Shower pump on hot distribution

[benjamin31]

Hello,
Went to look at a job where a thermostatic shower has been fitted with the cold supply from the mains, and the hot is tank fed. The shower never gets warmer than luke warm.

There is a tile floor in the bathroom so it's not and option to re run pipework. Would it be plausible to fit a single impeller pump to the hot distribution in the airing cupboard, which would boost the hot supply, but also make the hot taps pumped? Customer doen't have an issue with the noise from the pump when a tap is opened.

Cheers

 

[Gunslinger]

it is plausible to fit a single ended pump to simply boost the hot supply, but there are a number of things to consider before simply banging a pump in the circuit.

for example,

1. what's causing the current problem, or is it just down to low hot feed pressure
2. hows the mains cold pressure, high ?
3. what type of shower mixer is it, thermostatic ?
4. are there any check valves fitted already ?
5. what happens if you turn off the cold supply to the shower valve ?


whats going through my mind here is that the cold pressure is forcing back into the hot feed, causing it to be cut off or severely restricted, resulting in reduced temperatures, or if the thermostatic valve was not setup correctly initially, then it maybe set to supply too low a temperature as its maximum temp allowed.

Also, instead of a pump, if the tap supply is ok, then you could look at using a venturi shower mixer to boost the flow rate - for example a trevi boost