Low Water Pressure, shower not working

Hi

I have a 3 bedroom house which has just had a loft conversion which has added two more bedrooms and a shower room. I have installed a Triton T80Z Electric Shower (9.5kW). The house has gas central heating throughout and runs off a Vaillant VCW 242E combi boiler. I do not have an storage cylinders nor any gravity feed water tanks.

The problem I am having is that the electric shower is not functioning properly due to the lack of cold water pressure from the mains. Triton have been to inspect the shower and confirms it is a water pressure issue not a faultly shower.

Can anyone advise what options I have please to get this fixed?

1. Contact Thames Water to increase pressure and/or replace water pipes coming into the property? If so, what is this likely to cost?

2. Can I add any type of pump to help feed the shower with sufficient pressure considering I do not have any water storage or gravity feed tanks?

3. Possibility of changing the boiler? If so, which make / model?

Any other options? Appreciate your comments and view/

Regards

Nads

1 Thames water won't increase the pressure for you, provided you're getting the minimum they're required to supply, which IIRC is 0.7 bar at the internal stopcock, they aren't required to do anything and therefore won't. If you can prove that you aren't being supplied with enough they might do something about it, but that might only be to give you nominal compensation of say £25 or something.

Replacing the mains will only help if your problem is a flow issue rather than a pressure issue, which it could be (lots of people get flow and pressure mixed up, they aren't actually the same thing). If you have a very small-bore incoming main, upgrading it to a larger one will increase the flow which may help, however if you already have a 20 or 25mm main it's probably a pressure problem which as I've already said you can't do anything about. Has anybody actually ever measured the pressure? If so, what is it? Also check the flow by running the kitchen tap into a bucket of known capacity and timing how long it takes, then post the results here. Upgrading your mains will not be cheap and will involve digging up your garden.


2 It is, in general, illegal to pump the mains without a license to do so, and don't count on getting one, because you won't. You can either install a storage tank fed by the mains, and pump off that, or if you have good static pressure but poor flow you can install an accumulator if you have space for one. It'll take up about as much space as a hot water cylinder would.

3 Your boiler has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the performance of your electric shower.

Hi Muggles

I have made a few checks...

1. Official specification of the Triton T80Z Chrome Electric Shower 9.5kW state the Minimum Running Pressure/Flow of 0.7 Bar @ 8 l/min.
I am currently getting 1 bar only @ 1 ltr per min. Dilemma? What can be done? One option may be to increase flow via Thames Water changing the old pipes. The pipe from the stopcock is a 15mm in the cellar coming into the kitchen feeding the sink, washer, dishwasher, boiler and upstairs bathrooms.

2. I am not looking to do anything illegal.

3. I thought the boiler may improve the pressure/flow but seems not.

Appreciate any ideas or additional thoughts anyone may have.

Regards

Nads

Is the 1 bar static pressure or with a tap running?

Its with the tap running

Regards

Nads

OK that is, to some extent, the right answer. What is your static pressure, IE the pressure with no taps running at all?