Which type of shower can I have? Identifing system - help!

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Hello

I would like to have a power shower installed but as I understand it only certain showers work with certain water systems so my first port of call is to identify what system I have.

Downstairs I have a combi boiler and upstairs in the airing cupboard I have a green what I believe to be hot water cylinder and just above that a cold water tank. On the other side of the airing cupboard is my bathroom. The cold water tank is about level (or slightly higher) than where my shower head will be fitted.

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I would like a decent pressured shower and from research my understanding is a power shower with an integrated pump would be sufficient but if it isn't, is it possible to combine with a separate pump?

Although my final choice depends on what my system can handle. Advise please.

Thank you
 
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Downstairs I have a combi boiler and upstairs in the airing cupboard I have a green what I believe to be hot water cylinder
I doubt it. Is that a Baxi Solo?
You wouldn't expect a combi with a cylinder.

You could use a Myson Event pumped shower, etc etc, with a suitable flange on the hw cylindr and the cols directly from the CW cistern. Head of cold water you have is really too low, though, so could be a problem. It wouldn't pay to try to be too ambitious so you might have to limit the flow.

The problem is that the hot water gets sucked down the vent pipe until air gets in.
 
with a suitable flange on the hw cylindr and the cols directly from the CW cistern.

Have no idea what those words mean! lol

The cylinder has always been there, however when I had the central heating installed this Baxi Solo was installed too. It has a LCD unit next to it which controls the on/off times. It heats my central heating and water and was told it was a combi. If not, what's it called please (just a boiler?).
 
You have a "heat only" boiler. A combination boiler heats the water instantaneously and is not normally used in conjunction with a cylinder.

What size (volume) is the cold water cistern...it must have sufficient capacity to cope with the pump (protective level switches can be fitted if size is marginal).

How far above the proposed shower head is it?

If the height and volume is sufficient you could go for a power shower (with integral electric pump) or a seperate pump and shower valve.

However if the cold water cistern is not sufficienly high above the shower head a negative head pump will be required in conjunction with a shower valve.

Dependent on the pump, a flange (screwed into the side of the cylinder) may be required for the hot feed with a seperate cold feed from the cistern.

Alternatively you may find a venturi shower would be suitable...these use the cold water mains pressure to help boost the low pressure hot water. However they have strict criteria for correct funtioning.
 
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The boiler defo heats both my water and central heating. On the LCD control point I have a switch which I can use to decide to have the boiler heat just the water or water and central heating.

Sorry, no idea size of cold water cistern.

The bathroom is directly behind the water cistern and the shower will be placed there. The water cistern is around 1/2 metre above where the shower would be. For reference at the moment I have a plug on shower (the one you simply plug on to the hot and cold taps). Its no power shower but ok, so there is pressure there.

When you say "separate pump and shower valve", are you referring to a mixed shower with pump? Is it not possible then to add a pump to a power shower (in case the power shower is not powerfully enough). Or am I missing the point of a pump. My understanding is its the pump applying most of the pressure so why then does it still require a gravity feed?

What type of shower is venturi? Electric?

Sorry for the basic questions but I just need to understand the different types of showers in general terms, ie mixed, electric, power etc.
 
The problem is that the hot water gets sucked down the vent pipe until air gets in.

chris is this what happens if the cwst is not high enough ?
 
i'm surprised you have an ok'ish shower...is the cold mainsfed ?...does it not push the hot away ?
is the tank above the green cylinder a small one and do you a larger one in the loft ?
 
Get in a plumber (at least by recommendation) to go through the options and then install.....if you are unable to calculate the volume of the cold cistern you won't get very far in this exercise.
 
Ok, guess that's the end of this exercise. All I really wanted to know is what system I have.
 
The problem is that the hot water gets sucked down the vent pipe until air gets in.

chris is this what happens if the cwst is not high enough ?

Yes. When you suck at the cylinder, even if through a flange, the level in the vent pipe drops. It's because of the presssures developed by the flow through the system.
It drops less if the cold supply to the cylinder is lower resistance, ie bigger pipe.

The level can drop several feet, depending. On some power showers (Mira event) you can turn the shower down a bit from max but on others (Aquastream) you can't.
 
Ok, guess that's the end of this exercise. All I really wanted to know is what system I have.

You have a regular "system" boiler with an indirect hot water cylinder (the green cylinder).

The boiler heats your radiators and also connects to a coil within the green cylinder which indirectly heats the cold water in the cylinder, which is fed from from the black tank above it.

As described above to get a "power" shower (i.e. increase the flow not pressure of water coming out of your shower head) you need to either buy a power shower with an integral pump, or fit a separate pump at the base of your hot water cylinder and use that to feed a traditional mixer valve shower.

The problem with this is that your cold water storage cistern is likely to have been "sized" for a much lower flowrate than the one you will have when using a pump, therefore it will empty before it can fill up which means that the shower will stop working when you're in it, not good.

It is therefore usually necessary to either replace your cold water storage cistern with a larger version, or buy a new smaller one to "piggy-back" onto the existing one.

There's also the negative head issue as discussed. If the level of water in the cold water cistern is below the outlet of the shower (i.e. the head), the system will not gravity flow. The majority of pumps use flow switches which detect water flow in order to start the pump. If you've got negative head, your pump will never turn on as water will not flow through it. There are ways around this, such as negative head pumps, but it's worth bearing in mind to avoid an unnecessary purchase!

When I did our shower, I relaced our airing cupboard mounted 25 gallon cistern with a 50 gallon cistern in the loft as I wanted to run the new shower pipework in the loft. If doing this, make sure that you spread the load of the tank across several joists by making a base for it.
 
If running pipes to a shower pump (from CWSC and HWSV - surrey flange) always try and make the pipes run as straight as possible, the less bends/elbows the better (or so I believe). Less airlocks this way and it looks better also!
 

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