More water pressure... but only for showers and only for one user?!

sarahTT

OK, so I'm just a little unhappy about our water pressure at home. The shower is little more than a trickle and I think an electric pump could well help with that. But :-) more pressure means more water usage and there are elements in the house (read, my OH) who don't like that and anyway are happy with the way things work. And up to a point I agree, actually, as we really don't need more pressure in the kitchen or the wash basins.

So I'm looking for a compromise... can we install a pump that can be switched on and off? Then I'd switch it on when needed and it's off otherwise? Grateful for any help there!

Grenage

A pump can work, but generally they feed from a tank (we have such).  As far as I'm aware, there aren't any pumps that will allow water through properly unless powered.

If it's an electric shower then it would make no difference.

sarahTT

Thank you! I should have mentioned that ours is gravity-fed (I assume that's what you meant with from a tank). The hot water comes from a storage tank in the airing cupboard. We don't have any electric showers.

kipsterno1

Has the shower head got a flow restricter fitted?

Grenage

sarahTT said:

Thank you! I should have mentioned that ours is gravity-fed (I assume that's what you meant with from a tank). The hot water comes from a storage tank in the airing cupboard. We don't have any electric showers.

Then I can imagine the pressure being awful without a pump.  Put your foot down! 

Showers normally have adjustable flow.  If your other half likes a weak output, they are free to turn it down.  Bet they don't.

You will probably need some pipework changes, and possibly a bigger cold water tank.  I added a second tank because it occasionally ran dry when the other half had a long shower.

ThisIsWeird

A bit more info, please, Sarah.

1) Is the 'cold' to the shower also fed from a CWS in the loft, or could it be from the mains? Eg, when you compare the H and C in your basin or bath, does one gush a lot more than the other?

2) Make and model of existing shower mixer? Or a photo? Does it have an adjustable flow control, as well as temperature?

3) What do you mean by turning it on and off? If you do fit a booster pump, it can be put only be on the shower, so no other tap will be 'boosted'. So, do you mean it can be turned 'off' for hubby's use?!

In general, tho', there are two obvious solutions - one is to fit a twin booster pump for the shower alone, and the other is to replace your current mixer with an electric 'booster' type, one that looks like an 'electric' shower, but actually contains a wee pump inside it.

jennifernil

We also have 2 of our showers supplied from a HW cylinder in the ground floor airing cupboard, this sits on the same level as the bathrooms, but is supplied with cold water from a large storage tank in the loft, which is 2 floors up since most of our bedrooms are downstairs  and living rooms upstairs.   We also have one  bedroom and  bathroom on the upper floor which is supplied with HW from a cylinder on the upper floor .  This also gets cold water from a tank in the loft above.

All the showers get their cold water to the mixer from the loft tanks, each shower has its own cold supply directly from the loft tanks, not branched off any other pipe, hot and cold pressures at the mixer are equal, and you can flush a toilet without scalding anyone showering.

We have shower mixers and heads that are suitable for low pressure systems, Aqualisa ones.     The 2 downstairs showers have excellent pressure, the upstairs one is not quite as good as there is less head of water, but good enough not to have anyone complaining.

The combination of dedicated pipes to the showers, and  mixers and heads that are suitable for low pressure , gives a good result

ThisIsWeird

Wot she says ^

sarahTT

ThisIsWeird said:

A bit more info, please, Sarah.

1) Is the 'cold' to the shower also fed from a CWS in the loft, or could it be from the mains? Eg, when you compare the H and C in your basin or bath, does one gush a lot more than the other?

2) Make and model of existing shower mixer? Or a photo? Does it have an adjustable flow control, as well as temperature?

3) What do you mean by turning it on and off? If you do fit a booster pump, it can be put only be on the shower, so no other tap will be 'boosted'. So, do you mean it can be turned 'off' for hubby's use?!

In general, tho', there are two obvious solutions - one is to fit a twin booster pump for the shower alone, and the other is to replace your current mixer with an electric 'booster' type, one that looks like an 'electric' shower, but actually contains a wee pump inside it.

1. The showers (we have two upstairs, so not much pressure from gravity) are fed via the hot water storage in the airing cupboard and the cold water tank in the loft.
2. No mixers as such, just two plain old h/c taps with two outlets, one for the the bathtub and the other for the shower. We never use the bathtub as such.
3. Yeah, the on/off idea was for me (on) and hubby (off) :-)

If we can fit a pump that only works with one shower then that'll be fine. Alternatively we could look into your idea of getting a mixer with a pump for one of the showers.

Thanks all for their input so far, learned already a few things!

ThisIsWeird

Ok, so both showers are upstairs, so that explains the lack of flow. Being simple taps - Pic? - they are unlikely to be restrictive, so your issue will almost certainly be a simple lack of 'head'.
So, you either need to increase the 'head' by raising the height of the CWS tank - any chance? - or add a pump. 
The thing about a pump is, if you don't turn it on, it'll make the flow worse, so a 'switchable' one is unlikely to be an option. So, best you pump one shower for you, and leave the other one to twitie
The next issue is, what type of pump? 
Two basic solutions - one is to fit a pumped mixer unit on the wall (I'll try and find a link to one), or to fit a twin impeller booster pump to the H&C to the shower. The latter will be more powerful, but might actually be more than you want.
Things that will help you determine the best choice;
1) for the booster pump, is there somewhere it can be easily installed - under the bath, in an airing cupboard, or near the DHWC (domestic hot water cylinder)? 
2) if you fit a booster pump, how will your existing shower controls respond?! I suspect, since you have two separate controls, it'll be a 'mare, with a tweak of one handle making a large difference, so you'll spend the shower constantly tweaking (matron!).
3) are you willing to suffer the cost and disruption of having a new thermostatic shower fitted to take full advantage of a booster pump?
4) just how much improvement do you want? Would, ooh, twice as much flow be ok? Or do you want the option of being deluged now and then?
So, as well as thinking of these things, could you also do this; get a pan, and hold it under your shower head, mounted in it's usual place, for a count of six seconds. Measure the number of litres that came out, and 'times' it by ten to get 'litres per minute' of shower flow.
Ta.

ThisIsWeird

Models with the wee pump inside the unit, so usually much easier installation:

At ~£550, it ain't cheap: https://www.aqualisa.co.uk/aquastream-power-shower-white-chrome.html (Best price, Amazon).

Less than half the price, but you'd need to compare specs: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Triton-Showers-Silent-Running-Shower/dp/B0851BMG9L/ref=pd_day0fbt_d_sccl_1/261-0022907-9156104?

And I'm sure there are other options.