Having some problems with my son's shower valve - marked "Force 10 Thermostatic".
Not sure if this is the manufacturer's name or the model name. There are no other markings on the shower. Have googled it without success.
Has anybody ever heard of this name?
Pete
nope.
Pictures might reveal possibility of it being a badge-engineered version of an more familiar make & model.
Is it concealed (embedded in wall) or exposed?
I'm also coming to the conclusion that it is a badge-engineering job. Unfortunately I will not have time to post any photo's as my son & d- in-law live in Sheffield, I'm in Chorley in Lancashire and my next visit is not until Fri this week. I'm going to have another go at dismantling, lubricating and re-assembling but as a contingency I've just bought a replacement from B&Q which is the same style (Gold/ porcelain) and appears to have similar fitting dimensions for hot & cold inlets (it's a surface mount by the way). If I can't get the existing one working on Fri, then I'll give up and fit the new one in it's place as they are getting rather desperate to have a shower!
I'll take some photo's in any case, you never know when someone else will have a similar problem.
Thanks for your interest.
Pete
Hi,
Theres a small chance the mixer isn't plumbed correctly and/or the cold feed isn't good enough.
This would cause the mixer to throttle the hot supply which would make the boiler switch on and off causing the temperature to go all over the place.
This could be caused by a restriction in the cold supply or if the cold supply is taken from a loft tank.
One way to test if the mixer is OK is rig it to bath taps that are not fed from a combi, eg fed from a cylinder/loft tank instead.
This looks like the contact details for the shower maker, maybe they could confirm the shower is alright for a combi and maybe diagnose the problem:
cheers, Pete.
to the conclusion that it is a badge-engineering job.
After many hours of my searching t'internet for "Force 10" without success you appear to have come up with the goods! Many, many thanks!
Will give them a call tomorrow morning for advice before I resort to fitting the B&Q job.
I understand what you mean by a dodgy cold supply, but to the best of my knowledge it is mains fed and the hot supply is from the combi boiler. Unfortunately as there is no other supply in the house I can't connect it up any other way to test the valve as you suggest. The symptoms could however point to the cold supply, as you say, so I will try to find some method of checking it (there's plenty of cold flow to the washbasin next to the shower, but this doesn't necesssarily mean the shower cold is OK).
Thanks again Pete
One cause though quite unlikely, the mains supply to the property isn't enough to supply the both the cold water and the combi at the pressure it needs at the same time.
If you turn on a hot tap connected to the combi and then turn on a mains cold tap, there shouldn't be any drop off in the flow from the hot tap.
cheers, Pete.
Thanks Pete, I'll try this as well just to make sure. Will let you know how I get on.
Cheers Pete (K)
Quite an eventful visit to my son & d-in-law's house last Fri re this shower problem. Started by going to the address given for "Force 10" in Leeds in person only to find that they went out of business in
2004!Anyway carried on to their house where I dismantled the shower yet again, and checked that there was what seemed to be an adequate flow of cold water from the exposed stub end of pipe - there was, so that was OK. Incidently there was no flow restictor or filter fitted in the hot or cold inlets - don't know if there should have been or not. I took some pictures of the valve and dismantled parts which can be seen here if anyone is interested.
Co-incidentally, my d-in-law had arranged for the B Gas fitter to call on Fri to service the boiler under their maintenance contract which they were transferring from their old house. When he had finished he said that the boiler had a problem with the modulator control on the hot water which was not functioning correctly, so this may have something to do with the temperature control problem with the shower. He also dropped a bombshell by stating that the flue terminal was situated in a dangerous position and therefore slapped a "Do Not Use" notice on the boiler! Because of this he could not fix the modulator problem which needed spare parts. I shall be posting a separate message about this for advice.
So...... temperature control is still "iffy", and will have to remain so until we get the boiler sorted out, as this could be a significant factor.
Hope this rambling post may help others in a similar situation, and thanks again for your interest.
Pete
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