Shower Pump Recomendation

[meggles]

am installing (or my boyfriend's mate will be) a mixer shower this weekend.

it says it will work with 0.1bar of pressure... but we'll see how good the flow actually is.

if it's not good, we will be putting in a shower pump. can anyone recommend a decent one? i don't need top of the range. something in the £100-£200 range. do i need twin? how do i know which bar pump i need? should i just leave the picking of the pump to a professional?

 

[gas4you]

Go for a twin impellor so it pumps hot and cold. (both tank fed) I would suggest around 1.5 bar would be adequate, but most of the cheaper ones are very noisy in use

 

[jmn]

Picking up on gas4you's point about noise, I too am in the same situation, and plan to have a 1.5 bar shower pump installed. I've heard that whilst Stuart Turner might be better-made and more robust, the Salamander ones are quite good and are quieter, especially if it's just to pump the shower eg their RSP50 model.

Do you have a view on this please gas4you?

Thanks.

 

[gas4you]

I am not an expert on shower pumps, this was just a general comment on how noisey they are when in use, the few i've had to fit have been the cheaper ones supplied by customers themselves. I wouldn't have wanted to have one making all of that noise!

 

[meggles]

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/1655-0000

£177 for stuart turner, 1.4bar, twin impeller doesn't seem too too bad. only £30 more than the cheaper version.

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=A334831&ts=28640&id=46231

this one seems cheap! £90.

does the vibration/noise have to do with how/where it's mounted. can it be mounted onto a rubber mat to help with the noise?

 

[jmn]

If you go to here

http://www.salamanderpumps.co.uk/Products/Right.htm

you can download their installation doc where around page 12 it says "CT50/75 pumps are characterised by high pitched hum or whine" which suggests it's bad if Salamander say that themselves

On the other hand they describe their RSP50 twin as "extremely quiet". You can get this for around £125 here:

http://www.h-i-e.co.uk/acatalog/Right_RSP_Pumps.html

As for noise reduction, other posts on this site have suggested carpet or heavy duty foam beneath a concrete slab or thick wall tile, with the pump on top. But I can't speak from experience.

 

[meggles]

thanks for that!

 

[jono_h]

I've had a couple of Salamnader pumps and been quite happy with them. You can hear the CT50 as it's whirring away, but if it's stuck in an airing cupboard it's not to bad (unless that cupboard is in a kids bedroom!)

 

[meggles]

i'm looking at this one (as per rec thanks!)

http://www.h-i-e.co.uk/acatalog/Right_RSP_Pumps.html

how do i know which bar i need? 1.5 or 2.25bar?

(ps- installed bar mixer shower- okay but would appreciate some extra umph)

 

[gas4you]

depends on how much pressure you want to have out of your shower. Your choice, your money

 

[ChrisR]

Also depends how much stored water you have.
Personally I'd go for the higher pressure pump and get used to the idea that if you have a shower head with a lot of holes the HW won't last long.

But if you like the needle jet feeling as I do when you only have a small number of head holes open, that's better with more pressure.
(My pump's 4 bar )

I would concur with what jmn says about Salamander vs ST pumps.