Low hot water pressure upstairs only

kingcreech

Hi all

First time house owner and first time hot water problem

Basically the hot water flow/pressure rate upstairs in my house is terrible. I have a shower pump installed on the shower which works a treat but it feeds the shower only. Cold water is fine throughout the house.

I have 2 bathrooms upstairs and the ensuite tap pressure is worse than the main bathroom, infact its more of a trickle, I think this is due to the height of the tap as when I (well a friend) tested at a lower position the pressure was stronger.

What are my options?

Do I buy another shower pump/whole house pump and install on to the hot water pipes for the whole house? Would this mean when the shower is being used 2 pumps are running?

If I do the above should I also pump the cold water or with this being fine will it need it?

Or

Do I use the currrent NewTeam Varispeed 50 to run the whole house rather than the shower?

Or

Buy a new whole house pump and get shut of the Varispeed 50.

I'm lost at the minute, I know nothing about plumbing and water systems so please help me out.

If more info is needed give me a shout and I'll see what I can do.

Hoping to buy whatever I need asap.

G_M

Where does your hot water come from?
Is there a hot water tank (in airing cupboard?)? If so, where and what height relative to the hot taps?
Is it instant hot water from a combination boiler? If so what is the pressure like?

edit: a good place for expert help is the DIYNOT plumbing forum.

keystone

G_M wrote: »

edit: a good place for expert help is the DIYNOT plumbing forum.

And here is not? Mmm!

Cheers

kingcreech

G_M wrote: »

Where does your hot water come from?
Is there a hot water tank (in airing cupboard?)? If so, where and what height relative to the hot taps?
Is it instant hot water from a combination boiler? If so what is the pressure like?

edit: a good place for expert help is the DIYNOT plumbing forum.

I have a boiler in the garage, a hot water tank on the landing in the cupboard and water tanks in the loft . . . not sure what this setup is called.

The tap is only about 60cm from being the same height as the landing tank, the pipes are routed a slightly funny way due to the ensuite and stairs position so the pipes travel up quite a distance.

I've posted on the that forums :beer: just waiting on a reply, thought I'd try here aswell

Cheers for the reply

keystone

kingcreech wrote: »

Hi all

First time house owner and first time hot water problem

Basically the hot water flow/pressure rate upstairs in my house is terrible. I have a shower pump installed on the shower which works a treat but it feeds the shower only. Cold water is fine throughout the house.

I have 2 bathrooms upstairs and the ensuite tap pressure is worse than the main bathroom, infact its more of a trickle, I think this is due to the height of the tap as when I (well a friend) tested at a lower position the pressure was stronger.

If you have a conventional CWST in your roofspace plus HW cylinder on the first floor the pressure will be iro 0.25 bar. Its more than likely that if the bathroom and ensuite were installed in the not too recent past that whoever did it has installed nice 1/4 turn ceramic disc taps which are restrictive to flow, if they have used nice and easy flexi connectors they are also restrictive to flow, ditto bog standard (ie not full bore) isolating valves.

You have correctly identified that you have a flow rate problem upstairs not downstairs. Pumping it upstairs will also pump it downstairs which is currently OK so you don't want that.

You could replace the upstairs taps with ones that will work with your installation and reove all restrictive pipework

You could add another pump for the hot supply for upstairs taps only. Keep the showers separate.

You should not try and use the curent shower pump as a whole house pump and I do not see any benefit to you of a whole house pump anyway.

Are all the cold supplies on mains?

Cheers

kingcreech

keystone wrote: »

If you have a conventional CWST in your roofspace plus HW cylinder on the first floor the pressure will be iro 0.25 bar. Its more than likely that if the bathroom and ensuite were installed in the not too recent past that whoever did it has installed nice 1/4 turn ceramic disc taps which are restrictive to flow, if they have used nice and easy flexi connectors they are also restrictive to flow, ditto bog standard (ie not full bore) isolating valves.

You have correctly identified that you have a flow rate problem upstairs not downstairs. Pumping it upstairs will also pump it downstairs which is currently OK so you don't want that.

You could replace the upstairs taps with ones that will work with your installation and reove all restrictive pipework

You could add another pump for the hot supply for upstairs taps only. Keep the showers separate.

You should not try and use the curent shower pump as a whole house pump and I do not see any benefit to you of a whole house pump anyway.

Are all the cold supplies on mains?

Cheers

I believe the cold supplies are on mains but can't be certain.

The ensuite tap uses flexi pipes.
The tap we have in ensuite can run at 0.05bar up to 5bar.
The ensuite has just been retiled so I'd hate to have to try and change any piping.

Looks like a single feed pump is the future.

You mentioned just pump hot water for the upstairs, what kind of pump would I be looking at buying? I was thinking of a similar one to the one that runs the shower, 1.5 bar variable, this sound ok?

Thanks for your fast replys

ormus

google for salamander or grundfos whole house pumps.
from 120/1000 quid.

kingcreech

ormus wrote: »

google for salamander or grundfos whole house pumps.
from 120/1000 quid.

The salamander CT55 looks like it will do the job.

I'll order first thing in the morning.

Thanks for all the help

keystone

kingcreech wrote: »

IThe tap we have in ensuite can run at 0.05bar up to 5bar.

but they never tell you the flow rate they deliver at these pressures do they. Thats the universal con.

Looks like a single feed pump is the future.

Works for me.

You mentioned just pump hot water for the upstairs, what kind of pump would I be looking at buying? I was thinking of a similar one to the one that runs the shower, 1.5 bar variable, this sound ok?

Yep. As your donstairs taps are fine I see no point in pumping them.

BTW I hope that your cold supply for the shower is separately drawn from your CSWT and NOT the mains.

Cheers

kingcreech

keystone wrote: »

but they never tell you the flow rate they deliver at these pressures do they. Thats the universal con.

Works for me.

Yep. As your donstairs taps are fine I see no point in pumping them.

BTW I hope that your cold supply for the shower is separately drawn from your CSWT and NOT the mains.

Cheers

Thanks for the confirmation.

The cold water supply going to the shower in the ensuite runs from the pump, not sure what CSWT means :huh:

keystone

Cold Water Storage Tank. Its in the roof and provides a cold feed for the HW cylinder.

Cheers