Here, Steve Saunders, senior technical manager for Triton Showers, tackles some of the questions most commonly asked about mixer showers by installers attending training courses held at the company’s HQ in Nuneaton.
- Can you connect a mixer shower to a gravity fed hot water supply and mains cold water supply?
Steve said: “While some manufacturers might claim their mixers can operate on a system fed by mains cold water and gravity fed hot water, many thermostatic products have a check valve in the hot and cold inlets to prevent crossflow. This means that when the shower is turned off the check valve in the hot inlet prevents high pressure cold water flowing back through the hot supply.
“If a check valve ever fails to shut off fully, there is a risk of cold water feeding back into the cistern. In such instances, if the overflow pipe is not capable of handling the sudden influx, it can result in water pouring over the top of the tank, causing property damage in the process. To avoid potential problems, rather than risk taking cold water from the mains supply, it is preferable to connect a mixer valve to the cold water reservoir in the first place and good practice to do so.”
For more information about Triton’s technical training courses, visit: www.tritonshowers.co.uk.