting. The gas engineer then discovered that our combi boiler was tank fed and not mains fed! At last....a reason for the problem! As you're probably all aware combi's should run from the mains and not the tank, as our boiler was being tank fed this must be reason for the poor water pressure surely? Our gas engineer advised us that we needed to transfer the boiler over to the mains to improve the water pressure coming into the boiler which in turn would make the boiler function to its full capacity! In the interim, until we could get this work carried out, the engineer told us to turn the bathroom hot tap on before turning on the shower to make sure the boiler fully fired up, once the shower was hot we could then turn the bathroom hot tap off - The gas engineer did say this would be a temporary measure until we changed to the mains. This seemed to work just fine for about 6 weeks or so and the problem started again, the burner would no longer stay on with just the shower running alone, so we were back to running the shower with either the bathroom or kitchen hot tap on constantly to keep the boiler firing. This happened just before xmas and I'd had enough by this point, I called our gas engineers back to change the boiler over to the mains (this wasn't particularly cheap and could have done without this right on top of xmas), I just couldn't face not having a proper hot shower over the xmas period and we had family coming to stay - I was more then happy to pay out for this if it was to but an end to this misery!

The boiler was changed to the mains about 2-3 weeks ago, all was fine. Guess what....? The boiler has stopped firing when using the shower again! We're back to running the shower with either the bathroom or kitchen hot tap on constantly to keep the boiler firing. We've paid nearly £350 to have the boiler but onto the main for nothing and we still don't know why this is happening.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

 

[W0ZZA1]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

Sorry to bug....any suggestions guy? ;0)

 

[turnpin]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

how high is this block of flats you live in [how many floors above you] trying to work out head of pressure if tank on roof the colonial valve is a non thermostatic mixer not really for use on a combi system as risk of scalding but not implying it did not work till all this new works in your block took place?regards turnpin

 

[W0ZZA1]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

There's on floor above us, thats it....

 

[Nat]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

You could try fitting some cheap mixer bath taps with shower hose attachment then just unscrew your hose from the shower valve and connect it to the taps instead, circumventing the shower valve altogether. Should give you a descent shower from a combi.

 

[turnpin]

Re: PLEASE HELP - Hot water pressure has suddenly dropped so no longer firing combi??

try removing the shower spray from the hose and see if the boiler fires up when you turn the shower on if not may be an obstruction being caused by debris in the hot supply to the shower as result of works carried out in your block.Was pipework flushed before connecting to your new showerregards turnpin