Shower - conflicting advice

johnmcgin

Hi,


My son has just moved into a house which has a bath but doesn't have a shower. The hot water to the house is supplied from an electrically heated combination cylinder (header tank mounted directly on top of the hotwater cylinder).


I have had two plumbers visit to look at the situation and give quotes.


Plumber 1. Says that the only option is to install an electric shower as the water pressure would be too low for a mixer shower.


Plumber 2. Says that replacing the existing taps with shower mixer tap would be an option.

Am I correct in thinking that shower mixer option is not viable as the shower head would probably be higher than the combination cylinder header tank?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

keystone

johnmcgin wrote: »

Plumber 1. Says that the only option is to install an electric shower as the water pressure would be too low for a mixer shower.

I would say he is spot on but see below.

Plumber 2. Says that replacing the existing taps with shower mixer tap would be an option.

He's correct in saying its an option but has he neglected to say that such would only be the case if you pump it? However, then you must consider that the water storage capacity of the cold water part of the cylinder will be insufficient for a pumped shower. So it will be necessary to replace the CWST with a larger one up in the roofspace with the necessary plumbing works which expense I suspect isn't on. So I would say it isn't currently an option.

Am I correct in thinking that shower mixer option is not viable as the shower head would probably be higher than the combination cylinder header tank?

You are correct unless it is pumped but I have said above why pumping isn't an option for this type of cylinder.

I'd go for the leccy one too but remember that these need a mains pressure cold water feed so lets hope thats readily available in or near the bathroom.

HTH

Cheers

ormus

very unlikely that the tank is high enough.
an electric shower is the simple answer.

gas4you

Good information from all above. Nothing more to add.

johnmcgin

Thanks very much 'keystone' for your detailed reply. It has prevented me making a very big mistake. Also thanks to 'ormus' and 'gas4you'.

Best regards

John

rrf494g

I may have missed something but . . .

you say the shower head would "probably" be higher than the header tank. Why probably? If this was just a figure of speech, and it would definately be less than 3 or 4 feet below the header tank then all the above advice applies. If you have some choice, or the bathroom is downstairs with the tank upstairs, then maybe gravity would be enough.
I lived in a flat for years with such a combination tank - I had to have an electric shower fiited onto the mains supply as there was no level difference for gravity to work.

One added point about combination tanks. My experience was that they are very susceptable to furring up in hard water areas, so that at times of maximum demand for hot water, the supply of cold into the heating tank is restricted by the small bore feed from the header tank and the hot water flow, slows greatly. I had to keep de-scaling every couple of years.
regards