shower pressure Drainage and wastage systems and plumbing help, advice and answers

[hobbis]

My problem is I have a shower mixer running ofthe bathtaps with very low pressure, this has been an irritation for myself, however, I am about to rent off my house and I do not think anyone else would put up with a dribble. I want to avoid the expense of a pump as I am strapped for money. A relative has advised he could lift up the tank in the loft but that sounds like a lot of trouble and mess. Does anyone have any experience of that working or any ideas on what i could do. many thanks in advance.

[htg engineer]

You could try raising thre tank in the loft, if that doesn't work, you could install a pump or fit an electric shower.

htg

[rosebery]

Raising the tank will result in a minimal increase in pressure on a gravity fed shower. You should bite the bullet and fit a pump. A 2 bar pump will increse your pressure by nearly a factor of 10 compared with you current pressure. Raising the CWST might give you only another 0.1 bar or so depending on how high you can raise it. Shower will still dribble relatively speaking.

Cheers

[plumbbob]

If the bottom of the header tank is less than a metre above the shower head then a pump may not work properly anyway unless it is a negative head type. You will also need to fit an ess-ex flange to prevent air being drawn in. Expensive!

Raising the tank could be difficult and is not guaranteed to be a solution either especially if the shower mixer is rubbish.

[littletoe46]

What's the pressure like elsewhere in the house ? presumably the hot water is from a storage cylinder ... if so the fitting on the hotwater take off connection could be furred up, erspecially if you're in a hard water area.

[rosebery]

Bob typed E s s e x. If he'd suggested a Surrey or a Warix then the forum software wouldn't have censored him. LoL.


"What's the pressure like elsewhere in the house?"

Its probably fine at the kitchen sink but pants at the shower. Thats because the pressure is related to the static head. That is the difference in height between the water level in the CSWT and the top of the tap or shower concerned. And its the same for both hot and cold. Kitchen tap = greater height so greater pressure. Indeed the pressure at bath taps may seem OK as it may for the shower head when held down at bath tap level. But when you lift the shower head up to operational height you are removing probably 1.5 metres of static head and the pressure drops significantly.

HTH

Cheers