Issues With Aqualisa Digital Quartz Shower

Discussion in 'Plumbers' Talk' started by brush-head, Dec 4, 2011.

  1. brush-head

    brush-head New Member

    Hi, about 3 years ago we had a plumber carry out a new boiler installation & a new bathroom which included replacing an old Mira shower with the above Aqualisa.
    While the unit is still under guarantee in the past year we've had 3 failures when power is interrupted to the unit. The digital unit & pump is in the loft (almost above the actual shower head & control unit) and this is on it's own circuit.
    What happens when the unit gets a power glitch (either isolating the circuit by RCB or a minor fluctuation - by minor like today power blipped only 2 devices had an issue - the oven clock & the Aqualisa - even the broadband router didn't duck out) is that it locks into boost mode & despite following all the instructions previously supplied by Aqualisa, the device cannot be re-set.
    The last two engineers replaced the control unit that allows you to switch the shower on and that resulted in a fix & worked until the next power failure. The boost option is really not used by us very much, apart from taking considerably more water (& power to re-heat) it is of little benefit.
    When the next engineer arrives I'm afraid I will not let he/she go until we've tried a simulated power failure, but I wonder why this might be happening. I'm somewhat disappointed because this product is not exactly cheap. Some friends have recently installed a newer version & have experienced problems and are waiting for an engineer at the moment.
    Any input to this issue gratefully received.
     
  2. G Brown

    G Brown New Member

    Blaming the shower for faulty wiring is a bit unfair.

    The issue is really why are you getting RCD trips and power failures?

    The Quartz has a pcb that does not like being shut off when its working ( like a computer) There is not a lot you can do other than contact Aqualisa and get a new control board fitted each time it gets fried.

    I suggest you concentarte your efforts on solving the cause and not the effect.
     
  3. Captain Leaky

    Captain Leaky New Member

    A common problem with computerised devices. They do not appreciate losing power while they are in use.

    Sort out the problems with your electrics as advised. It mat be worth investigating surge protection?
     
  4. snezza31

    snezza31 New Member

    Hi Brushhead,
    I have supplied and fitted loads of these showers and have never heard of this particular problem. On the RARE occasion that I have had to call an Aqualisa engineer to look at a problem, they have always been very reliable and sorted the problem straight away. Does your shower have Red or Blue flashing lights when it powers up?

    Snezza31
     
  5. HOTDOG ø

    HOTDOG ø Active Member

    These showers are very robust and Aqualisa customer service is excellent. As advised I would concentrate your efforts on sussing out the causes of your power failures.
     
  6. palavaman

    palavaman Well-Known Member

    you wont let the engineer leave till you simulate a power failure.    eerrrmmm, will you be kidnapping the engineer then?
    besides, I'll like to be there when you do the simulation.  I might learn a thing or two.

    Aqualisa, they are CREME DE LA CREME.  thats Italian 4U.
     
  7. brush-head

    brush-head New Member

    I really am quite amazed at these replies.

    If any of you *read* my post properly you will see that I specify the circumstances under which the unit has a problem. One; when *deliberately* (e.g. isolating) the power because I happen to like having the power switched off when I'm working on it & Two; the glitch I refer to was a town-wide power interruption/surge. So the wiring is *not* an issue.
    I know considerably more than the average contributor to these boards about microprocessor based kit having spent (now retired) the past 36 years as engineer, programmer & manager of technology based departments in leading British & American companies - this includes two leading electronics companies both of whom were/are major defence contractors. Oh, & I have an extensive LAN at home which was not affected by this last electrical problem - & you *can* protect kit from such conditions if you employ the right design (without recourse to a UPS).
    The shower was fitted by one of your professional colleagues and is not a DIY job - I trust professionals to do their job. I mentioned the issues our friends are having because they are experiencing problems too of a not dissimilar nature.
    As regards ensuring that a proper test is conducted before the engineer leaves of course I can't really stop them from leaving & I would have thought an adult (rather than an obviously infantile reply) would have realised this.
    For the only decent response snezza31 (thank you) the control unit has blue flashing lights when it powers up. The digital unit (from what I recollect , has a red light which blinks in a non-regular sequence while the unit is re-booting - however I don't watch that assiduously every time I attempt to re-set the unit.
    If anyone else wants to be constructive rather than just have a pop, please, I'm happy to hear from you.
    I know that Aqualisa is supposed to be good but my personal experience thus far does not bear this out. I don't see why I should need to invest in surge protection with a unit such as this at this sort of cost & under the conditions when professionally fitted - the design in this respect should be up to it.
    If my electrics (which I did not DIY again used a pro) are suspect - which I doubt, otherwise I'd be having issues with kit that is much more sensitive than a shower, then I'll be the first to come back to this board and say so & detail in what respect they might be deficient - in the belief that this may be of help to someone else here.
    PS
    I presume that the statement about the cream of the cream being Italian was a rather lame attempt at humour, chuckle, chuckle (not).
     
  8. Mr. Handyandy

    Mr. Handyandy Screwfix Select

    Just wondering what happens if you press the boost button AFTER it has gone into locked mode. And then what might happen if the power is restored WHILE holding the boost button.


    Mr. HandyAndy - Really
     
    meady likes this.
  9. G Brown

    G Brown New Member

    No-one is  having a pop at you. You are being over-sensitive. This is a PLUMBERS forum for PLUMBERS. Expect straight talking.

    Clearly you are still confusing the cause with the effect.

