Can a Shower Pump Be Used in a Flat?

[barnet1234]

Hello,

I live on the ground floor of a seven-storey block of flats with a communal water system. Hot water comes from boilers & calorifiers in the basement (pumped, I assume), cold water comes from a tank in the roof via an old 2-inch lead downpipe (gravity-fed, I assume). I have always had very good water pressure using a Victorian-style combined bath mixer/hand shower.

I just refurbished my bathroom and had a wall-mounted rigid shower riser, thermostatic valve & 8" inch fixed head installed [similar to http://www.screwfix.com/prods/15359...tional-Thermostatic-Mixer-Shower-Rigid-Kit#]. The shower head is now about 2 metres off the floor. Now, both hot and cold shower pressure is very weak - I gat barely a trickle - even though there is still nice, strong pressure to the sink taps and bath taps.

Does it sound to you like my choice of a rigid riser and a large head was simply expecting too much from the communal water system? Would changing the shower rose help? Can I install a pump just for the shower rather than for all the outlets, since the pressure to all the other areas is fine? In fact, can a shower pump be installed in blocks of flats with communal, sealed water systems?

Any thoughts gratefully received.

 

[muggles]

Could be a number of things, my two favourites for the moment would be either that your new shower is set up for high pressure, or that you have an airlock.

 

[barnet1234]

Muggles - let me thank you for replying.

The plumber who installed the system came today and figured out the problem in two minutes. Inside the shower rose where it screws into the horizontal pipe of the riser, there was a plastic disc that was restricting the flow. This meant the apperture through which the water flowed was only about 2mm in size - as soon as the disc was removed, the shower was fine.

Not sure why the manufacturer put it there (and my guy should've spotted it the first time, I guess). But I thought it might help to know if anyone ever installs one of those Victorian-style 8" shower roses.

 

[Rico99]

Hi there,

The disc that was in there is a flow restrictor.

As muggles said it was set up for use on a high pressure system ie combi / un-vented.

Easliy missed, but kudos to your plumber for coming and rectifying so quickly.

Rico