Mira Shower Pump - Paying for a Name?

[TheScullster]

Q1

Looking around at shower pumps, the Mira PPT3 looks like a serious piece of kit. But do these 300GBP+ units represent value for money? I don't mind paying for a name to get superior product and styling, but if you are paying big bucks for a name for something where style doesn't matter is this value?

Q2

How does the pump know when to pump? Is it controlled on a flow switch?

Q3

Is Hep2O OK for plumbing one of these - temp and pressure?

Q4

Is there an optimum balance between flow and economy when on a water meter? Are the pumps adjustable? Not into getting blasted to hell, just want a good soaking!

TIA

Phil

[Jim Walsh]

I think you probably do pay a bit over the odds for a Mira in terms of the quality and performance available from alternative manufacturers. At this kind of price, you can get one of the Stuart Turner Monsoon range

My parents have had these pumps fitted for several years with no problems at all and the showers are superb. Assuming you have positive head pressure, the pumps are activated by flow switches. For negative head situations, manual switches can be used. Hep2O plumbing- I don't know. Push fit is certainly okay, but make sure the hot supply is 65deg C or less (usually this is stated on the shower pump instructions anyway). I must say that personally, I don't know whether I'd be happy with fast fit type plumbing in inaccessible places such as underneath bathroom floors, but this is probably an irrational fear and I believe the stuff is supposed to last decades.

Regards, Jim.

[IMM]

Eventually it "will" fail and leak onto the ceiling beneath.

[Martin Angove]

My parents had a "power shower" fitted before most people had even used an ordinary shower. It is a *beast* of a thing - two 300W (0.4hp) Italian pumps in the airing cupboard (none of your twin impeller rubbish), a pneumatic switch, a thermostatic mixer and a choice of seven (IIRC) shower heads, some of which are multi-mode. All by Hans Grohe and costing something in the region of £2,000 back in the early 1980s. My dad is a sucker for a hard-selling salesman.

It is all connected together using some early kind of plastic plumbing, though it's not push-fit as I recall.

They have only had one major problem with it: the diaphragm on the pneumatic switch failed after 20 years' use and it was a bit of a pain to source a new one. The only other maintenance is to clean the filters a couple of times a year.

I suppose that nearly a quarter of a century isn't a lifetime test, but the plumbing seems to be holding up so far!

I've just fitted (ok, had fitted) a "Duraspeed" pump in my own house. Seems reasonably well made, but I suspect my parents' system will be whirring away long after the Duraspeed has bitten the dust.

Hwyl!

M.

[Neil Jones]

plumbing,

filters

This is the kind of thing I like to read, having just spent a fotune on Hansgrohe fittings for my bathroom! Less than £2000 tbough, I hasten to add.

Neil

[Hepworth Plumbing Products Tea]

hot supply is 65deg C or less (usually this is stated on the shower pump

The Hep2O flexible Push Fit Plumbing System has a design life in excess of

50 years when installed in normal domestic central heating or hot and cold water services, and carries a 50 year guarantee against defects in materials or manufacturing.

The Hep2O system (previously Acorn) has been manufactured and used for 25 years.

Hep2O is perfectly suitable for use with pumped shower systems.

Further informtion is at: -

Hepworth Plumbing Products Team

-- Tel: [phone] |Hepworth Plumbing Products Fax: [phone] |Edlington Lane, Edlington Email: [e-mail] |Doncaster, UK

|DN12 1BY

[IMM]

sure the > > hot supply is 65deg C or less (usually this is stated on the shower pump

No doubt it is, but the pump will fail and eventually and probably leak too.