The Turner Showermate pump on my shower is acting up on the hot side only, it still runs but pressure is well down, anyone have any experience with these? Is it likely to be knackered or could it just be clogged up and repairable? It’s an expensive job to get a plumber in and replace so would prefer to avoid if I could do a DIY job.
Do you know for sure that the fault is in the pump? Maybe worth checking that the thermostat in your shower (assuming it has one) is working properly. It’s not unusual for thermostats to fail, and they can be a cheaper and easier fix than the pump.
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Thanks but I have a pressure issue not temperature, the water seems to be heating fine
There may well be filters (often a simple steel mesh) on the inlet to the boiler, pump and/or shower, any of which could be blocked, as could the nozzles of your shower head. The latter would likely be the easiest to clean or replace, depending on the type. Cleaning out the inlet filters is a simple matter if you can isolate the water supply.
There could also be a problem with your boiler. If it’s not heating the water enough, the shower thermostat will reduce flow rate in order to maintain temperature, so worth a quick check.
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I had erratic water temperature from my shower a few months ago. I thought it was the pump. It turned out that the shower head had scaled up internally. I unscrewed the head and sprayed descaler inside and left it for a few hours. Once reinstalled the temperature became consistent and adjustable.
I get the impression from the blurb that this pump doesn’t have a thermostat and simply increases the pressure from a gravity fed system. The mixing of the hot and cold would be done mechanically by the shower mixer or mixer tap. If the other taps have hot water, the hot tank must have hot water and therefore the boiler must be ok. Maybe one of the pipes from the pump to the shower is blocked, or the head furred up as suggested.
I’m assuming that the shower mixer has a thermostat, not the pump.
Maybe, but if it’s a pressure issue it sounds like the pump. But then, I’m not a plumber. Goodness knows how you’d fix a thermostatic mixer.
I would not hesitate to call the service engineer that looks at your boiler. They should know what to do.
Why get involved with something so complicated. Probably something simple, and if your friendly chap is on great speaking terms shouldn’t give you too much wallet grief.
Removing the thermostat from a mixer is very simple, at least on the showers I’ve seen, and would be an easy 5 minute DIY job, but yes, a blockage in a filter or the shower head would be the first thing I’d check if the boiler is working properly.
Thanks all, it’s not the shower head as the hot water pressure is also low at the hand basin which is also fed by the pump, hot water everywhere else in the house where it’s gravity fed is fine so it all points to the hot side of the pump, if I can isolate and check if there’s filters in it I guess would be where to start
I am not a plumber but do have a Stuart Turner pump. They are extremely well made and should last for many years. I have had mine for 14 years and replaced the starting capacitor twice…simple job.
It doesn’t sound like that is your problem, but I would back the suggestions about the filter. If the feeds are push-fit it can be a devil to access. This will depend on the age of the pump, as Turner changed the push fits to threads and nuts about 5 years ago. The only other thing I can think of is an airlock in the system. Turners must have their own feed otherwise this can happen given they are so poweful.
Good luck !
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This. Exactly. Happened to us. Grohe mixer mech was faulty. Replaced the thermostat and all is well.
I’ve been looking in the Stuart Turner website. It says that the Showermate pump is non serviceable and there is no mention of checking filters.
If the downstairs hot taps are ok pressure wise, and both upstairs taps are not, and they are both fed by the pump, it sounds very much as if the hot pump part of the Showermate has stopped pumping. That would mean you are only getting the gravity pressure on the hot side, which of course is lower upstairs as the fall is less than downstairs.
I’d suggest calling the Turner helpline. If it has conked out, and if it’s non serviceable, they may well do you a cheap replacement. We have an Aqualisa digital shower and they did a really good deal on a replacement when it went funny. You’d still need a plumber though, unless you are confident in fitting it to the pipe work and ensuring a watertight join.
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Thanks HH, yes pretty much the conclusion I’ve come to although the pump does actually run when I open the hot tap or shower it’s just that the pressure is low, so the motor is fine per se which made me think there might be a filter in it somewhere that’s gunged up
I had a similar issue a few years ago. The pump was running but the pressure was very low.
It turned out that the spindle between the pump motor and the impeller had sheared off, essentially as the ultimate failure caused by corrosion from a small leak in the pump attacking the shaft.
The pump manufacturer was totally unhelpful and would only offer to sell me a new pump at full retail price plus postage, not even being willing to supply the pump unit without the low voltage power supply that I didn’t need to replace.
So of course I bought a different sort of pump locally for a lot less money, and it’s still working 15 years or so later.
Best
David
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Thanks David, yes I suspect it’s just worn out, it’s about 17 years old and being the hot side it’s probably more prone to wear
I would be very surprised if there was no filter supplied for both hot and cold inlets. If the fault is with the pump, the first thing I would do is undo the final connection between the hot water inlet and the pump body. If there’s a filter there, a quick rinse and replacement may be all it needs. It’ll only take a few minutes, and won’t cost anything.
If the filter is clear, it’s time to dig a little deeper.
Our Stuart Turner Monsoon positive head shower pump exhibited the same symptoms a few years ago. We lived in Essex at the time, in an extremely hard water area. The push fit connections had built in mesh filters. Neither connector could be taken apart - seized solid by the calcification! When cut off, both filters were almost completely blocked by the deposits.
New pump was the only solution, which I did myself without too much difficulty. Sold up and moved to Cornwall before the next inevitable episode!
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It had occurred to me that the water in Dublin is probably quite hard these days, and could be causing the problem. Again, removing the inlet pipe and having a look would soon reveal such a problem.
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