Help with shower installation

[Simon]

Hi there,

I currently have an over the bath mixer style shower that I want to replace with an exposed Thermostatic mixer type.

My hot water system is gravity fed, heated by a back boiler.

The current setup is rather like this:

know, I'm no Michelangelo!)

I'd rather not chase the new hot and cold pipes into the walls as the house was built in 1922 and any major work on the wall might result in lots of tiles coming loose!

Could I run the hot feed from the top of the hot tank, into the loft and down the wall to the mixer shower? The cold feed would be a new feed from the cold tank going the same way. Looks like this..

'd need to insualte the hot feed quite well, but would the water pressure be unbalanced if it was setup like this? Is this an incredibly bad idea?

Thanks in advance!

[Wingedcat]

Michelangelo might have also depicted the cold feed to the HW tank - I take it this also comes from the same cold water header tank?

If so then as far as differential pressures are concerned, you will have no problems as both H and C will be at an identical pressure as determined by the water level at the top of the cold water header tank.

You should position the new feed from the cold water header tank to your new shower (if possible) below the feed to the HW tank to prevent the cold water running out before the hot, which prevents possible scalding.

N=2EB. What's the cold water header tank made of? If it's an old galvanised jobbie then don't do what I did and put a screwdriver through the side trying to clean it out! Might be worth considering a replacement plastic version as part of this work. They're not too expensive (=A350 I paid) and adding additional tank connectors is easy.

I don't know how satisfactory a shower you are likely to achieve with this set-up though - it depends on the head of water available. However if you have a decent enough shower at the moment with the current arrangement, it's not going to get any worse.

Luke

[David Hansen]

On 28 Mar 2007 01:50:25 -0700 someone who may be "Simon" wrote this:-

Yes, provided that the valve will accept connections from above. Check before buying. In general "traditional" round valves will accept connections from the top but more "modern" valves may not.

Make sure the pipes are parallel when they come down the wall.

At some cost there are showers that send the hot and cold down a co-axial pipe, so there is only one pipe running down the wall. Two examples are

?cId=A434849&ts=83386&id=99971>I'd need to insualte the hot feed quite well, but would the water

Insulate both pipes where they are in the loft.

While you are at it now would be a good time to consider fitting a better connection to the hot water cylinder to provide better hot water output. These used to be a real fiddle, but

a lot easier. It is upside down in the photograph.

[Stuart Weir]

Install an electric shower and you would only need the cold water to feed it.

[zikkimalambo]

Do have a look at the Aqualisa Quartz Digital Pumped shower.

can mount the "brain" (they call it a processor) in the loft and connect the hot cold and electricery there, and just the single combined output/showerhead holder pipe comes down from the loft.

You would need the exposed digital pumped version.

There are other versions available, google for +aqualisa +quartz for details.

[David Hansen]

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:44:35 +0100 someone who may be "Stuart Weir" wrote this:-

At the cost of the electricity meter spinning round like a catherine wheel when the shower is in use and the cost of installing a 45A circuit to the bathroom.

The performance of an electric shower is also similar to a gravity shower at low head.

One option for an improved shower, if wanted, is a venturi shower, which takes mains cold and gravity hot water. However, the one at

't take connections from above ISTR. With one of these there is no electricity to bother with and water remains heated by gas.

[Nick H]

Definately go for an Aqualisa Quartz digital with a built in pump i you can warrant the cost, i've fitted a couple and they are very eas to install, look good and best of all you only have to make one smal hole through the ceiling which can be covered with the supplied chrom cover plate

-- Nick H