Please help me. Water pressure problems

[Suzanne 25]

Hello.

I am purchasing a new house where I will be installing central heating and a shower.
The bathroom water pressure is really bad -always has been apparently. The kitchen pressure is better.
House has a shared supply (I'm first in queue, next house feeds off my supply)

There is a multipoint water heater, no tank, no boiler.
Is there any type of shower I can install to boost the presssure?
I'll be very grateful for any advice
Suzanne

 

[gas4you]

No, unfortunately multipoints are the same as combis in the sense that you cannot increase the hot water pressure from them by 'sucking' it with a pump.

Ask your local water company to check the pressure in the street as a starting point.

 

[Suzanne 25]

Thanks so much Dave

That's a real shame. Looks like I'll have to start washing my hair with a jug

 

[Suzanne 25]

PS, can I replace the multipoint water heater with something else then?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Yes, but it is unlikely to do any good for you water flow rate/pressure. Get that sorted and then think about it - if you are adding central heating then a good combi is all you need.

Our main Combi and some others can be rigged to work as multipoints until a heating system is rigged up - ours doesn't need the central heating circuit filled in the meantime though unlike most others.

 

[ChrisR]

If the bathroom hot is much poorer than the kitchen hot then there's plumbing issue - blocked pipes or restrictive taps, etc. If the kitchen cold is great then there's a problem in the multipoint perhaps.
If the pressure's fine (can you hold your thumb over the garden tap?) but the flow's poor your supply pipe needs replacing, or you could use an accumulator.

Speak to your water provider, then get a plumber to advise what's going on.

 

[gas4you]

Our main Combi and some others can be rigged to work as multipoints until a heating system is rigged up - ours doesn't need the central heating circuit filled in the meantime though unlike most others.

Vaillants will work well without ch side connected as well.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I was referring to have no water at all in the priamry side of the boiler.

But I know that Vaillants can be left with the flow and return isolated and capped and just run the thing thorugh the by-pass; yes?

 

[gas4you]

Yes, but I always remove the link between 3 & 4 on the pcb to make sure the ch can never fire whilst just using as a water heater

 

[Dan Robinson]

Show off...

 

[gas4you]

 

[Suzanne 25]

Wow.
Thanks for all the replies. Keep them coming if you have anything else to help me

I have Yorkshire Water coming out next week. And even if they say there's nothing they can do to help the pressure I think I'll still buy the house and just have a rubbish shower.
xxxxxxxxxx

 

[JohnD]

If you don't mind spending a bit of money and having people tell you you're old-fashioned, you could have a tank in the loft and a hot cylinder. I think they're great.

They were introduced (long, long ago) to overcome poor or intermittent supplies.

Then you can have water gushing out of your bath taps, and have a shower pump if you want one. A cylinder can deliver hot water faster than any combi or electric heater.

 

[Suzanne 25]

Thanks John D.
I've got a ballpark quote of 1500 for a tank and cylinder installation (from a plumber who looked at the property a while ago.)
He says he could put the tank in the loft and the cylinder in the cellar. It's an option because hopefully I can get 1500 taken off the price of the house to pay for it.

The plumber never made this suggestion to me so I'm also suspecting I need a different plumber/central heating person.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Certainly condiser John's idea - you can size the systm to suite either your budget or you needs - and can expand to near enough whatever you like later if the installer is sensible about how he does it.