Aqualisa Aquastream

[livingbreathingcoffee]

We have inherited one of these in our en-suite. It looks fairly old...the house is 16 years old so potentially been there since the start. The flow is pathetic and to be honest the cheap and cheerful Triton electric shower in the bathroom is more powerful.

I googled the make and it seems it's approximately £400 for a new one I think they have an integrated pump which must have failed for the water flow to be so bad.

The new ones say they need a hot and cold water feed. How do I know if that's what I have without taking the shower off the wall? And if we do have to replace it should it be a straight and easy swap if we buy the exact same shower again?

I can't speak for the plumbing questions but we have an Aqualisa Aquastream (this one) in our loft-level bathroom, where it's above the cold water tank, and it's amazing.

You can't use them for more than 15 mins in every 60 (unless that's changed in the 5 or 6 years since we had ours fitted) so not for multiple people to use every day, but it's a really good shower. Only other recommendation is to have it put in by a specialist fitter, we had to replace our old one (also inherited with the house, and as you say, not a cheap exercise) because it was bodged by a plumber who didn't know the shower type well enough.

And yes sorry the most crucial point! The pump is indeed integrated to the unit.

Thanks, I'll try calling them! Would I be able to replace it with a different shower easily enough? One 15min shower in an hour isn't going to be sustainable for us long term!

the layout you have suggests that you need a shower pump; and currently your Aquastream has the pump integrated into the body.

You could buy a separate pump and connect it to the pipes in the loft or somewhere, and a new mixer. I think that would cost more than a replacement Aquastream, as well as being more disruptive, and possibly noisier.

Integrated pumped showers are not very common but you may find another make. You are unlikely to find one as good as an Aqualisa. I didn't know about the 15-minute rule.

What colour is your hot-water cylinder?

@PigletJohn it's greeny blue.

Both of us like a powerful shower so I think we will likely just have to bite the bullet and replace like for like. Are they generally reliable showers that will last a good few years?

It's the best shower make, I think.

It has the round thermostatic regulator inside that they built their reputation on.

If you register it with them, that model gets a 3-year guarantee.

oh yes, green or blue cylinder is low pressure, maybe ten years old or so? They are now light blue, before that were light green. The later models have faster reheat than the old bare copper or yellow ones.

Yeah the house is 16 years old and I don't think it's been changed since.

There's one in screwfix for £460ish but the ones on aqualisa's website are more than double that, is there a reason for the difference? We'll just have to replace it like for like I think, seems to be the easiest option all round!

Can I make a suggestion that you try a different shower head?

I called a plumber to look at my Aqualisa shower that was emitting a feeble trickle of water. He tried the shower head from our other shower and voila...it worked fine!

Prices are lower from plumbers merchants, I use Plumbworld, they occasionally have clearance offers.

I believe the RRP is inflated so that bathroom fitting companies can make enough profit to pay for the boss's private helicopter.

@MostIneptThatEverStepped

probably limescale clogging the jets

good idea

you can just unscrew the head and let it squirt out of the hose to test.

you should hear the motor spinning in the pump, and the transormer in the loft may have a weak hum. Verify there is not an electrical fault, or fuse or switch problem.

@MostIneptThatEverStepped I'll try that later tonight, thanks for the suggestion.

I imagine it's the pump though because when it's turned on it's really quiet, and I think we should be hearing the whirring of a pump working?

@PigletJohn

Prices are lower from plumbers merchants, I use Plumbworld, they occasionally have clearance offers.

I believe the RRP is inflated so that bathroom fitting companies can make enough profit to pay for the boss's private helicopter.

@MostIneptThatEverStepped

probably limescale clogging the jets

good idea

you can just unscrew the head and let it squirt out of the hose to test.

you should hear the motor spinning in the pump, and the transormer in the loft may have a weak hum. Verify there is not an electrical fault, or fuse or switch problem.

Where would the fuse or switch be? In the loft or somewhere in the shower? How would I know if it was a problem there?

Sorry for being dense, I don't really know much about plumbing or electrics as you can probably tell!

I've been relaying all this to my DH and he has just said when he was up in the loft the other day laying more insulation he noticed a switch by the water tank that was turned off!

So we will turn it on and investigate further. Maybe the previous owners turned it off cause it was broken?