Water pressure, lack of and a solution?

[Chri5]

Is there a minimum water pressure I can demand from the supplier.


Simple test for a mate, who wants to revamp his bathroom revealed a lowly 5 litre a minute flow rate from the water main.


The in house solution would be to store water via a tank in the loft, better still I've picked up a rumour that the water board should aim for 9 litres a minute and wonder if I can force such as a minimum service?

The existing lack of pressure has caused problems with the electical shower and the combi boiler hw.

If I put in a tank (thinking 25 gallon coffin type) that would only be 1.3m above boiler and about 3.4m above the shower unit so would that give enough head to allow the boiler and electric shower to perform correctly?

Thanks

 

[Agile]

Both electric showers and combi boilers need a minimum pressure of usually 0.5 Bar or 5m head. Thats after taking out the pipe flow resistance.

You can add a shower type pump to a loft tank but can have problems getting enough flow to operate their built in switches. The Stuart Turner mains pressure booster is good in that respect.

It is possible that pump could be used to increase the mains flow rate depending on why its so poor.

At about £350 its expensive to buy to try!

A 25 gall tank will not give a vey long shower!

Tony

 

[petertheplumber12]

Is there a minimum water pressure I can demand from the supplier.


Simple test for a mate, who wants to revamp his bathroom revealed a lowly 5 litre a minute flow rate from the water main.


The in house solution would be to store water via a tank in the loft, better still I've picked up a rumour that the water board should aim for 9 litres a minute and wonder if I can force such as a minimum service?

The existing lack of pressure has caused problems with the electical shower and the combi boiler hw.

If I put in a tank (thinking 25 gallon coffin type) that would only be 1.3m above boiler and about 3.4m above the shower unit so would that give enough head to allow the boiler and electric shower to perform correctly?

Thanks

Phone the water board, they will check it outside, it has to be a minimum amount, and there may be an external leak causing it. Its a free service.

 

[Chri5]

A 25 gall tank will not give a vey long shower!

Tony

Won't it?

I was thinking 25 gallon is 90 litres to empty or 10 minutes run time, plus the top up from the mains at 5 litres per minute, so maybe 15 minutes continuous use which is unlikely since neither occupants are teenagers.


Thanks for the advice.

 

[Pumpman6]

Hi, Stuart Turner offer 2 options for running elec shower/combi boilers when low mains pressure or flow is present.

Flowmate mains booster directly coupled to incoming mains to provide additional pressure and flow. However it is limited to 12 litres per minute (water board regs).

Or

Monsoon universal single pump, pumping from a local cold water storage tank force feeding the combi/elec shower. Storage tank size can only be calculated when refill rate V's usage rate.

 

[Agile]

Dont expect a loft tank to refill at the open pipe flow rate as measured in the ground floor in the kitchen.

If 5 li/min open pipe in the kitchen you might be lucky to get 2 li/min through a ball valve in the loft!

Many people will not accept a shower limited to 12 min and then a wait of 45 min to refill the tank ready for the next 12 min shower!

The Stuart Turner mains booster will probably give a good 12 li/min flow rate at about 1 Bar pressure. This will give a good shower for ever!

Tony