I have had a power shower for about seven years and am on my third pump at
the moment. The original pump was made by New Team and the replacements
have been the same for ease of replacement. I suspect that the short
lifespan of the pumps is because of cavitation in the hot side which I
believe is why when the shower is first turned on there is a rise in the
note from the pump as if air is being sucked, which settles again after 15
seconds or so. There are no leaks in the system. The hot side comes from
the cylinder via a Surrey flange and I wonder whether anybody knows which
connection on the flange normally goes to the dip tube. At the moment the
rest of the hot water is connected to the top or vertical connection and the
shower to the side opening. It did occur to me that if these were the wrong
way round it might give rise to the symptoms above. Any other suggestions
also welcome, and apologies for a long winded post. Many thanks.

Peter

Your connections are correct. However, unless you have a good 28mm cold
supply into the base of the cylinder, I would not be surprised by
cavitation. You may be able to reduce the effect by adding a restrictor
in the pump outlet, to limit the flowrate. Hopefully the pump input is
plumbed in at least 22mm and there is not a bypass on the pump? Another
way to increase the available supply to the pump is to fit both a Surrey
and Essex flange to the tank.

Hope this is helpful.

Regards
Capitol

PJK wrote:
I suspect that the short
lifespan of the pumps is because of cavitation in the hot side which I
believe is why when the shower is first turned on there is a rise in the
note from the pump as if air is being sucked,

Water temperature? Should be 60 degC, not more than 65 degC.

Isolating valves? Should be full-bore ball valves or gate valves,
offering little restriction.

Strainers/filters on the pump inlet? Ensure they're clean.

PJK wrote:
I have had a power shower for about seven years and am on my third pump at
the moment. The original pump was made by New Team and the replacements
have been the same for ease of replacement. I suspect that the short
lifespan of the pumps is because of cavitation in the hot side which I
believe is why when the shower is first turned on there is a rise in the
note from the pump as if air is being sucked, which settles again after 15
seconds or so. There are no leaks in the system. The hot side comes from
the cylinder via a Surrey flange and I wonder whether anybody knows which
connection on the flange normally goes to the dip tube. At the moment the
rest of the hot water is connected to the top or vertical connection and the
shower to the side opening. It did occur to me that if these were the wrong
way round it might give rise to the symptoms above. Any other suggestions
also welcome, and apologies for a long winded post. Many thanks.

Peter


The side is the correct connection for the shower.
It may be significant that at least one pump manufacturer does not
recommend surrey flanges.

PJK wrote:
I have had a power shower for about seven years and am on my third pump at
the moment. snip

Peter



The brushes have worn out. New brushes from NewTeam f.o.c but
seals are £10 per set, each pump end. Assumes the commutator is
ok. Almost complete strip down to fit brushes. Just repaired my
Varispeed 50. Pumps last me 3 years on average.
1st 'repair' was new pump, 2nd 'repair' recon pump from NewTeam
(no longer available) 3rd 'repair' brushes. Next repair will be
Stuart Turner pump!

Al

Hi

If you have had the same cylinder for the whole time you have had the pumped
shower, then it might be an idea to replace the cylinder with one that has a
'secondary return' connection fitted. You can connect the pumped shower
outlet to this connection without using any special connectors and not draw
air into the pump.

If you have agrade 3 cylinder (10 m working head or less) then it shouldnt
be too expensive and will eliminate any possibility of air getting to the
pump.

Hope this helps

Mike

"OldBill" wrote in message
...
PJK wrote:
I have had a power shower for about seven years and am on my third pump
at
the moment. The original pump was made by New Team and the replacements
have been the same for ease of replacement. I suspect that the short
lifespan of the pumps is because of cavitation in the hot side which I
believe is why when the shower is first turned on there is a rise in the
note from the pump as if air is being sucked, which settles again after
15
seconds or so. There are no leaks in the system. The hot side comes
from
the cylinder via a Surrey flange and I wonder whether anybody knows which
connection on the flange normally goes to the dip tube. At the moment
the
rest of the hot water is connected to the top or vertical connection and
the
shower to the side opening. It did occur to me that if these were the
wrong
way round it might give rise to the symptoms above. Any other
suggestions
also welcome, and apologies for a long winded post. Many thanks.

Peter


The side is the correct connection for the shower.
It may be significant that at least one pump manufacturer does not
recommend surrey flanges.

On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 17:30:21 +0100, "PJK" wrote:

I have had a power shower for about seven years and am on my third pump at
the moment. The original pump was made by New Team and the replacements
have been the same for ease of replacement. I suspect that the short
lifespan of the pumps is because of cavitation in the hot side which I
believe is why when the shower is first turned on there is a rise in the
note from the pump as if air is being sucked, which settles again after 15
seconds or so. There are no leaks in the system. The hot side comes from
the cylinder via a Surrey flange and I wonder whether anybody knows which
connection on the flange normally goes to the dip tube. At the moment the
rest of the hot water is connected to the top or vertical connection and the
shower to the side opening. It did occur to me that if these were the wrong
way round it might give rise to the symptoms above. Any other suggestions
also welcome, and apologies for a long winded post. Many thanks.

Peter

Never really been into Surrey flanges for pumped showers,Essex is the
sure way to make sure it all works ok,,

joe
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Be a good Global citizen-CONSUMECONFORMOBEY

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http://www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org/

"PJK" wrote in message
...
I have had a power shower for about seven years and am on my third pump at
the moment. The original pump was made by New Team and the replacements
have been the same for ease of replacement. I suspect that the short
lifespan of the pumps is because of cavitation in the hot side which I
believe is why when the shower is first turned on there is a rise in the
note from the pump as if air is being sucked, which settles again after 15
seconds or so. There are no leaks in the system. The hot side comes from
the cylinder via a Surrey flange and I wonder whether anybody knows which
connection on the flange normally goes to the dip tube. At the moment the
rest of the hot water is connected to the top or vertical connection and
the
shower to the side opening. It did occur to me that if these were the
wrong
way round it might give rise to the symptoms above. Any other suggestions
also welcome, and apologies for a long winded post. Many thanks.


Are you sure they are connected right ?. My mates power shower in the house
he bought was installed on the wrong outlet of the flange. He suffered from
sometimes complete lack of HW from the pump. He got a plumber to install an
air relief valve in the hot feed to the pump, which did improve things alot.

Anyway same plumber was back for another job, kitchen re-plumb, when,
working on the HW tank (putting 22mm hot feeds to kitchen to replace
inadequate 15mm), removed the flange and discovered the shower pump hot feed
was on the wrong connection off the flange. Thus the hot loop to the pump
was collecting all the air rather than the expansion pipe to loft.

A quick replumb later and shower has been fine for the last couple of years,
no air, no cavitation in pump.

"Ian_m" wrote in message
...
"PJK" wrote in message
...
I have had a power shower for about seven years and am on my third pump
at
the moment.

SNIP

I wonder whether anybody knows which
connection on the flange normally goes to the dip tube. At the moment
the
rest of the hot water is connected to the top or vertical connection and
the
shower to the side opening. It did occur to me that if these were the
wrong
way round it might give rise to the symptoms above.


Are you sure they are connected right ?. My mates power shower in the
house
he bought was installed on the wrong outlet of the flange.

I wasn't sure which is why I asked the question, but from other replies it
would seem that the solution lies elsewhere. Thanks to all for the
responses and suggestions.

Peter.