Low Pressure Shower

m00c0w04

Hi all

For a number of years since we've first had a shower unit installed in the house (~10 years or so), we have had an issue with the water flow/pressure.

We had the water board out and they identified that the issue is because we share a water connection with 4 houses in a block, so when we use the taps/shower the water comes out very slowly.

The problem this causes with the shower is that the shower is heating the water under the assumption that it's getting a rapid flow, thus resulting in extremely hot/scalding water from the shower at the best of times.

The shower has a low/high pressure setting, but even using low pressure can give scalding water at times. I can turn the temperature dial down to the lowest setting and it has no effect either.

Does such a thing as a shower for low pressure houses exist? Or a shower with a really good thermostat that will monitor the pressure and generate certain temperature water? The shower unit we have now is a decade old, so I'm guessing there must have been advances since?!

I looked into the option of getting an individual connection to the water supply, as opposed to the current 4-house sharing setup, but it was going to cost £8k, which isn't worth it.

Many thanks!

WestonDave

There are options that will help but it depends what else you have in the house to work with.

Instant heat electric showers are basically a heater chamber that is either on or off (subject to a thermostatic cut out for really high heat at which point it shuts off and goes freezing cold). The temperature the water comes out is effectively determined by how cold the water is coming from the mains and how fast it goes through - the temperature control just turns the flow rate up or down but obviously can't make it flow faster than the mains is "pushing" it.

It sounds like this is the form of shower you have - there are ones with slightly better thermostats but not ones that will lower the amount they heat. However it might be worth looking at a lower power shower - swapping a 10kW shower for an 8.5kW shower will reduce the amount of heat available and may be more compatible with your water supply.

The other option if you have a hot water tank is to have a pumped system where it draws hot water from the hot water tank and mixes it before it gets to the shower head. We had one of these in a previous house (Aqualisa Quartz) which had a little pump box in the loft which supplied water via a pipe which doubled as the shower riser (the bit the shower head is attached to). Was pretty efffective but I suspect it might struggle if the cold supply is too low - and if the hot water tank isn't filling because the shower is taking all the cold that might create other issues.

I'd personally start by working out the power rating of your shower and seeing whether a lower wattage model with whatever temperature smoothing you can get provides a solution - going for the pumped option sounds like it will mean changing a lot of pipes if you are on a cold only supplied instant heat shower.