DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi.

Our bathroom is a bit outdated and we have decided to install new units.

current setup:
basin and bath cold taps are mains fed
basin and bath hot taps are tank fed
The cold water tank is in the loft
the hot water tank is on the first floor adjacent to the bathroom.

we want to fit a shower bath and based on the articles here, in order to get a sufficient pressure coming out of the shower head, we need to install a shower pump.

Is it possible to mains fed the cold inlet of a shower pump?

What type of shower pump do we need and can anyone recommend a good shower pump that we can use? Something that is not so expensive but still sturdy.

Where is the best place to site the shower pump?

On a totally different subject, when we flush the toilet, there is almost always a loud vibrating sound that comes from the pipes. The toilet cistern is mains fed but the pipe goes to the loft first and then drops from the ceiling to the cistern. Is there a way to reduce the vibrations if not eliminate them?

Thanks for reading and hopefully you can advice me on the points noted above.

You can't pump mains fed water, and your cold feed would therefore need to come from the CW tank in the loft.... which would need sufficient capacity to cope with a pumped shower, as would the hot water side of things, which would come from the cylinder.

Most pumps work better at pushing water rather than pulling it, so the location would be best closest to the hot water (or blend) outlet ie airing cupboard in your case.

Your toilet is likely to be the inlet of the toilet (float valve) which will be remedied with your new toilet or failing this it could be any part of the mains water system ie check stopcock and for loose pipes leading up. Id imagine its the float arm vvalve though.

I have a few small chip in a Pampus colour fibre glass bath. Does anyone know please where I might be able to buy soem kind of repair gel?

Thanks nitro.

Would a 25l tank suffice?

my current cold water tank in the loft only has a feed pipe that goes to the hot water tank, is it easy to fit a cold feed pipe going to the shower pump?

"Would a 25l tank suffice?" - are you looking at the right tank? sure that's the CW tank and not your heating F&E tank? or are you referring to the cylinder?

your shower pump must have independent feeds to it from both the hot cylinder and CW tank, so you will have to run a new pipe from the tank itself - not right at the bottom otherwise sediment from the tank will be drawn in. DON'T tee off the cold pipe feeding your cylinder otherwise your cylinder will not replenish when you are running the pump leading to a cold shower, a burned out pump and possibly a burned out cylinder.

relatively easy to fit a dedicated supply from the tank in the loft, you will need to drain it down, drill a 22mm hole and get a suitable connector from your plumbers merchant.

a 3 bar pump should be sufficient though check the specification of the shower's installation instructions it will tell you min and max pressure requirements.