shower pressure???????

[darren333]

ive just had a new mixer shower fitted,having had no shower before my plumber moved tanks into attic to get better head of water ...after all done the shower pressure is very poor not much more than a trickle .he advised me to get a pump about £300 including fitting ....
but im wondering if id be better raising tanks in attic more as now there just seated on attic floor with no elevation .........any adviice welcome .dont want to waste any more money on this shower
thanks for any help .

 

[Bahco]

Every metre you raise the cistern by will increase the pressure by 0.1 bar so you will get a return on raising it. The higher the better.
You must make sure it is adequately supported by spreading the load over 3 joists.
Hope you get a satisfactory pressure increase tho as you may end up having to fit a pump

 

[brumylad]

Treat yourself to a power shower pump, its really the only way forward.

Stuart Turner pumps are highly recommended.

 

[bathjobby]

As Bahco said, 1 metre = 0.1 bar which I have and is fine. Is the bottom of your cold water tank at least 1 metre above the shower head ? Has he fitted a shower head suitable for gravity feed ? If he has fitted a head suitable only for pumped or higher pressure systems (larger shower head and more holes usually) then you probably will only get a trickle out of such a large head.
Bahco, can't recall how many litres a second 0.1 bar gives, do you know ?
If so darren333 could check what he is getting out to confirm it is not a blockage or restriction.

 

[Bahco]

I would imagine you would only get 0.2 lps or less at that pressure.
It will be in my college notes and I will confirm when I get access.
In my opinion for all the extra work involved raising cistern it will be far easier to fit a pump.
You may find it a lot of hassle and due to space restriction you will be unable to raise it too high. From memory the cistern has to be 350 mm from roof joist for servicing etc

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Pump required.

 

[darren333]

thanks for all the advise ,looks like pump it is then
thanks again

 

[bathjobby]

Darren, flow rate for gravity fed (0.1 bar - tank 1 metre above shower head) is 5 litres per minute / 1 litre per 12 seconds. Might just want to stick a jug under your shower for 12 seconds and check you are getting 1 litre. If not, you may have a blockage, if yes, you probably want to go pumped. Worth checking first for 12 seconds !

 

[darren333]

measured shower output a little over half a litre in 12 seconds ,which i guess means blockage ,tanks were only moved a couple of weeks ago all new plastic piping joining to copper near shower