Power shower pump for bath mixer ?

[ColinGB20]

I am installing a whirlpool bathroom suite and removing an existing suite. The old suite had a power shower installed over the bath which I will now remove as well. Can I use the pump and reconnect it to the bath shower / mixer taps?

The shower in its old state is plumbed in correctly (NO MAINS WATER), only the feeds from the tanks. As I am not changing the plumbing to the bath just repositioning it, I just want to use the pump to supply pressure to the bath/shower taps.

If I can do this, the pipe sizes are different from shower to bath. 15mm at pump for shower, 22mm at bath taps. Can I just fit the pump inline at the 22mm pipes using a change in pipe size just for the pump?

 

[ChrisR]

The power shower has two inputs and one out, yes? So where would you connect it?
I'm assuming that you're using the term "Power Shower" to describe a unit with an integral pump and mixer.

 

[ColinGB20]

Sorry, The pump has 2 inlets (Hot & Cold) and 2 outlets to a mixer valve just before the shower head. All I wish to do is disconnect the shower and re-use the pump to run the new bath/shower mixer.

I will just blank off the existing pipework at the gate valves as they will not be needed, and refit the pump inline with the existing bath supplies.

 

[AdamW]

The manual that came with my shower pump recommended that it is best to fit the pump as near to the hot water cylinder as possible, so that the pump is pushing and not sucking.

Saying that, provided it isn't a huge run of pipe from the hot water cylinder to your bathroom then it should be OK. I am guessing the pump used to be mounted in the bathroom, so it worked fine up until now.

Only drawback I can see is that when you are running a bath you will have the sound of a pump running, which might be disconcerting at first! 22mm pipes reduced down to 15 for the pump inlet wouldn't cause a problem.

I doubt the pressure of a shower pump is enough to cause any problems with bath taps.

 

[taydo]

The problem with this set up as I see is,

If you just want cold the pump will still be trying to push the hot through
and vice versa probably decreasing the pumps life.

 

[ColinGB20]

In reply to the hot & cold only issue, Does the pump not do this anyway if you only want cold or hot with the shower mixer?

Thanks for your replies guys, I will look at fitting the shower pump as I want to if there is enough room under the bath, what with all the whirlpool plumbing and pump already fitted to it.

 

[AdamW]

It may be safer just to run those extra two pipes. If your pump does not like pumping just hot or just cold then it is a lot of work to find out after fitting everything.

Alternatively, fit two single impellor pumps. This would defeat the object of the exercise as you want to re-use your existing pump, but if there is room for two single impellor pumps then this is a way out if the old pump gives up the ghost.

One thing concerns me though: the IP (Ingress Protection) rating of my shower pump is IPX4. I believe this makes it unsuitable for installation under a bath... OK, so it is rather unlikely that your bath will burst and pour 200 litres of water on your pump. However, with your whirlpool unit what if a joint leaks and sprays water on the pump? Perhaps you should see if there is an IP rating on the whirlpool pump. If it is the same as your shower pump then there is no problem. If your whirlpool is rated higher, then you should reconsider where your shower pump goes.