What sort of shower pump & tank do I need?

simonhgreen

Hi all

We're looking to install a shower in the bathroom, but it's a bit of an unusual situation that I'd be very grateful for any advice on:

The hot water tank is also in the bathroom about 10 ft away on top of a cupboard (!!)

We have been told we will need a pump as the level of the tank isn't sufficiently high enough for it to work through the gravity thingy.

We'd like one of those nice big (about dinner-plate size) round-shower heads that blast you from above, but wonder will the (smallish) hot water tank run out of water too quickly if it's quite powerful?

Someone mentioned an electric option but I don't know what it means or involves.

What I am after info on is:
a) How do I figure out what pump I need?
b) How do I figure out the capacity of the tank compared to the demand of the shower?

Any ideas gratefully received.
Thanks
Si

robowen

Firstly......the electric shower, is probably going to be the easiest and the cheapest option. Choose your electric shower, connect with the correct cable and switches for the shower(depends on the rating of the shower) and connect to the mains water supply.

The shower with a pump is a little harder to work out. You'll need to know how big the cylinder is in litres. You could measure it and compare it to some online to give you the size. or give the sizes and some bright spark in here will tell you !
Have a look at twin impeller pumps and see what the water rate is in litres/min or litres/sec. You should be able to roughly estimate how long it will take to empty the tank of hot water.
The pump will need wiring up as well, so more expense !

rob
Have a look here for twin impeller pumps.
Have a look here for hot water cylinders.