Centrigual vs Regenerative Shower Pumps

[steve86]

How much quieter are Salamander Centrifigual pumps (eg ESP 75) compared with their RHP pumps (or Stuart Turner pumps)? My plumber is suggesting a scheme that will pump all the services (eg bath,shower,basin & WC) in both bathrooms that we are having refitted. I am concerned that pumping the WC will mean that when the kids go to the loo in the middle of the night we will be disturbed by a pump running so want the quietest pump (will be located in airing cupboard by the way which is across the hall from our bedroom - and I will get it mounted on a paving slab or padstone probably with underlay underneath as well).

What are the views on having everything pumped? From my point of view it means that I can have a wider choice of taps for the bath & basin (doesn't seem a lot of selection for low gravty systems -most seem to need at leat 0.5 bar). Woud I do better to convince the plumber to go the 'conventional' route of feed out of cold water tank and Sussex/Essex flange out of HWC and just run those to the showers ?

 

[ChrisR]

Difficult to quantify noise. EPS's are quiet as types, but you'll hear a 75 at night. Use a timer to turn its power off at night, or don't pump the wc.

 

[grrinc]

Centrifugal pump have a quiter impeller than regenerative, but other factors also contribute to the overall din. The motor itself can be quite noisy too. And vibrations also make a racket. I fit both Stuart Turner and Salamander a lot. If there is a difference in noise, it is very little. Salamanders claims of 'the quiet revolution' seems a bit of a stretch IMO.

If you are just using the pump for showering, then yes, go for Salamander if you want things to be as quiet as possible. If you are looking to pump the whole house, you will want something thats has the balls and durability. IMO, Stuart Turner are the best.

You are right about choices of brassware that is suitable for low pressures. I guess this is the choice you have to make - looks over noise. Unless the flow and pressure was really poor, I wouldnt pump a whole house, just the shower. And even then I would still prefer Stuart Turner. I am not saying Salamander are poor - far from it - but that Stuart Turner are better. Also, as a fitter, Stuart Turner are far less anal about installation 'rules'.

 

[grrinc]

Would just like to add that Chris R's input is very sound too. I would quite easily suggest thsoe compromises aswell.

 

[Dealer]

My advice is don't go for the Stuart turner pumps!

I had a very similar problem about a month ago. We had to install a pump for the whole house (kitchen, bathroom, toilet) because all our new taps are high pressured.

First we bought a Stuart Turner Monsoon 4.0 Bar Pump. It was a nightmare - the sound was incredibly loud and the whole house shook whenever we used any taps.

We then changed the pump to a Salamander RHP75 (which is advertised on the website as 'very quiet'). It was a dream! The sound is much much lower and the pump itself is smaller. The pressure is now 2.25 Bar instead of the original 4.0 Bar, but all the taps still work fine, even when all of them are turned on at the same time.

Even though the Salamander was much quieter than the Stuart Turner, we still wanted it to be even quieter. So we put the pump on its rubber feet and placed the pump on a large slab of 10mm tile. We also placed three layers of carpet between the tile and the floor underneath. Finally we boxed in the whole pump (leaving 10cm space on all sides of the pump), making sure that none of the pipes will rattle against the box. It is now as quiet as a computer hum!

If you still want to go ahead and pump the whole house, my advice to you is to definitely DONT GO FOR THE STUART TURNER! It is way too loud and you will hear it every time any uses any taps, or flushes the toilet. I dont know which pumps are the quietest but the Salamander is certainly very quiet compared to the stuart turner.

Ask me for any advice if you want because we went through the same scenario.

 

[steve86]

Thanks for advice. I'll speak to my plumber again and see if there is any reason why he doesn't /can't just pump the shower (unless he just wants an easier install without having to run a feed from cold tank). At moment flow rate isn't bad - currently have standard Armitage Shanks contract bath/shower mixer tap with Triton T40i pump - the sort that fits between tap and shower head - I find it adequate with pump off and pretty good with pump on. But the better half wants a proper power shower (but no noise!).

ChrisR - by putting timer on pump to cut power at night - I presume that will mean flow to WC is just standard gravity ie water will just flow thro pump as if it is a piece of pipework ? How long will a pump run anyway to fill a 6 litre cistern - can't be more than 30 secs or so?

Dealer - what have you done about the WC. I guess yours is pumped - does it cause you a problem if flushed in 'unsocial' hours?

 

[ChrisR]

Yes maybe 30 secs, depending on the valve. NB if you use a negative head pump it will maintain a pressure in the pipework all the time, so the pump can "randomly" turn on at any time when the pressure happens to drop below a threshold due to a tiny flow, such as through a refilling wc.
Everything is loud at night!

 

[Dealer]

I dont know what pressure your toilets work on but my new ones only works on high pressure so I had to connect it to the pump. Before it was connected it took about 10 minutes to refill but now takes 30 seconds with the pump!

As I say, I took a lot of measures to reduce the noise and it now sounds no more than a computer hum. So someone using the toilet at night isn't really a problem because no one is going to be woken by a computer hum!