Power Shower

Sphynx

I need a new powerful shower but have an old gravity system boiler. The shower we have at the moment is truely pathetic. Please can someone give me some pointers towards getting a shower which will get me wet in less than 30 minutes!

1984ReturnsForReal_2

What type of shower do you have at the moment?

Avoriaz

Sphynx wrote: »

I need a new powerful shower but have an old gravity system boiler. The shower we have at the moment is truely pathetic. Please can someone give me some pointers towards getting a shower which will get me wet in less than 30 minutes!

Do you mean that you have a stored water system with a cold tank in the loft feeding water to the taps by gravity with the hot water going via a cylinder in your airing cupboard or elsewhere.

In other words a very typical traditional system.

We have exactly that in our 1960s built house. There was sufficient head (height) of water to give a reasonable gravity fed shower although when we extended our bathroom we installed a shower pump so we now have an excellent power shower. It uses a lot more water but it is much nicer than the gravity shower.

You probably have insufficient head of water, although there may also be narrow bore pipes or furred up pipes restricting flow.

You could raise the cold tank in the loft to give more head or you could install a shower pump which gives excellent results.

What is the height from the shower hose to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft? I mean from where the shower head is when in use, not from the taps as that gives the effective head.

Sphynx

The shower we have at the moment is a Gainsborough 1000.

I think the shower pump sounds like the best bet. We do have a tank of cold water in the loft, although I was under the impression it wasn't being used from our vendors however as the boiler is also very old I have to think we must be. I will have a look around and see what I can find. Did a cursory search this morning and found some heavily reduced showers at Plumbworld, but no idea if they are any good.

Edit to say: not plumb world at all but this place. http://www.bellabathrooms.co.uk/thermostatic-mixer-showers.html

C_Mababejive

You are in a good position as you have stored hot water i.e a hot water tank. All that is required is a shower and a suitable pump unlike those who have combis and have to suffer them wheezing away trying to produce hot water and you freezing under the shower when someone turns a tap on.

keystone

You have an electric shower in which case it should be fed with a mains supply (unless its been installed totally incorrectly) rather than from the tank.

In any event its time the old piece of junk was float tested and a new one installed. If you are going to use the roof tank as a cold supply as suggested above then in addition to a pump you'll be needing additional piping to give you a dedicated cold drawoff from the cold tank and a dedicated hot supply from the HW cylinder.

Cheers

Sphynx

Thanks keystone. That sounds really complicated! Maybe I should just concentrate on getting a really good electric shower!