A little shower guidance.......

[Riley]

Morning all

would you agree with my thinking here. Not a perfect solution but the only one I can think of.

been asked to try and improve hot water flow In a top floor flat.

All hot comes from direct fortic cylinder on same level as bath, basin and kitchen sink so virtually no head.

In addition they also have what I believe is a negative head electric shower that just pumps from the cylinder.

My thoughts are add a pressure reducing valve to the cold feed to the other fittings and then add a single impeller pump to the hot to give pumped hot at all outlets? And then replace electric shower with a normal thermostatic bar mixer?

i know this isn't an ideal solution as you won't have perfectly balanced hot and cold but I'm struggling to think of an alternative.

Cheers

matt

 

[Riley]

This is the shower in case anyone cares

 

[Riley]

Can no one help pleeeeease :smile:

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

that's an integral power shower, usually a bit loud when under it but perform quite well

It will be gravity feed hot and cold so cant you just pump them?

See page 15 here http://www.salamanderpumps.co.uk/\M...on_Guidelines_Oct2011_Issue14_RHP_ESP_RSP.pdf

 

[Riley]

Cheers Tom appreciate it. I might be mistaken as it was late last night that I looked at this but I couldn't see any cold feed or distribution pipe other than the mains entering the building.

What you say makes complete sense though as obviously mains wouldn't be pumped through the shower.

What would be your thoughts to remedy this?

 

[Riley]

Sorry Tom having one of those days. Didn't explain myself very well. What I meant was I believe that all cold outlets are mains fed which confuses me re where the cold for the shower comes from.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

Im sure I can see the two feeds on the right hand side of that shower. (at the top on your picture)

Would check that cold feed and follow it back. Not sure what the shower would do if the cold was connected to mains

Are they after lost cost options I assume, ie no unvented etc

 

[Riley]

Well I got asked to replace lower immersion on cylinder which I did last night. It was only after that they. Asked me To improve the hot water flow so I can't see them going for An unvented. You're absolutely right there are two feeds on the shower. My confusion lies with The fact that all the other cold fixtures are Mains cold. There does not appear to be another cwsc other than what is on top of the Fortic. This obviously does make matters tricky when working out where the shower cold feed comes from. I would say that therehas to be another CWSC but in a top floor flat with a flat roof I cannot think for the life of me where it would be. Might be a question for the on-site caretaker type bloke

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

I share your confusion

Does the shower run okay? ie does the pump spin?

Has this shower always been like this?

 

[Riley]

Lady says shower works fine. But wants an improvement to the hot flow at other outlets.

 

[gassafe]

Can't you fit one of those little 12v pumps that the chap who sponsored on here sells? Shower power booster type pump but just sits in pipework & gives it a little boost to taps etc...

 

[gassafe]

​Quiet In-Line Power Boost Shower Pump For Taps and Showers Solves Low Water Pressure: Dragons Den - Shower Power Booster

 

[Riley]

Well this is the thing mate I think it's 2 straight runs of hot and cold. Cold all mains, hot from cylinder. I'm struggling to work out how shower is working with mains cold

 

[gassafe]

I don't think a shower like that would like cold mains too much!! Can't you turn off mains & see if the shower still operates?

 

[gassafe]

Fit a lil unvented cylinder, plus fit a new shower mixer...

 

[Riley]

I don't think a shower like that would like cold mains too much!! Can't you turn off mains & see if the shower still operates?

You make a good point. It was an as I was going out the door type question so didn't stop to check there and then as it was 20:30 already. I'll pop back and investigate. Problem is if it's not cold mains I cannt see where the cold for the shower comes from

 

[Riley]

Fit a lil unvented cylinder, plus fit a new shower mixer...

Tell you what I'd love that. Bit concerned about the cold pressure though as its a 5th floor flat and also I've just fixed the immersion on their existing cylinder so can't see them wanting to do away with it

 

[gassafe]

Tell you what I'd love that. Bit concerned about the cold pressure though as its a 5th floor flat and also I've just fixed the immersion on their existing cylinder so can't see them wanting to do away with it

Could there be a roof tank that just feeds a cold supply to shower hidden somewhere? The instructions on that shower state pretty clearly No mains connections! Plus the header on a fortic would be far too small for a pumped shower supply surely?

 

[Riley]

Exactly my thinking there is a tiny roof space straight above cylinder but it's empty. I will have to investigate further