Bristan [E1] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

Before doing anything about E1 you have to know which Bristan you own, because the two guides read for this category give it different meanings and different remedies. On the Glee, Bristan publish exactly one cause — the outlet water temperature thermistor is faulty — and exactly one remedy, which is to call customer services.

On the Joy Care, they publish four causes in order, and the first two are not the thermistor. The first is heated water remaining in the shower because it was stopped without its shutdown cycle, and the remedy is to wait for the water inside to cool down. The second is insufficient water flowing through the shower, a possible blockage, remedied by removing the filter and showerhead and cleaning them. The thermistor comes third there, and "other fault" fourth. So the same two characters point at a service call on one shower and, on another, at a wait and a clean you can do yourself. That is a real inconsistency in Bristan’s own current documentation rather than a misreading of it, and the practical advice that follows is straightforward: whichever model you have, letting the unit cool and doing the blockage checks cost nothing and take a few minutes, so do them first.

If your shower is a Glee and a clean filter changes nothing, you are where Bristan’s own guide already put you — a failed outlet thermistor, which is not an owner repair. What the thermistor does explains why they treat it as a call rather than a clean, and why hot water left standing on it shows the same code. It is the sensor telling the shower how hot the water leaving it is, and without a trustworthy reading the appliance cannot modulate the elements or catch an over-temperature, so it stops rather than run blind.

1. 1

   Find your model before anything else. Glee and Joy Care give E1 different first causes, and the model number is on the guide and usually on the unit.

2. 2

   If the shower was switched off at the isolator or the cord without being stopped at the button first, leave it alone until the water inside has cooled and try again. On a Joy Care that is Bristan’s first cause of E1.

   Bristan’s alternative for this cause, the purge procedure, has the front cover off and a dip switch moved. That is installer work, so the owner’s version is simply to wait.
3. 3

   Do the blockage checks whichever model you have. Remove the showerhead, clean the spray plate, and check the outlet hose passes water freely.

4. 4

   Isolate the shower at the pull cord, close the servicing valve and clean the inlet filter, which is the other half of Bristan’s blockage remedy. On a Bristan the filter unscrews from outside the unit with a large flat-blade screwdriver.

   Pull the cord before touching the plumbing. Bristan’s own instruction for this filter is to isolate the electrical and water supply to the unit first, and a little water will run out when it comes away.
5. 5

   Run the shower and see whether E1 clears. If it does, it was flow, and on a Joy Care that is precisely the second cause Bristan list.

6. 6

   If it persists with a cooled unit, a clean filter and head, stop there. Both guides put the thermistor beyond the owner and answer it with a call to Bristan.