Megaflo or Pump?

GR

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I need to overhaul the hot water supply in my home. It is a large house, with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms spread over three floors. Currently it has a conventional vented hot water system, with a cold tank on the top (2nd) floor and a small hot water tank in the basement.

The problems we have are very poor water pressure in the bathroom on the top floor and not enough hot water for us all (2 adults and 3 children).

One option that has been suggested is a larger tank and a whole-house pump. This would be the simplest and cheapest option, but would involve some noise and require us to have pressure regulators fitted to toilets and taps.

The alternative is an unvented Megaflo system. We do not have sufficient mains water flow for it to work directly off the mains. Upgrading the mains seems difficult and expensive, so a plumber has suggested an accumulator and mains pump (a TWS MainBoost Plus) in addition to the Megaflo. This would be more expensive, but quieter and require no pressure regulators, I am told.

Does anyone have any view as to which option I should choose? Have I correctly understood the pros and cons of each? I am slightly confused by the Megaflo plus MainsBoost option, as I thought the chief advantage of the Megaflo was mains pressure. It seems a little pointless if it isn't working straight off the mains pressure and needs an accumulator and a pump anyway.

Any help appreciated.
 
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Sounds like you need to upgrade the mains to MDPE from steel pipe?
Or you might be up in them hills and have low pressure?

But if your water company supplies good mains pressure to your boundary you should upgrade.
Otherwise get the mains pump and unvented cylinder installed. Strictly speaking, your water supplier should be contacted before adding a pump to their mains connection.
 
Where circumstances dictate, the TWS Mainsboost and Charger are an excellent solution, we've been fitting them for many years.

However the Mainsboost Plus uses the charger pump without a casing and whilst the price and performance are good, it isnt quiet. The packaged Charger and separate Mainsboost accumulator significantly reduces the noise.



It's worth adding that an unvented cylinder such as a Megaflo is simply a tin with mains water squirted into the bottom, and a pipe at the top to let it out once heated. If the mains water going in the bottom from Thames Water is a poor flow rate, that is what you'll get for your bathrooms.

Forget all the marketing bumpf, that is all a Megaflo does. So the TWS system is a way of improving the water flow from Thames Water.......

Hope that made sense.
 
Sounds like you need to upgrade the mains to MDPE from steel pipe?
Or you might be up in them hills and have low pressure?

But if your water company supplies good mains pressure to your boundary you should upgrade.
Otherwise get the mains pump and unvented cylinder installed. Strictly speaking, your water supplier should be contacted before adding a pump to their mains connection.

Thanks. The advice is much appreciated.

I am about as far from "them hills" as you can get! I live in (fairly) central London. We are near the top of a hill, but nothing too major. I have heard it suggested that Thames Water sometimes reduce pressure to hit leaks targets, but have no idea whether we are affected by this. In any case the problem for the Megaflo seems to be mainly one of flow rate.

So upgrading the mains should work. However, it had been suggested to me that it would be expensive and time-consuming to do this? Is that not so?
 
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It's worth adding that an unvented cylinder such as a Megaflo is simply a tin with mains water squirted into the bottom, and a pipe at the top to let it out once heated. If the mains water going in the bottom from Thames Water is a poor flow rate, that is what you'll get for your bathrooms.

Forget all the marketing bumpf, that is all a Megaflo does. So the TWS system is a way of improving the water flow from Thames Water.......

Hope that made sense.

Thanks. That's very helpful.

Can I just check I have understood you correctly? You would still use the Megaflo, but with the MainsBoost and charger? You wouldn't just get a whole-house pump?
 

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