Low Water Pressure, shower not working

NadAkh

Hi

I have a 3 bedroom house which has just had a loft conversion which has added two more bedrooms and a shower room. I have installed a Triton T80Z Electric Shower (9.5kW). The house has gas central heating throughout and runs off a Vaillant VCW 242E combi boiler. I do not have an storage cylinders nor any gravity feed water tanks.

The problem I am having is that the electric shower is not functioning properly due to the lack of cold water pressure from the mains. Triton have been to inspect the shower and confirms it is a water pressure issue not a faultly shower.

Can anyone advise what options I have please to get this fixed?

1. Contact Thames Water to increase pressure and/or replace water pipes coming into the property? If so, what is this likely to cost?

2. Can I add any type of pump to help feed the shower with sufficient pressure considering I do not have any water storage or gravity feed tanks?

3. Possibility of changing the boiler? If so, which make / model?

Any other options? Appreciate your comments and views.

Regards

Nads :j

jrrowleyws

Boiler has nothing to do with pressure to an electric shower as its fed by the cold mains.

I'd check that your stop c0ck is on properly both in your house and in the road, if the builders turned it off it might not be on properly now. Also check to see if any isolation valves going to the shower are properly turned on.

If that doesnt help I'd check your water pressure where it comes into the house to see if it meets your suppliers minimum.

buglawton

Your model of shower is a special low flow rate one so won't behave like a power shower.

Does the fitted Low Pressure warning lamp come on?

It's not obvious form the spec, but it does not look like it has a pump fitted to boost pressure (as ones that are fed from loft tanks do) so you are at the mercy of the mains pressure.

eeeeeee

try this ...open and shut your stop !!!! half a dozen times too see if you have an air lock ; ring the water board and ask them if the pressure in your area has been reduced

Sugardonut

If only this new shower is affected you don't have 'low' pressure as such. However, you might not have enough pressure to work the shower - do you know what the minimum required pressure is for this shower? Thames only have to supply you with one bar, so i don't think they will help you. You will need to see a plumber about what the best option is or get a shower that needs less pressure.

buglawton

OP's model of shower even has a low pressure warning lamp on it, but OP has not replied to thread as to whether it lights up.

NadAkh

Hi all

Thanks to everyone for their advise and ideas.....

I have made a few checks and have some updates...

1. Official specification of the Triton T80Z Chrome Electric Shower 9.5kW state the Minimum Running Pressure/Flow of 0.7 Bar @ 8 l/min.
I am currently getting 1 bar only @ 1 ltr per min. Dilemma? What can be done? One option may be to increase flow via Thames Water changing the old pipes. The pipe from the stopcock is a 15mm in the cellar coming into the kitchen feeding the sink, washer, dishwasher, boiler and upstairs bathrooms. Have opened and closed this numerous times without any luck. The Low Pressure indicator sometimes comes on and sometimes stays off depending if other people are using the water on the ground or 1st floor....

I thought the boiler may improve the pressure/flow but seems not.

Appreciate any ideas or additional thoughts anyone may have.

Regards

Nads

spiritus

I'd like to resurrect this old post if I may as my mother is having the same issue.

She lives in a terraced houses and a few years ago had a combi boiler fitted. The water pressure in her house has never been great but it improved at that time as some of the internal piping was renewed.

However, her mixer shower is not suitable as the water pressure is too low for her to comfortably have a shower.

I wrongly assumed this should be fixable with a pump of some kind but have since learnt combi boilers can't have pumps fitted to them.

Her neighbours have adequate water pressure so it might be a localised problem.

What options are available to her beyond contacting the water board (who weren't very helpful last time). ?

macman

You can't fit a pump, as there is nothing to pump-if the combi can't supply sufficient hot flow to the shower then that is the issue. Increasing the pressure will not help if the combi is not able to heat sufficient water fast enough.
You need to establish what the issue is-lack of pressure, or inadequate combi flow. If the latter, all you can do is fit a moee powerful combi.

spiritus

macman wrote: »

You can't fit a pump, as there is nothing to pump-if the combi can't supply sufficient hot flow to the shower then that is the issue. Increasing the pressure will not help if the combi is not able to heat sufficient water fast enough.
You need to establish what the issue is-lack of pressure, or inadequate combi flow. If the latter, all you can do is fit a moee powerful combi.

Thankyou

as water pressure has been an issue before the combi was installed then what options are we looking at ? Water Board ?

macman

The 'water board' has not existed for many years now. Your water utility is only obliged to supply 1 bar pressure, so first thing to do is check the existing pressure. If the neighbours are OK, it may have something to do with the domestic pipework.
What's the rating of the combi?