Ok, i currently live in a rented property. It has no shower fitted and while the landlord doesnt have a problem with me having one installed, he doesnt want to pay for it himself.
So while it effectively means i'm shelling out to upgrade his property, i'm going to benefit from it, as living without a shower is extremely annoying.
So i've looked into installng an electric, but the fusebox is rather old and it would basically mean a new Consumer Unit. Ie far too much expense. So ive been looking at the other options
The setup has a combi fed hot water system and tank fed cold water in the bathroom. It has at some point had the combi installed to replace an old immersion/back boiler system, which probably explains why there is mains (ie combi) hot water and gravity cold in the bathroom.
The bath tap has a mixer on it already with a shower attachment, however it seems to act very strange with the cold water.
Once the hot tap is turned more than about one turn on, the cold tap does nothing to the temperature whatsoever even at full bore. You then adjust the hot tap back down and theres about 3degrees of motion which makes it go from roasting to freezing. Trying to adjust the tap in 0.1degree increments to get the water at the right temperature is simply rubbish, and when you get there the flow rate is junk, because the hot tap is barely on.
I suspect the problem is that the cold pressure is low due to it being gravity fed, and the hot water being fed from a combi means its basically at mains pressure. The restriction caused by the shower head means that the cold water simply cant flow, and the hot water may even be finding its way back up the cold pipe into the tank?
So i'm thinking. I cant use electric due to the fuse box, or pumped due to the combi hot, so that leaves some form of mixer. My plan now is to install a thermostatic mixer at the opposite end of the bath from the taps, taking a T off the hot feed under the bath, then taking a T from the mains cold feed to the tank in the attic and feeding both of these to the mixer.
Does this sound like an acceptable plan? and how dodgy is the existing system with its gravity fed cold and combi hot?
Cheers
So while it effectively means i'm shelling out to upgrade his property, i'm going to benefit from it, as living without a shower is extremely annoying.
So i've looked into installng an electric, but the fusebox is rather old and it would basically mean a new Consumer Unit. Ie far too much expense. So ive been looking at the other options
The setup has a combi fed hot water system and tank fed cold water in the bathroom. It has at some point had the combi installed to replace an old immersion/back boiler system, which probably explains why there is mains (ie combi) hot water and gravity cold in the bathroom.
The bath tap has a mixer on it already with a shower attachment, however it seems to act very strange with the cold water.
Once the hot tap is turned more than about one turn on, the cold tap does nothing to the temperature whatsoever even at full bore. You then adjust the hot tap back down and theres about 3degrees of motion which makes it go from roasting to freezing. Trying to adjust the tap in 0.1degree increments to get the water at the right temperature is simply rubbish, and when you get there the flow rate is junk, because the hot tap is barely on.
I suspect the problem is that the cold pressure is low due to it being gravity fed, and the hot water being fed from a combi means its basically at mains pressure. The restriction caused by the shower head means that the cold water simply cant flow, and the hot water may even be finding its way back up the cold pipe into the tank?
So i'm thinking. I cant use electric due to the fuse box, or pumped due to the combi hot, so that leaves some form of mixer. My plan now is to install a thermostatic mixer at the opposite end of the bath from the taps, taking a T off the hot feed under the bath, then taking a T from the mains cold feed to the tank in the attic and feeding both of these to the mixer.
Does this sound like an acceptable plan? and how dodgy is the existing system with its gravity fed cold and combi hot?
Cheers
