Power Shower Water Supply

Nikkisun

After years of having baths due to no shower I finally saved up enough pennies to have a shower fitted.

We went for this one:

http://www.tritonshowers.co.uk/media/11859/as2000xt_thermostatic_ips.pdf

The plumber fitted it yesterday evening, the electrician is coming at the weekend to do the wiring so obviously we haven't been able to test it yet.

My concern is that the instructions say that the cold water supply must be from a dedicated feed from the header tank but looking at it the plumber seems to have plumbed it into a pipe in my airing cupboard - will this be an issue or is it ok?

keystone

A power shower needs dedicated independent cold and hot feeds. Former from the roof tank and latter from the HW cylinder. It needs to be like that so that it has balanced supplies.

An electric shower runs off cold mains only. If he's plumbed it with a tee off the cold mains riser to the roof that is quite incorrect.

Perhaps he thinks it's an electric shower? People often confuse the two types but he should know better.

The paperwork will tell you exactly what it needs.

Cheers

Nikkisun

Thanks - the hot water feed is correct looking at the fitting instructions but the cold he has definitely teed from a pipe in the airing cupboard (which I assume is the mains riser).

I'm guessing I need it re-plumbed before it can be used?

keystone

Nikkisun wrote: »

Thanks - the hot water feed is correct looking at the fitting instructions but the cold he has definitely teed from a pipe in the airing cupboard (which I assume is the mains riser).

I'm guessing I need it re-plumbed before it can be used?

It may be the riser - can't tell from here. It could also be the feed for the cylinder bringing cold water down from the storage tank to the base of the cylinder to replenish the cylinder as hot water is drawn off. In which case you might get away with it but it won't be following MIs and not good practice either You need to trace the pipes to find out.

Cheers

Nikkisun

Cheers - sounds like a fun game to play when I get home this evening!!

southcoastrgi

Post up some pics of your airing cupboard pipework so we can see which pipe he has tee'd into & where this pipe goes

mehera

Is there any reason why you have not gone for a mains pressure one (which may be cheaper/simpler to install)?

Also the tank which it is being fed from has to have adequate space . . .

Nikkisun

Thanks everyone - it's not the mains he's fitted it to but it's still not fitted correctly as it definitely needs a dedicated supply with no other draws, one of the main points is that if someone else is using water in the house we don't want the shower affected.

The reason we went for this type of shower is that our water pressure is not good so needed a pumped supply.

The upshot is that the plumber is coming back to refit the pipework!

keystone

Nikkisun wrote: »

Thanks everyone - it's not the mains he's fitted it to but it's still not fitted correctly as it definitely needs a dedicated supply with no other draws, one of the main points is that if someone else is using water in the house we don't want the shower affected.

Yes thats exactly why BOTH hot and cold supplies need to be independent.

The reason we went for this type of shower is that our water pressure is not good so needed a pumped supply.

Thats normally the reason although there are other solutions.

The upshot is that the plumber is coming back to refit the pipework!

When poster above says space he probably means capacity. You really need a min 50 gallon cistern. Make sure the hot is truly independent too.

Cheers

Nikkisun

The good news is that the plumber came back tonight and plumbed it in properly - I now have a nice hot powerful shower!!

keystone

Excellent. Thanks for the feedback. Now the little devil in me wants to know why he didn't do it properly in the first place and save himself time and effort at his cost. No - don't bother asking him!

Cheers