Shower pump advice for newby All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[ISMAN]

I need to fit a pump to my very low pressure system with a head of just 1m from cold water tank to new fitted bathroom. I propose fitting it to supply the whole house, one bathroom, one seperate shower room, a downstairs cloakroom and kitchen.

Could any experienced user answer some simple questions regarding pumps like:

Is it better to fit seperate single flow pumps to hot and cold supply from header tank which feeds the whole house?

I have a shower head which is fixed at about the same height as the bottom of the cold water cylinder, should I therefore use a negative head pump? And if so, will this be OK for the rest of the house?

If I install a double flow pump(hot and cold) , what happens to the impeller of the second flow when only one feed requires water, say when flushing the toilet?

Many thanks

[plumbbob]

Are you sure the header tank supplies all th cold fittings you list? Normally the header tank only supplies mixer showers. Occasionally the bath cold is also connected. Very occasionally, the cold of the upstairs hand basin is linked. Very very occasionally the toilet is via the header tank. I don't recall ever seeing downstairs cold from stored water (on domestic anyway).

The miser shower should have a dedicated supply from the cylinder and the header tank. A twin impeller pump can be fitted but must not be connected to any other fitting.

If you want to boost the other hot taps, fit a single impeller pump in the feed line to the taps.

A word of warning. Be careful to ensure adequate supplies of both hot and cold stored water and feed pipe diameters to ensure air is not drawn into the system.

[ISMAN]

Thanks for the advice.

My cold water storage tank supplies all cold water to the first floor, including wash basin and toilet but you are right in saying that downstairs, the cold supply comes off the mains.

Are you saying that I should install a dual flow for upstairs and a separate single flow for the hot water downstairs?

Should the dual flow be a negative head pump, given the hight of the shower head?

Is it OK to run the toilet from the dual flow pump even though it will only be feeding cold?

Thanks again

[plumbbob]

To be honest, if you are going to alter the plumbing, rather than fit a pump in the cold supplies upstairs, I would convert the low pressure to high pressure by disconnecting the feed from the header tank and connecting it directly to the mains. You will have to replace the float valve in the toilet as it will have been converted to low pressure. Doing this conversion will bring your system up to the current regs. People do drink from bathroom taps, and to think that water comes from a sludged up tank!

As I said in my earlier post, fit a twin impeller pump in the shower supply lines. remember shower supplies must be dedicated ie, cold from the header tank, and hot from the cylinder and the pipework must not be shared with any other outlet.

If you want, fit a singe pump in the supply to the hot taps.