Pump to increase hot water pressure?

[Speedyp]

Hi - new here & hoping someone will be able to advise me how to increase the hot water pressure in our upstairs bathroom...

Problem: Low hot water pressure in upstairs bathroom taps.

System: Unbalanced? gas boiler for central heating & hot water storage tank (located in a bedroom cupboard!) Cystern & header tanks located in loft.

The cold water supply (mains) pressure is fine. The hot water taps in the downstairs kitchen & loo are OK too. It’s just the flow from the upstairs bathroom hot water sink & bath taps are VERY low. Shower is OK – mains fed electric.

Is it possible to fit a pump to the output of the hot water tank to increase the overall hot water pressure? DIY? Cost??

Hope someone can help - Cheers

 

[kevplumb]

Is it possible to fit a pump to the output of the hot water tank to increase the overall hot water pressure? DIY? Cost??

yes you can

yes you can

yes it will

 

[Speedyp]

[/quote] yes you can / yes you can / yes it will [/quote]

Hooray! Problem solved then. Just need to figure out how...

 

[Bon]

Is it possible to fit a pump to the output of the hot water tank to increase the overall hot water pressure? DIY? Cost??

The work could be classed as DIY, but not to a complete beginner.

It also depends on where you wish to locate your pump. The obvious choice is at the base of your existing hot water cylinder as it keeps the pipework mods simple and if you have an immersion heater, you can spur off the supply for this to power your pump.

HOWEVER. If your clinder is in your bathroom or kitchen, the work becomes notifiable to Building Control as those are "special locations." It's still possible to do as DIY, but the work will need to be inspected by a Building Control Inspector before, during and after so it will be quicker to employ as self-certifying electrician to do this.

 

[kevplumb]

single impeller pump on the hot outlet from cylinder operated by a flow switch

 

[Speedyp]

Thanks Bon - that sounds encouraging.

Ideally, the pump would be fitted to the base of the HW cylinder which is located in a cupboard in one of the kids' bedrooms. I'm guessing the pump would only switch on when a hot tap was opened??

Any recommendations on type / make? And can they run of a standard 13 amp circuit?

Thanks for your help
Cheers to do this.[/quote]

 

[Bon]

If there's an immersion heater connected to your cylinder then it should be pretty straight forward. Just spur of the supply to that with a new FCU.

Most standard pumps work off a flow switch, i.e. when water flows through them they activate, when it stops, they stop.

There are loads of makes out there, some cheap & nasty, some expensive & over-priced. There are also some which fall inbetween the two! You may want to consider noise if it's going in a bedroom though.

 

[Speedyp]

Thanks again Bon.

The tank isn't an immersion heater - just a hot water storage tank connected to the gas boiler, but a standard electric supply should be easy to sort out.

Just haven't got a clue about how to choose a pump. What are they called? What sort of specification?

Cheers

 

[kevplumb]

http://www.grundfos.com/web/homeuk.nsf/Webopslag/DMAR-5UTLDA

 

[Speedyp]

http://www.grundfos.com/web/homeuk.nsf/Webopslag/DMAR-5UTLDA

BINGO! Found one for £70.

Many thanks for everyone's help

Cheers

 

[stem]

If there's an immersion heater connected to your cylinder then it should be pretty straight forward. Just spur of the supply to that with a new FCU.

Not really, Immersion heaters should be fed by their own dedicated circuit not supplying anything else.

 

[Bon]

If there's an immersion heater connected to your cylinder then it should be pretty straight forward. Just spur of the supply to that with a new FCU.

Not really, Immersion heaters should be fed by their own dedicated circuit not supplying anything else.

If he were supplying a 3kW immersion heater from a 13A FCU then I would agree with you. As he is doing the opposite (and provided as you rightly say the supply to the immersion is a dedicated supply) I can't see the problem.

Add to the fact, that niether the heater or the pump are likely to operate at the same time for very long and the importance reduces even more.

 

[stem]

I agree in principle, especially as immersion heaters seem only to be used as a back up, or to take avantage of night time off peak tarrifs.

However, it's generally not seen as good practice to connect anything else to the same circuit as an immersion heater. The IEE (Institute of Electrical Engineers) "On-site guide" says that water heaters of over 15 litres capacity should have their own dedicated circuit.

All new properties built since the 1960's with immersion heaters will have a dedicated circuit for it. Anything else found connected to the same circuit will be later addition.

 

[Agile]

If the cylinder is inside a cupboard, lets say with a locked door, then do you guys still say thats a notifyable area?

Tony