Water pressure bosster pumps

[harvestmoon]

I am not happy with the peak hour pressure of my local water supply in East London.

I've found booster pumps on the web, but wanted to understand how they work, and how effective they are in real life.

Is the following correct?
There is a storage tank filled from the mains, a pump and a pressure vessel. As the water is drawn from the tap, the pressure in the vessel drops. When the pressure drops to a preset value the pump turns on and increases the pressure to the set limit. The amount of water you draw before the pump fires depends on the pressure and size of the vessel.

Questions (assuming the booster is for the supply for the whole house)...
How noisy are they? (I will install it in the garage, and do not want to hear it in the house).
Are they significantly expensive to run?
What maintenance is required?
Other than purchase price and the space required, are there any factors against an "over specced" size of pressure vessel?
What is a generous flow rate/pressure required for a 5 bed house (ground floor, first floor and loft extension)?
Any issues with having the storage tank underground?

Thanks!

 

[Agile]

There are so many issues here that I think that you need a good professional advisor.

You cannot pump the mains.

You have a low level storage tank and pump this to provide a 3 Bar supply to everywhere in the house.

The size of storage depends on the number of outlets. Assume about £2000-£6000 for a medium size system. Normal to have two pumps to provide backup. These systems are for upmarket properties where cost is less important than performance and reliability. About £20 pw for electricity and maintenance.

If you have a year 2000+ BMW or Jag thats what you need! If its a Ford then you may be better relying on mains pressure or gravity like most of us.

Tony

 

[simond]

If you have over 1.5bar pressure (standing) for some of the day then a simple accumulator will delight you.

Still works the same in a power cut, potable water, massive flow rate etc etc.

Some respondents on this site have called me a snake oil salesman; those were the ones who couldn't understand how an accumulator works.

I have one in my own house; we are fitting around 2 a week in Surrey and South (not East) London.

 

[chrishutt]

The first option to consider is whether you could have a new main supply pipe installed. It wouldn't increase the static pressure but it would greatly improve the flow rates, which I suspect is what is really the problem. Worth checking with your water company for their prices for doing their bit up to your boundary - if it's a lead pipe they might even do it or free.