electric showers and water pressure

[normanwisdom]

Have a cheapo Gainsborough 9.5 shower which has worked perfectly well for some time. But it has been running cool lately (not cold) and I wonder if it is due to the weather and cold supply temperature. We might have too high mains pressure - the dial temp adjustment has to be near the hot end even in summer. So the questions are:

1 is there a simple way of rating the mains pressure without buying a bit of kit, e.g rate of flow through a tap? 2 if it is high what is the best pressure reducer device to buy?

cheers Jacob

[jacob]

Flow rate at kitchen tap is about 30 litres/minute. Could this mean too high pressure for the shower, which I seem to recall requires a max of 10 bar?

[martin_pentreath]

It's the rate of flow that determines how hot the water gets. Can't you throttle it back by closing off a service valve a bit?

[John Rumm]

Its not the pressure you need to reduce so much as the flow rate. Simply partially turning off the showers service valve should do this (assuming one is fitted; if not, that is what you need to buy!)

[fred]

In article , normanwisdom writes

Previous good performance followed by running cool may point to a failure of one of the heating elements (there are invariably two) or the associated controls. Does the shower have two power settings and is there a noticeable difference in warmth between the two? You could also check it is drawing the full 9.5kW using a timed test on your electricity meter.

[Thomas Prufer]

Or, if difficult/inconvenient/too bothersome to fit, a different shower head with lower flow, or even a (googles) "hose washer"...

Thomas Prufer

[jacob]

Ta for hints. Closing the stop tap a bit does work, but then doesn't work if you flush the loo etc. Pressure falls too low. Have gone for the Comap PRV solution

let you know if it is the answer when I've fitted it.

cheers Jacobn

[John Rumm]

It may be you are fixing the symptom rather than the problem, but time will tell ;-)

[jacob]

Fitted prv. It now works perfectly. Left it at the factory setting of

3 bar. Might need to turn it up a bit in summer perhaps. It has a gauge which you can fit as an optional extra.

I'll go and have a warm shower!

cheers Jacob