Indeed, although I'd prefer to exhaust other possibilities before using one of those noisy things. ;-)
Re-siting the header tank to give more head is often possible for little cost on a DIY basis.
You got shares in them or something... how many time is that so far this thread? OK we hear you, you like the Alpha. To quote one of your erstwhile favourite phrases "(Other) high performance combis are available"
They are but the Alpha is for him.
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk:
I already did that with no noticeable difference, but the Grunfos booster I've just fitted is not audible, and works a treat
mike
even an extra foot of head should be very noticeable, unless of course you already have powershower type performance.
-- Mike W
Unless you raise it 30 feet.
What model? What price?
A foot? Please.
The more you write, the more it's obvious you have no practical experience of plumbing.
That's interesting. All the ones I've come across are noisy. But I've not come across many. ;-)
Perhaps your main trouble was restriction in the flow caused by the pipework?
I'm afraid I find myself agreeing with IMM. You need at least a bar for a shower, whatever the manufacturers say. Otherwise, you might as well stand under a sponge. This is rarely achievable with a gravity system. Much of the satisfaction of a shower is the velocity of the water from the shower head, which can't possibly have enough energy without considerable pressure being available.
Christian.
My comparison was more with a standard flow rate combi, and remembering that external controls are required for the installation of the storage system, such as a couple of zone valves, programmer etc.
Certainly, if you start talking about 40kW combis, then the figures start to close in on each other.
Christian.
Discounted heating do it at £1,297.20 Including VAT
The bottom line after installation is a difference far greater than £200.
NHS treatment is available for this :-)
You can of course use a shower pump........
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
More know it all amateur mentalism.
With the experience I have you have to.
One bar is approx 30 foot. So the cold water tank has to be 30 foot above the shower head to get a decent shower.
The pressure of the water gives the power sensation against the skin. You can get a very good shower at 7 to 8 litres/minute if the pressure is high.
7 - 8 litres/min and low pressure and you feel as it you have to run around to get wet.
Yes, you have about 100 quids worth of external controls not required by the combi. Plus about half a day's work additional to that required to install the combi.
The additional work:
The heat bank itself is actually considerably easier to install than a conventional gravity cylinder. Plumbing wise, it needs just a mains in (also running to a garden tap and hose for topping up), hot water out, primary flow and primary return.
They are also available with all controls (zone valves + programmer) preinstalled, so you just connect it to the boiler, mains, hot water outlet and the radiators. That was no good for me, as I was having an S-Plan-Plus system with the zone valves remote to the boiler/cylinder location, so their preassembled options weren't appropriate.
Christian.
Indeed. My last house had a pathetic low head gravity system that became really quite competent with the addition of a single impellor pump. (The cold was always mains).
Christian.
Not to mention pipes, fittings and valves and pipe insulation, etc. All adds up. I would guess £600 more bottom line.
You need to shop around more. A few elbows and Ts aren't going to cost that. Nor is there any guarantee that more pipework is needed than the combi. Indeed, the cylinder is often more conveniently placed to break into the DHW system than the boiler, so requires fewer additional runs.
Christian.
I guess it depends on your definition of decent shower. What is certainly unarguable is that I have about 3ft of head on my current system. Yes it is a rather feeble shower, but it has sufficed for the last 5 years, and I still prefer it to the bath.
Zero head == zero shower
3ft head == feeble shower 4ft head == 33% increase in shower performancehence 1ft of head is a very noticeable improvement.
This is why I said that "unless of course you already have powershower type performance."
ie maybe you have the equivalent of 60ft of head in which case an extra foot isn't going to make much difference. However since we are talking height units I guess not many of us live in a water tower so an extra 1ft is always going to be at least noticeable.
-- Mike W
I suppose, though, that anyone used to power shower or mains performance would not consider 4ft to be remotely acceptable.
33% improvement of utterly unacceptable is still utterly unacceptable. Many would be looking for a "times 10" improvement, not an incremental one.Christian.
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