What setup for a large house with many showers?

[Rookie121]

Hi all,

I've been reading through the forums for a few days now...fantastic source of info!

I have a quick question for you guys:

What would be the best setup for a large house with 6 showers fitted in order to maintain a good water pressure in each of the showers?

From what i've gathered by reading some of these topics is that water pressure would be a problem with so many showers using a combi...is my understanding correct?

Excuse my ignorance in plumbing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Paul Barker]

 

[doitall]

 

[RigidRaider]

Flippin' 'eck fellas, give the man a chance! He may not be a millionaire and even if he is, no harm to him for taking an interest.

 

[steviegasleak]

huge unvented cylinder!! no combi!! system boiler with thermostatic showers,

regards

steve

 

[gremlin16]

And loads of £££££££

 

[JohnD]

why an unvented cylinder delivery would then be limited by the incoming water main, probably 10 litres per min or something, spread between all the userrs at any one time.

A nice big tank and a nice big cylinder...

or several smaller ones...

I stayed at a place in Australia (solar heating so cheap to run) which had a smallish cylinder in each bathroom, so no one user could hog the lot.

It would have been tank-fed as in a small country area so they had shower pumps, I think.

 

[BigBurner]

I would go for an accumulator and a heat bank with three plate heat exchangers.

Then you are guaranteed the flow and pressure and heat too.

The CH can be taken off the heat bank and that can be two separate CH zones too. One unvented cylinder would not cope with six shower unless it is very big and that costs and would not cope with CH either.

 

[ChrisR]

For that you'd need good mains pressure and flow , and probably an accumulator and heat bank the size of Essex.
Nobody can advise anything until your requirements and facilities are quantified.

 

[BigBurner]

For that you'd need good mains pressure and flow , and probably an accumulator and heat bank the size of Essex.
Nobody can advise anything until your requirements and facilities are quantified.

Overall suggestions can be given. Are the six showers likely all to be on at the same time? That is a big point. If so, then a large mains supply would be needed.

I would fit a full bored maintap and 22mm to an accumulator, a heat bank and probably two 100kW plate heat exchangers will do, with 3 showers off each. Maybe a 3rd plate heat exchanger to do the rest of the DHW in the house. The CH can be off the heat bank too add much value. A largish boiler to re-heat the cylinder directly to ensure rapid re-heat and "combining the outputs" of the heat bank and the boiler. A largish boiler will keep the heat bank cylinder size down. That is a cost effective option to give such demand.

You could have a 15mm mains pipe.
22mm from the the maintap to the Accumulator.
28mm from the accumulator to the heat bank's plate plate heat exchangers, which will ensure a high flow, then 22mm from the plates, or 15mm from the plates to each shower.

This would be a balanced water system so no thermostatic shower mixers are needed if the heat bank has thermostatic control of the DHW output, which it will have.

This is a loose solution and the water demand has to be calculated of course.

Using a tank and pumps may result in the tank being run dry. So a "very" large tank is needed and and still a "very" large cylinder and a number of largish pumps or one large expensive pump set.

 

[simond]

I would consider an ACV Heatmaster 85 TC with a pair of 500 litre accumulators on the front end to get the flow rate and capacity.

We have just completed a very satisfactory domestic installation of this nature.

What type of domestic residence would need six showers simultaneously? Is this a care home or a leisure centre?

 

[BigBurner]

I would consider an ACV Heatmaster 85 TC with a pair of 500 litre accumulators on the front end to get the flow rate and capacity.

We have just completed a very satisfactory domestic installation of this nature.

What is the DHW demand?

 

[JohnD]

What type of domestic residence would need six showers simultaneously? Is this a care home or a leisure centre?

Perhaps it's a "place of entertainment" with six girls working at any one time

 

[ChrisR]

Overall suggestions can be given.

The only overall suggestion that should be made is that you need a good supply from the mains.

Specifying more than that only makes sense if you're hell bent on your favourite products - or the only ones you know anything about.

To the Original Poster - you need a proper anaylisis of the situation and consideration of a number of approaches.
Accumulators have their place but often fail at the first fixed hurdle - lack of mains pressure, or one of several others.

 

[BigBurner]

Overall suggestions can be given.

The only overall suggestion that should be made is that you need a good supply from the mains.

An accumulator can solve a poor flow rate. The cost and inconvenience of a poor main flow can be overcome with an accumulator.