Raising the cold water cistern

dandowding

Hi, I have recently installed new shower valves, heads, and retiled in a bathroom and en suite.
Both the showers are gravity fed, the replacement valves are suitable for gravity fed systems....however the flow from the shower roses is pretty sad and dismal. The water cistern in the loft is on a stantion, however the distance from the bottom of the tank to the head of the shower is only about 1m - 1.5m .... this I know is about minimum. So, bar taking out the tiles and walls and all I've done already to fit a pump ect, I'm thinking it'd be best to raise the tank in the loft up. The roof strutts are the kind of "W" shape, making it unable to raise the tank...... what I'd like to know is ... is it possible to remove one set of the middle part of the "W" to allow space to raise the tank ?? I know these must be in there for a reason and support, so is there a way to reinforce if I do remove a section????

Thanks for any help

DD

moneysavingplumber

No. You should have a reasonable shower from 1.5m static head. If you have a drench head (i.e. a 5" or 8" rose) then these always need a pump and will not run adequately on gravity no matter what valve they are used with.

dandowding

so, if there are drench head roses / big heads, then these could just be changed for smaller ones? ... if the flow is still rubbish then is it possible to raise the tank? can you help with the wood strutt problem ??

EliteHeat

Why not just fit a pump?

moneysavingplumber

Raising the tank won't do it, and you can't start cutting sections out of your roof anyway, only a structural engineer would be able to tell you categorically if and how that were going to be possible, my guess is that it isn't. You need a pump or a pressurised system.

dandowding

the showers are fed from the communal hot and cold system . The bathroom shower is Tee'd of from the bath supplies and pipes run to a concealed valve ..... all now tiled in !!
If a pump was fitted, where and how could I fit it? would this not activate the pump on every discharge point ? , and burn out the pump?

moneysavingplumber

The installation instructions for the valve would have probably recommended dedicated feeds for the shower, the cold would have to be drilled into the CWST at a point lower than the cold feed for the cylinder if possible. The hot should be taken from as close to the cylinder as possible, usually a downward draw from the horizontal draw from the top of the cylinder. There are pumps on the market made for multipoint use, usually installed in flats, they are often situated in airing cupboards.

Would it be a possibility for you to remove the rose heads and replace with normal shower head?

dandowding

Yeah, I'll try the replacement rose heads first and see if that makes a difference.... other than that I guess I'll have a look to see if I can find the multi point use pumps. Thanks for your help !!

Pyewacket338

If the hot water is taken from a storage tank, shouldn't the cold be taken from a storage tank too? I was under the impression that it was against regulations to connect a mixer from both stored and mains water.

A word of caution when placing a pump..... some of them can be noisy and if in an airing cupboard near a bedroom or attached directly to roof timbers, may cause a noisy vibration that will make you unpopular when your showering and everyone else is in bed!

dandowding

hot is from Hot water cylinder, off the feed to other draw off points, and the cold is from the cold water storage tank. so no regulation breech, just a low pressure.
If a pump is able to be fitted then that would solve all probs, and I wouldn't worry too much about the noise. However, as i say, a pump needs to fitted on a seperate feed, and not where there are branches off to all other draw off points, as this will activate the pump everytime a tap is turned on anywhere in the house ..... i think this is right? any other ideas / solutions appreciated.

DD

moneysavingplumber

Pyewacket338 wrote: »

If the hot water is taken from a storage tank, shouldn't the cold be taken from a storage tank too? I was under the impression that it was against regulations to connect a mixer from both stored and mains water.

No, there have been showers on the market for years like Trevi Boost and Aquadart Hydroflow that actively use the mains pressure of the cold to draw hot water at a higher rate than would be possible under gravity. Water regulations have to be observed when installing these and all other showers. Alot of shower mixer taps have mains cold with stored hot water (and they are rubbish), the mains can be protected with a double check valve.

However, I'm assuming that in this instance the cold feed to the showers is tee'd into the gravity cold feed to the bath, not mains.