DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Guys,

I have just fitted a Stuart Turner Showermate 1.5 bar Twin, and it is making a seriously horrible racket.

I phoned the ST help desk and I was not helped very much.

I told them the supply was in 15mm pipe and they immediately said it was water starvation. But that is not likely, first the supply pipes are under good pressure, the heght of water above the pump is nearly 4 metres and second, before this pump I used a Wickes 1.2 bar and it had no trouble at all.

I worried that it might be the shower valve, so I fitted a new valve(!) and it made no difference.

I took the sides off the pump to see if there was anything stuck inside and there wasn't.

So, I am stuck. I worry that the pump may have been faulty right out of the box, but of course ST did not want to talk about that.

The noise from the pump is horrible, it must be three times louder than the old Wickes pump; it is definitely not right, but I don't know what to do next.

Oh, the tone of the noise chages as I turn from hot to cold. The flow of water is nothing special either, I got more with the wICKES 1.2. Groan.

An good ideas?

Regards

Adrian

Hi

First of all, is the pump on a solid base such as a breeze block, and does it have rubber feet?

Second, does the pump have two exclusive supplies, one from hot water cylinder and one from the cold water tank?

Thirdly, is there a chance of a lot of air being in the system? such as poor pipwork installation, or you have recently drained down and not flushed it thorugh, or your cold water tank being too small to handle to water demands of new pump?

"I told them the supply was in 15mm pipe and they immediately said it was water starvation. But that is not likely, first the supply pipes are under good pressure, the heght of water above the pump is nearly 4 metres and second, before this pump I used a Wickes 1.2 bar and it had no trouble at all."

Pressure isn't the problem its flow rate. The MIs clearly show 22mm feed to the pump from the supply and 22mm feed away to the shower. If its 15mm all the way from the tanks then the flow rate will be considerably less than 22mm. Thats probably what they are referring to. So they could well be correct.


"I worried that it might be the shower valve, so I fitted a new valve(!) and it made no difference."

Oh dear - that was an expensive guess!


"The noise from the pump is horrible, it must be three times louder than the old Wickes pump; it is definitely not right, but I don't know what to do next."

How do you know its not right? Have you measured the noise compared with the noise spec in the MIs? Actually, though, I suspect air is your problem. How is it piped from the HW cylinder? I mean precisely where is the take off from the cylinder, is it via a flange, does it go up into the roof space and then down again, where is the take-off relative to the vent?


"Oh, the tone of the noise chages as I turn from hot to cold. The flow of water is nothing special either"

That kinda reinforces my initial "air" diagnosis.


"I got more with the wICKES 1.2. Groan."

Apples and oranges comparison.


Cheers