    Aqualisa digital processors are designed and indeed MUST be left powered up at all times. They run diagnostics and self-clean every 24 hours. If you turn it off every day it will fail. If you live in Mid-Wales it is yours truly who is often sent out by Aqualisa to repair and exchange faulty processor units on their behalf. Fortunately it is very rare that this needs doing. LEAVE the unit SWITCHED ON and I think you will find it will run happily. A  town wide power outage may indeed have caused a power surge which could damage the pcb.
     
  10. brush-head

    brush-head New Member

    Hi Mr. HandyAndy, I did try pressing the boost button but it didn't go out. I haven't tried your idea of holding the boost button while restoring power, but as I've got an Aqualisa engineer arriving next week (they're very busy it seems) I'll wait to discuss this issue with them. Thanks for your response.
     
  11. brush-head

    brush-head New Member

    Mmmm, I don't think I'm being over-sensitive at all - you along with some of the other contributors here are *not*  reading (or comprehending) what I'm writing.
    The shower *is* left on. Twice in the past 12 months I've switched the power off with the RCB for this circuit to do some checking of the stability of this part of the wiring. The other day there was some interruption which affected the shower & whenever there is this sort of interruption or removal of power the shower goes into boost & I'm unable to reset it.
    I can only assume that there is some issue between the control unit & the microprocessor which is leaving the controller in boost mode. The condition has been cleared by Aqualisa engineers replacing the control unit. Next time there is any power disturbance I know what will happen. As I said earlier I have other kit which is much more sensitive then a mere shower & it's microprocessor, & they are not affected. These are simple statements of fact.
    I don't happen to think that plumbers are any different to any other group of professionals, or at least I didn't think so until I got the initial responses from my first post. I have no issue with straight talking but to make *assumptions* about facts that I have written down shows a remarkable lack of problem solving ability - which I daresay like any other livelihood, is necessary for a good professional plumber to carry out their work to a high standard.
    In the interests of providing people with information, once the Aqualisa engineer has attended in just over a week's time, I will update this thread if there is a satisfactory resolution. As I said before, if it results in a fault in my cabling I will get that put right (by a pro) and report back to this thread so that the information can be available to everyone. In that way, I hope I can contribute to the pool of knowledge.
    Thank You.
     
  12. palavaman

    palavaman Well-Known Member

    make sure he does not leave till you short circuit  the shower.
    that will teach him.  hahahaha   (sorry, chuckle chuckle chuckle ......)
     
  13. Lucewheels1

    Lucewheels1 New Member

    Press and hold the boost button down whilst someone else turns the power back on. Worked first time for us.
     
  14. sinewave

    sinewave Screwfix Select

    Bag-O-***** these Showers, we fitted 2 of them in 2011 and have had loads of 'Freezes' like you mention but ours just happen whilst the units are idle.

    One person uses the shower and it works fine, bar it's **** poor flow.

    Next person gets in hours later and presses the button and nothing!

    From trial and error I've found you can reset by switching off the local Isolator for more than 10 secs then re-energising works mostly though sometimes this needs doing 2-3 times in succession to work.

    Lately I've found that pressing the Boost Button for 5 secs or so then pressing the top on/off button for 5 secs restores function.

    I've already bought this Bristan Juke Mini Twinline Shower as a replacement for when it does go bang permanently as it's the only unit which fits in s similar fashion without any major modifications.

    http://www.bristan.com/epages/Brist...cts/"JU MTLSHX C"/SubProducts/"JU MTLSHX C^1"
     
    Simon Wilson likes this.
  15. ahali

    ahali New Member

    Hi I am no plumber have an a quartz digital concealed shower. Flow stops after 10 secs. Blue flashing light keeps flashing. Have taken shower head off flow much stronger on cold that hot. Rang company who told me to turn it on and press boost which I did but didn't help, worried how long to keep it running when water flow stops - should I do this or turn unit off......
     
  16. ahali

    ahali New Member

    Please anyone.... think its an airlick but even with boost button on its nit clearing
     
  17. Mrs Brown

    Mrs Brown New Member

    We have two showers. The first we inherited, constantly flashed and would not turn on any water. A new unit was fitted. This one also went wrong after not being used for a while. After a few visits the fitter from Aqualisa told me that they had had a faulty batch of showers a year or so ago and ours was one of those. The control unit was replaced and that shower has been OK to date. (That was the third one and the second replacement we had in 18mths). Now the second one is constantly showing 'blue' on the booster light but it works normally and so does the booster? We have not used either shower for about six weeks. I have tried turning off the power for a few minutes but it still comes up blue. As it works I am leaving well alone unless there is a simple way to stop it.
     
  18. Mrs Brown

    Mrs Brown New Member

    It now seems that I was too optimistic. Lights are now on on both parts of the unit and no water comes out. Could this be a filter issue or does it sound like we have yet another dud unit?
     
  19. Mrs Brown

    Mrs Brown New Member

    A follow up to the above post. The on line chat engineer from Aqualisa says that if the power lights remain on and static, the control unit on the showerhead is faulty and it costs £70.64 to replace it.
     
  20. Peter Norman

    Peter Norman New Member

    We have a Aqualisa Digital Axis shower which is now about 10 years old. Recently developed a problem where it was not coming on reliably and in the end stopped completely. Chatting with Aqualisa to see if there was a quick fix they suggested either a) new control box with 2 year warranty (£358) or b) new shower with 5 year warranty £658. Decided to do some online research and came across this forum. Whoever suggested restarting the box (having turned it off for 10 seconds) with the booster button pressed thank you. Re-set the shower and for the time being all well again. Clearly a two person job unless you have extremely long arms, assistant needed to press booster whilst I went upstairs to reset isolator switch
     
    retiredsparks and Simon Wilson like this.

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