Sub-optimal shower pressure, loft tank already raised All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[dakisan]

Hi folks,

We have an upstairs shower over the bath, fed from a standard hose up from the bath taps. The hot water cylinder is in the adjacent bedroom. Meanwhile up in the loft the base of the storage tank is already roughly 1m above the loft "floor".

We have good hot and cold pressure at the bath level. But the shower, while not a dribbler, is far from invigorating, and we would like to improve this.

Having read up on a few possible solutions (me=confused), I guess my first question would be: is it possible that the hose from the taps up to the shower head could be the main problem? For example, (I assume they have a plastic inner lining) could the inner pipe be twisted such that the water is not getting back up to the head with sufficient vim and vigour?

Following on from that, could it be that the water, having travelled to the taps at bath level, where pressure is optimal, then just runs out of puff going back up hill purely due to the laws of fluid dynamics (or is the journey from shower head level, to bath taps, and back to shower head, simply irrelevant)?

I'm still hazy on the journey the hot water takes. If the tank is adjacent to the bath, I don't follow how the h/w pressure is so good at the bath - is the h/w pressure fed from the loft tank?

Sorry for the FAQ spree, and thanks for any advice,
Pete

[stoneyboy]

dakisan,
It's quite possible that the inner plastic hose on the shower has become corkscrewed or the hose may have been replaced in the past with one designed for high pressure. Suggest you buy a new low pressure hose.
end

[stokedan1]

You have a gravity fed system which are low pressure systems.

your taps will have good pressure because theyve probably got aroud 3m of head now your cwsc has been lifted. But your shower is higher than your taps reducing the amount of pressure recieved.

head = the distance from your cwsc in loft to your outlet, 10m of head will equal approx 1 bar of pressure so if your shower has 1.5 metre head then its only getting 0.15 bar, if theres any scale build up in shower then this will add to the problem. try giving it a good clean with some lemon juice and a toothbrush.

if you get know joy after a good clean and you want a good shower you will need to install an alternative to your tap mixer i.e. pumped mixer, power shower