Too cold for electric shower to work?
- Thread starter D8Lady
- Start date
My electric shower was like this for about 2 weeks when the local water supply was on the blink. We would get water on for a few hrs, then turned off for maybe 8hrs. Think the Water Service were only letting it stay on for a while to get all the leaks fixed. Needless to say, the electric shower have about 10% of its usual power and froze you !!!
Our water is now back on to normal in the taps, or at least appears to be, but the electric shower is only functioning about 90% right I would guess. The usual setting that you used to use to shower is now far too hot, so I'm guessing there might still be a slight pressure issue that you don't notice at the taps.
Our water is now back on to normal in the taps, or at least appears to be, but the electric shower is only functioning about 90% right I would guess. The usual setting that you used to use to shower is now far too hot, so I'm guessing there might still be a slight pressure issue that you don't notice at the taps.
Ok, so popped up into the attic & found that there was a bit of the pipe exposed, no insulation, after a job a while back.
Sooo, its frozen. Good news is that it is not burst.
Covered it up & left a 200 watt bulb on in the attic overnight.
Will gently thaw it out tomorrow & put the shower on cold just to get the flow gowing again.
Sooo, its frozen. Good news is that it is not burst.
Covered it up & left a 200 watt bulb on in the attic overnight.
Will gently thaw it out tomorrow & put the shower on cold just to get the flow gowing again.
Bit of a catch 22, they say to reserve water if you try not to use taps the pipes have greater chance of freezing,where if you let a tap flow 24/7 then likelihood of pipes freezing is unlikely,(don't mean have tap on full but just enough)advice from people somewhere very cold leave at least one tap flow throughout the day,every 1/2 hour or so.
I had exactly this problem this morning. Water was coming out of all hot and cold taps, just not from my Triton T90 - the motor was running alright, but nothing was coming out. I rang my Dad and he said it was probably a frozen pipe, that the shower gets its water from a different pipe (which is why all the taps were working) and that if it defrosted, through either sun on the roof heating the attic space or through heat from teh house rising into the attic, then the blockage would melt.
A few hours later he was proved right, after both a sunny smell and a blast of the heating it's working fine. Whew.
My Dad also suggested that as I can't access the attic myself I should push open the attic hatch with a brush handle and wedge it slightly open so that heat from the rest of the house would rise into the attic and stop it happening again. Obviously I'll also get a cold draft from the attic, but it's a price worth paying as it's much cheaper than replacing a burst pipe.
A few hours later he was proved right, after both a sunny smell and a blast of the heating it's working fine. Whew.
My Dad also suggested that as I can't access the attic myself I should push open the attic hatch with a brush handle and wedge it slightly open so that heat from the rest of the house would rise into the attic and stop it happening again. Obviously I'll also get a cold draft from the attic, but it's a price worth paying as it's much cheaper than replacing a burst pipe.
Corcaigh abu
Registered User
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am without water now myself so may have to do the same. can anyone tell me the easiest way to find where water has frozen?
Corcaigh abu - you just have to trace the pipe, chances are its in an exposed part of the attic. Don't leave it. Here's what happened today:
The heating had been on the blink for a while, waiting on spare part to come in. It finally arrived but no joy with actually turning on the heat.
Heard water drips in the hot press - found water spilling down the pipe. Found out that an elbow fitting had popped off. Luckily the boiler guy was in the house, with a new joint to sort it out. Bit of a mop up, no biggie.
Decided to check all pipes and found a lovely icicle in a burst pipe and tanks frozen (wasn't like that yesterday evening when I checked).
This afternoon - no heat, no shower, no flushing toilet.
So got fresh insulation for all pipes, burst had to be repaired before it thawed and caused a real problem.
The ballcock is damaged so overflow spilling out onto roof. With the temperature due tonight, it needed to be stopped, otherwise overflow pipe would freeze. The mains water couldn't be turned off because its frozen in the street.
We had to put a solution together to turn off the water, to act as a manual ballcock until I can get a new one.
Have blow heater on low setting in attic to keep temprature to 5 degrees.
This evening - no heat, no shower, can flush loo and I am a human ballcock.
The heating had been on the blink for a while, waiting on spare part to come in. It finally arrived but no joy with actually turning on the heat.
Heard water drips in the hot press - found water spilling down the pipe. Found out that an elbow fitting had popped off. Luckily the boiler guy was in the house, with a new joint to sort it out. Bit of a mop up, no biggie.
Decided to check all pipes and found a lovely icicle in a burst pipe and tanks frozen (wasn't like that yesterday evening when I checked).
This afternoon - no heat, no shower, no flushing toilet.
So got fresh insulation for all pipes, burst had to be repaired before it thawed and caused a real problem.
The ballcock is damaged so overflow spilling out onto roof. With the temperature due tonight, it needed to be stopped, otherwise overflow pipe would freeze. The mains water couldn't be turned off because its frozen in the street.
We had to put a solution together to turn off the water, to act as a manual ballcock until I can get a new one.
Have blow heater on low setting in attic to keep temprature to 5 degrees.
This evening - no heat, no shower, can flush loo and I am a human ballcock.
But if everyone does this then the already very low reserves will be exhausted and no one will have water!
That's what's happening, from RTE
Water restrictions around the country
"Many local authorities around the country have introduced water restrictions, because of increased demand during the cold weather.
Reservoirs in parts of the country are at an extremely low level.
In Dublin, Fingal County Council said there is an increased demand on the water supply from leaks, breaks, frozen pipes, and running taps.
People are being urged not to leave taps running."
Water restrictions around the country
"Many local authorities around the country have introduced water restrictions, because of increased demand during the cold weather.
Reservoirs in parts of the country are at an extremely low level.
In Dublin, Fingal County Council said there is an increased demand on the water supply from leaks, breaks, frozen pipes, and running taps.
People are being urged not to leave taps running."
See my post on insurance recommendations and housing regulation. The other downside is you will get condensation in your attic, mine was dripping. I have a small 800w oil filled heater up there at present, cost me €19.50 at B & Q, I can switch it on from the landing if it goes too cold. The temperature I am monitoring from an Argos projector alarm clock that has a remote radio sensor, which I put beside the tank, this projects the temperature onto the bedroom ceiling