Plumbing flange question

bradleigh1977

Recently i had a shower pump installed as my hot water pressure was non existent...now i put in a 50 gallon tank, and then i had a plumber mate put in the shower pump. Which has been great for 5 weeks but now its not...

i now have intermitent hot water pressure, its good, then not so good, changing ever 3 or 4 seconds.

There is an airlock somewhere in the cylinder.

The only thing the tank feeds is the hotwater cylinder and the cold feed for the pump. I have also noticed that he never installed a surrey flange ( after researching ).

I think this is what will cure the problem, so could i do it myself? I have also seen the the pipe that come out of the top comes out and goes down to the floor, and then tees off to the pump and rest of the house, so if i changed the way this is piped?, i meanafter seeing diagrams, it should come out the top of the tank through a flange, the go directly to the pump, and the rest of the house can run off the pipe work thats already there? ( the piece that comes down from the top of the tank to the floor )

Now the bloke who done it, charged next to nothing, but i dont want to get him back, if i cant do it with out draining the tank and cylinder ( probably can shut off the 50 gallons in the tank ) then ill have a go myself, or should i get a man in, as he'll do it in about 20 mins!

cheers

Canucklehead

Hi,

I would wonder why it was fine for 5 weeks, and now you have a problem.

Can you post a photo of the setup.

Maybe the pump flexi is overbent or the filter is blocking.

As for the connection, have a look in the pump installation book and it will give you the optimum method of connecting to the hot. Sometimes they will give you alternative methods.
I would personally prefer totally independant hot and cold feeds to a shower pump. Surrey would be the easiest method.

GSR.

ormus

you should follow the pump makers installation guide to the letter.
usually this means things like siting, head, dedicated supply pipe, 22mm pipe etc...

keystone

There should be air in the top of the tank. Frankly your mate has not piped it correctly. Probably the air has been sucked into the pipework and built up over time to air;ock the pipe. A SurreyWarix flange in the top of the tank is the best bet for you to DIY but I'd recommend the Warix as the outlet can be rotated to meet the pipework once you've done it up. A Surrey is fixed. You can also get a Salamander Flange via Screwfix which is very similar to Warix. Not only should the pump have a separate hot feed via the Surrey/Warix flange but it should also have its own cold feed from the CWST separate from all other drawoffs.

Does the pump run on when you turn the shower off? Thats a sure indicator of air or maladjusted flow switches.

Cheers

bradleigh1977

Right in answer to all you questions....

The header tank goes into the hotwater tank, and the pump. on the "out" side of the hot water tank, that goes into the pump and rest of the of the house. All the pipes are the right size, 22mm, and no kinks etc ( i am a plasterer and have been in the trade for years so i sort have a bit of knowledge )

The pump only runs when the shower is turned on, and why it worked ok for 5 weeks? i dont know really, after reading all i can i reckon the air has built up over this period. I will go and take some pics when i have finished typing this..

As for the manufactores guidelines etc...we bought the pump second hand, just to see if it will be ok etc...as we can always buy a new one later on if we need more pressure etc and the pipeworks already there.

Dedicated feeds, the pump has dedictated cold feed, and it tees of the hot water feed, before it goes anywhere else in the house, so unless we turned on every hot water tap at the time of a shower, it does not get affected.

After looking at picture on the net, i THINK the flange i need, is to feed straight to the pump, rather than come out the top of the tank, drop to the floor, then tee off back in the pump. so the hot water can get to the pump faster than it is now?

Thankyou everyone for the advice, i shall go and take pics now....

bradleigh1977

in this first picture, this is where the hot water tank feed has come out the top and then down to the floor and is where it tees off to the pump.

the other pics are self explanitory.

bradleigh1977

my rubbish picture of what i have...

Canucklehead

Hi,

I would say the Surrey Warix, whatever flange will rule out any problem on the supply of hot water.

The method of connection from the vent is based on the vent being 45 degrees from the top connection to the vertical pipe with a tee in it. Yours is not.

Look up the installation details online? Can you find that make?

I would suspect the pump being second hand as a possible problem.

Is the shower mixer designed for pumped supply?

Interesting use of earth bond on flexi, it's all plastic pipe!!


GSR


Just seen your drawing.

Hopeless!!! Air locked.

One from the karl 123 skool of plumeing.

bradleigh1977

the shower is designed for a pumped supply, ignore the earth bond, that was aready on it.

I have looked up the make, its technoflow qt80, and yes i understand about the 45 degree thing. maybe i need a plumber to come and sort it for me...need one in hudderfield....

My drawing hopeless???? i spent 2 minutes on that...lol.....Im glad you say its airlocked though.

keystone

Its an old Techflow. If it was only installed on a "see if it all works" temporary basis then its not really surprising that it may have been thrown in rather than doing it properly.

Perhaps we are being a bit unfair on your mate then - why don't you ask him back and tell him you want to make a permanent installation? If he says "we now need to do this and this and this" along the liunes discussed above you know he knows what he is talking about. If he says its fine as it is then kick him into touch and get someone else or DIY it.

Cheers

keystone

Canucklehead wrote: »

One from the karl 123 skool of plumeing.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: