Which booster pump for the shower?

[chris French]

Hi folks,

Looking to fit a pump for the shower in the bathroom refurb. Haven't decided on the shower yet, but it will be a standard thermostatic one,with a 'normal' shower head, no extra body jets, or great big watering can heads etc. Gravity water supply, tank will go by the base of the HW tank.

I will also be using it to pump the supply to the bath and the HW to the basin (cold on the mains), but this is as much because it makes the plumbing easier as anything else (though does mean we can use a mixer on the handbasin which we would prefer)

Intended to install in on a concrete slab, with old foam backed carpet/foam sheet or whatever to reduce sound transmission. Dedicated feed from the CW tank, feed from the HW tank via an Essex flange probably

So any suggestions for a pump, and any tips for installation?

Considering a Stuart Turner Monsoon Twin 2.0 bar at the moment. Quality, reliability, noise levels are probably as important to me as keeping the cost down

Thanks

[Andrew May]

I installed a Monsoon pump eleven years ago and it is still working fine

- had to replace the starting capacitor a couple of years ago but that is the only maintenance it has had.

When I installed it the opinion here was that a cheap pump form one of the sheds would only be expected to last a couple of years.

Andrew

[newshound]

+1 for Stuart Turner, I've had a couple of shed pumps lasting less than five years. I have two in a loft, and have both of them mounted inside small "cold water header tanks" with a drain into the shower tray, in case of leaks. (Had a shed one leak, but never an ST).

[Max Quad]

I have to ask - what is meant by 'shed pump'?

[fred]

In article , Max Quad writes

Generic pattern stuff sold in 'sheds' eg. B&Q. (It took me a couple of minutes to catch on too)

[Tim+]

How old is your tank? How quick is the reheating? Might be time to think about a mains pressure tank.

Tim

[Tim+]

Usually grey & yellow, sometimes called 'Showerforce'. Ours only lasted 4-5 years which seems a fairly typical experience.

Tim

[Andy Burns]

I had a showerforce (I think) that only lasted 3 years, replaced with a Salamander, no problems in the 7 years since, probably not all-brass like ST were/are, but well made all the same and a little cheaper.

[chris French]

Not sure, though if I rummage in the documentation left by the previous owners I'd probably find something. But it is a relatively modern, foam insulated tank It has obviously been replaced at some point, probably when the boiler was replaced in IIRC 2002.

Well, it was poor, as it was a gravity HW system, with a bit of a convoluted pipe run. But I have been in the process of converting it to a pumped system (just need to re-wire up the controls really) So I'm hoping much improved, but we will have to see.

Hmm, did ponder that a bit, but decided to stick with what we have (our mains flowrate doesn't seem that good, and the water main is an old, pretty small bore steel pipe). Maybe replace the tank with a fast recovery one if the current one can't keep up.

But our normal usage pattern doesn't demand multiple showers all in a row, and once I've done this, we are going to put an ensuite in, that that will probably have it's own HW tank any

[The Medway Handyman]

I have a Mita Vigour power shower e.g. it has the pump built in. Very pleased with it, 14 litres/min & the thermostatic control is excellent.

[Steve Walker]

We have a mains pressure HW tank, it's great for keeping vast amounts of hot water available but sometimes the mains pressure drops are a problem (especially mornings, when everyone in the street is running a bath at the same time). it can slow to an alarming degree, so much that the shower is a thin drizzle.

I've wondered about the slightly selfish option of installing a boost pump to pull extra volume in from the main supply, not sure if that's possible.

[Chris J Dixon]

Possible, but not permissible.

Chris

[Tim+]

Apart from sluggardly teenagers, who has a bath in the morning? Is this a local custom?

Illegal and potentially dangerous as you'd potentially pull the mains pressure lower than the surrounding groundwater pressure which would draw in mud/dirt/sewage through any small leaks that would be otherwise harmless.

Tim

[Tim+]

That should make a huge difference.

Fair enough. If your main supply is poor then a storage tank system makes sense.

Before we got our mains pressure tank we used our pump to pump the supply to all taps which worked well. Our en-suite shower was some distance from the tank but still worked well even with a lowly 1.2 bar (iirc) pump.

Tim

[chris French]

Salamander now produce a pump designed for thr situation of poor mains pressure/flow

It says it's Water Regs compliant, which seems to mean that it boosts upto a maximum of 12L/min. If the mains flow goes above that it stops boosting.

[chris French]

Well, it's going to be a bit of suck it and see situation. It's a bit of long and tortuous route from the HW tank to where the en suite will be (it's a Victorian house, L shaped, which is basically two buildings joined together. The lofts don't connect as one building is not as tall as the other, nor are the upper floors on the same level. Getting services from one bit to the other is a PITA really :) ) it might be tedious waiting for HW to arrive, and I don't know how the capacity of the HW tank will be with the extra shower.

So planning on both possibilities and will see how we go.

[Tim+]

I don't follow the logic of that. I can't see how that prevents negative pressures in the mains supply.

Tim

[chris French]

No idea, I just had a quick look at the webpage (I only knew about it cos I've been researching shower pumps lately ) Presumably there is more too it, and that was just the simple for the consumer explanation.

[Chris J Dixon]

Seems to me that it might be designed to meet the letter of the regulations, rather than their intent. I guess that it has never previously been practicable to control to a flow rate, so the question has never arisen.

I note that their FAQ states that it won't solve the problem of a collapsed main water pipe. I wonder exactly what range of parameters it will actually help with?

Chris

[Steve Walker]

Brilliant - one of those on each hot water tap, and we'll be sorted... :-)