Motor running for the shower?

Guys -

We just moved to a new rental, an 80s-era terrace house. We have noticed that with the shower, for some reason, when you turn it on a motor kicks on in the cupboard next to the bathroom. Now, we lived in a place that had an en-suite that was far from the main stack and had a macerator involved that had a similar motor thing (very quiet) to push the water through, but this shower is right on top of the main stack and I can't imagine what the motor would be for. Is this normal? Doesn't matter if you run hot or cold water (or a bath or a shower). It does not kick on for running the tap or flushing the toilet.

If it is normal, what the hell is it?

My guess would be a water heater, an old one. The water heater in our house makes horrible noise and it's in the master bedroom of all places!

I have no idea how old it is, but I can say it's probably over 30 years old.

Mystery motor.

I have a fuse in the fusebox with a little label that says "other". What can it be?

Mystery motor.

I have a fuse in the fusebox with a little label that says "other". What can it be?

Haha. I suppose it depends what's in your house? Haha. Outside lights?

If it's a power shower, it could be the pump.

Haha. I suppose it depends what's in your house? Haha. Outside lights?

I am afraid of messing with it. Whatever it is, it must be meant to be on.

It sounds like the boiler kicking on. When we turn our shower on its ridiculously loud. When the heat comes on quiet. Just had the gas engineer out to service the boiler and he said some boilers do that and perfectly normal

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Hmmm - I read somewhere it could be water pressure related as the shower isn't really a power shower (maybe not in the more modern sense) but we don't have great pressure out of the taps. I'll have the handyman have a listen - its loud but its just the two of us, though I would be a bit more concerned about bothering the neighbor! Although she seems to leave for work before me and I can't hear anything from her bathroom (which shares a wall with ours)

Ah the vagaries of European plumbing!

A "power shower " means something specific here, it's a little box on the wall that heats the water as it's needed for the shower and supposedly has a pump to raise the pressure.  They don't work so great and tend to trickle warm water on you.  The pump is definitely enclosed within the box on the wall.

It sounds to me that you have a pump in the cupboard that is designed to increase the pressure so that your shower feels nicer. It's common in houses with low pressure. 

The only downside is that they seem to break all the time, and sometimes break in such a way as to leak water all over.  You might want to be sure that you know how to turn off the water at the mains in an emergency.  I had a pump like that fail and the first I knew was when water started pouring out of the ceiling downstairs.  Thank God I knew how to turn off the water.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the neighbours and noise.  You've got to live your life.

Hmm - 'power shower' in my experience means something different to what Jimbo says - perhaps its regional (I am a native Brit from the south east).

The box on the wall in the shower enclosure, which heats the water itself, is what I know as an 'electric shower' and as mentioned above generally does little more than dribble warm water on you. They aren't great, but are used where the water heating system cannot support a proper power shower (i.e. some of those are not appropriate for house with combi boilers for example), and/or because they are relatively cheap.

A power shower, to me, is where there is a separate pump to increase the water pressure in a cupboard, which then delivers a stronger spray in the bathroom. I have one of these myself, and as you say, the motor is quite noisy. I am probably jinxing myself by saying this, but I've had mine installed for over 6 years and have had no trouble at all with it.

I just did a google image search for power shower and electric shower.  Both came up with plastic boxes attached to the wall.  Looks like they can be called both.