cold showers

[gary_b_efc]

Just after a bit of advice please. Installed an electric shower in the bathroom at home. Old Victorian terraced house and when the neighbours turn on a tap/get a shower, the water pressure in my house drops to the extent that the shower temperature fluctuates between luke warm and bl**dy freezing! When I installed the shower, I took a 15mm feed from as close to the origin to the house as I could, (the combi-boiler, toilet, bath and sink are all fed after the shower). Could upgrading this feed to 22mm maybe solve this or wouldn't it make that much difference. Any advice is much appreciated, thanks, Gary.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Hello Gary...

:Welcome:

welcome to the nutters den..

Please don't feed Admin.. X(

or let him out of the shed!

I have been to a few old properties where 3 or 4 are all tee'd off the same supply pipe such that one house pressure is affected by someone next door flushing the bog!

Do you know what your water pressure is?

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/82412/Hand-Tools/Plumbing-Tools/Pressure-Test-Equipment/Monument-Tools-Mains-Water-Pressure-Test-Gauge

one of these stuck onto your washing machine connection can give a rough idea...

stick it one read the pressure..

run the tap... flush the loo see how much it fluctuates

As electric showers do have a min & max preferred operating pressure.

(that will be in the installation booklet)

this may be a starting point for your investigations...

now have a beer

Guinness

 

[Lurch]

I don;t think you need to even test the pressure, it is too low, and\or the flow is a bit feeble. You say you've got a combi so I guess you have no storage tanks that you could use for feeding the shower? Other option is to get a pumped instantaneous electric shower. There's a possibility a mixer of the combi may be slightly better, but I like a decent shower and I don;t think you're going to get one without upgrading something.

Might be worth getting onto the water board, could be something on their side causing the low pressure\flow.

 

[NozSpark]

I don;t think you need to even test the pressure, it is too low, and\or the flow is a bit feeble. You say you've got a combi so I guess you have no storage tanks that you could use for feeding the shower? Other option is to get a pumped instantaneous electric shower. There's a possibility a mixer of the combi may be slightly better, but I like a decent shower and I don;t think you're going to get one without upgrading something.Might be worth getting onto the water board, could be something on their side causing the low pressure\flow.

I may be wrong, but I didn't think you were allowed to pump mains water?!?!?!?!

 

[Lurch]

I may be wrong, but I didn't think you were allowed to pump mains water?!?!?!?!

Quite right, I edited the post about a bit before posting it so some of it was missing.

You would have to fit a storage tank to supply the pumped instantaneous shower.

 

[NozSpark]

Would

a header tank - pressure pump with flow switch - instantaneous shower

work???

 

[Lurch]

Would a header tank - pressure pump with flow switch - instantaneous shower

work???

Yeah. Most pumps will have pressure\flow switches in anyway, and a pumped instantaneous shower is just a shower with a pump in it. I've just found the all in one units to be slightly better than separate units.

 

[NozSpark]

Didn't know you could get pumped instantaneous...

I did know you could get a pumped which looked similar to an instantaneous

You learn something new every day!!

 

[gary_b_efc]

Hi everyone, thanks for the quick replies. Not really what I was hoping for though, suppose the right advice never is though eh. I installed the electric shower rather than a mixer off the combi so that if the combi failed we could still get a shower/if the shower failed we can still use the bath if you know what I mean. There is no system for stored water- immersion/header tank etc, and as I only installed the shower a month ago I'm a little hesitant to just rip it out and start again just yet, that would mean ripping new tiles off and a fair bit of mess, apart from the cost. I'll see if I can get hold of a pressure guage and see exactly what I've got to work with and get in touch with the water board, see if they can shed any light on the situation. Thanks for the advice anyway, you've saved me messing around installing 22mm pipe that would have made no difference anyway. I'll let you know if there's any luck with what you've recommended, cheers.

 

[Apache]

You can measure 'flow' with a bucket and a watch/clock with a second hand. Tap on full, bucket under for 15 seconds, measure water (X 4 = litres per minute). Tap on full, flush toilet and immediately repeat.

Would give you a rough guide.

 

[Lurch]

You can measure 'flow' with a bucket and a watch/clock with a second hand. Tap on full, bucket under for 15 seconds, measure water (X 4 = litres per minute). Tap on full, flush toilet and immediately repeat.

I was about to say something along those lines. I'd also do it once from the closest tap to the incoming mains water and again from the furthest(ish).

 

[a1]

Might be worth getting onto the water board, could be something on their side causing the low pressure\flow.

I know OUR, water board down here has decreased the presssure on their waterpipes, stating that the age on them was to blame and that if they didn't, then the old system in place, would not cope.

 

[Lurch]

I think the minimum that they need to provide to adhere to standards or byelaws is 1 bar and 9 litres per minute, which is quite poor if you want a decent shower, so as long as it's still above this they can do what they want.

 

[Doc Hudson]

I have heard similar stories, don't know any figures but minimun flow was actually quite a low pressure.

Doc H.

 

[spinlondon]

Just querying this can't pump mains water.

I've seen many installations where the mains water is pumped, mostly office blocks, but I would imagine that tower blocks would also require pumps as well.

 

[kme]

I`ve done install on a mixer shower with integral pump, on the top floor of a multi-storey block.

The pressure readings (STATIC) were 1.5 bar cold; 6 bar hot!!!

After installing a PRD on the hot; adjusted down to the cold pressure (in accordance with shower mfr`s suggestions), shower has worked fine for about 6 years now.

 

[PC Electrics]

http://www.tritonshowers.co.uk/electric-showers/t150z-pumped-electric-shower.aspx

Shouldn't take too much effort to install a 25 gal tank in the loft above?

 

[Lurch]

Just querying this can't pump mains water.I've seen many installations where the mains water is pumped, mostly office blocks, but I would imagine that tower blocks would also require pumps as well.

Can't say I've looked too closely into what is done but the jobs I have been involved with on decent sized buildings with pumped cold there has been a decent sized tank at ground level and that is then pumped to provide a pressurised cold feed to the building.

 

[NozSpark]

Can't say I've looked too closely into what is done but the jobs I have been involved with on decent sized buildings with pumped cold there has been a decent sized tank at ground level and that is then pumped to provide a pressurised cold feed to the building.

Same here...

I once went to a hotel that had no cold water.. pumps thermal trip operated and a dodgy 3 phase MCB.. that had a cold water storage tank that had a bigger capacity than theire swimming pool