Aqualisa QuartzShower

[bennyboy]

Hi,

not truly a plumbing question, but it does fit in anywhere else!!! I'm hoping to purchase a new Aqualisa thermostatic shower the on the wall Quartz. I was thinking of buying a pump to go with it about a 2 or 2.5bar. However i have seen that you can buy the quartz with a pump linked to the shower microprocessor with 'two speeds' does anybody have any experience with this and is the pumped version any good before I go and spend £400 on it!!!

Thanks guys

Ben

 

[bennyboy]

PS

We have a standard gravity feed system, and the Quartz is a Mixer shower

 

[ChrisR]

Try the PlumbingPages forum - a couple of guys there rave about them. I'm looking to fit one now, but haven't yet.

 

[bennyboy]

you have a website for them chris?

 

[AdamW]

owever i have seen that you can buy the quartz with a pump linked to the shower microprocessor with 'two speeds' does anybody have any experience with this and is the pumped version any good before I go and spend £400 on it!!!

Thanks guys

Ben

I have no experience of this system, however I have a mixer shower fed by a fairly cheap twin impellor pump. Cost of the mixer and pump together would have been a bit over £200 (half the price of yours). With mine, the shower does end up a bit of a one speed affair. There is no fine adjustment of pressure, you either have it all on, or have it off (ooh matron!)

Your proposed system will no doubt have a wider range, allowing you to choose whether to drill holes in your scalp or merely cause bruising.

Good to see you are taking the proper route by using a pump, if I had my way then lesser showers would be banned.

 

[namsag]

Mate has got one of these and says it is the best shower he has ever installed and used , looks very classy aswell . Works that good he rarely even uses pump on it.

 

[bennyboy]

That's good to know. Do you have any idea i he has the standard or the internal pump version?

 

[bennyboy]

Spoke to techs at aqualisa who said the pumped version gives about 1.3bar. Is this a decent shower strength? Or should I get a 2-2.5bar pump instead with the standard version. Any thoughts??

Ben

 

[AdamW]

1.3 bar is equivalent to about 40 feet of head, I think (If I recall, 30 feet=1 bar).

I have a 1.5bar pump, albeit lower quality than yours, and it is thoroughly satisfying.

More powerful pumps are usually intended for powering more than one shower at a time, or panel showers with body jets.

 

[bennyboy]

Thats good to know, thanks Adam

 

[ChrisR]

I have an Aqualisa Aquastream, which with its own 1.4ish bar pump gives up to 18 litres/min - more than enough.
But if you want needles with high speed, and proper pulsating action, you need a high pressure pump. 4.5 bar is nice. If the holes in the head are small you don't have to use loads of water.

 

[AdamW]

you need a high pressure pump. 4.5 bar is nice.

Wah?! That is a shower I would love to try! Who makes 4.5 bar pumps? What flowrate do they give with a "normal" (i.e. not needle) shower head?

And lastly, how big do you need your hot cylinder and cold cistern to be in order to ensure you can shower for 5 minutes without them running dry!

 

[ChrisR]

Stuart Turner and Salamander do 4 bar - specialists go further, can't remember names cos I never fitted one.
If you have a huge antiqey rose you can dump 40 litres /minute from a megaflo at 3.5 bar. Mix cold to make a 300 l cylinder last nearly 10 minutes. You can go to 5 bar on unvented cylinders I know of eg Oso.

Best showers I've seen have been in hotels, where they have huge tanks.