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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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Power Shower Dilemma
Hi all,
My girlfriend's house has a power shower installed. On Friday night it made a load bang and then constantly leaked. Then the pump started up on its own accord. I disconnected it at the consumer unit, and investigated. It's a Triton, 4 years old, it's leaking from the pump. Write-off I reckon. More importantly, the plumber who installed it 4 years ago connected the cold supply to the MAINS. Illegal obviously - and may explain why it eventually let go - it is designed apparently for use with a max head of 10m and goodness knows what pressure the mains is under. Anyway, she's now got a problem as to what the replace it with. No way am I putting a similar power shower in with the current set up. Plumbing in a new cold feed from the smallish 20 gallon cold water header tank would be a major hassle, flooboards up, bath out, would the tank be big enough? Etc. Electric shower while possible is another big hassle as although we have cold mains available I would have to run a new 45 amp (?) supply from one end of the house to the other. I don't fancy that much. I had a brainwave. Install a single impellor booster pump on the hot side only, and install a thermostatic mixer valve (cheapy from Screwfix), run the cold from the mains and she'll then end up with the equivalent of a fully-fledged power shower! My question is, can anyone foresee any problems with this idea? Specifically, bearing in mind the old Triton power shower has run off the hot tank for years with no problems, will that mean I won't have to add a Surrey/Essex whatever flange to the tank, as it looks like cavitation (sucking air) won't be a problem? I plan to install the pump at the foot of the bath using the electricity supply from the existing power shower. Any caveats? Thanks in advance for all your help, Luke |
#2
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Power Shower Dilemma
Wingedcat wrote: Hi all, My girlfriend's house has a power shower installed. On Friday night it made a load bang and then constantly leaked. Then the pump started up on its own accord. I disconnected it at the consumer unit, and investigated. It's a Triton, 4 years old, it's leaking from the pump. Write-off I reckon. More importantly, the plumber who installed it 4 years ago connected the cold supply to the MAINS. Illegal obviously - and may explain why it eventually let go - it is designed apparently for use with a max head of 10m and goodness knows what pressure the mains is under. Anyway, she's now got a problem as to what the replace it with. No way am I putting a similar power shower in with the current set up. Plumbing in a new cold feed from the smallish 20 gallon cold water header tank would be a major hassle, flooboards up, bath out, would the tank be big enough? Etc. Electric shower while possible is another big hassle as although we have cold mains available I would have to run a new 45 amp (?) supply from one end of the house to the other. I don't fancy that much. I had a brainwave. Install a single impellor booster pump on the hot side only, and install a thermostatic mixer valve (cheapy from Screwfix), run the cold from the mains and she'll then end up with the equivalent of a fully-fledged power shower! My question is, can anyone foresee any problems with this idea? Specifically, bearing in mind the old Triton power shower has run off the hot tank for years with no problems, will that mean I won't have to add a Surrey/Essex whatever flange to the tank, as it looks like cavitation (sucking air) won't be a problem? I plan to install the pump at the foot of the bath using the electricity supply from the existing power shower. Any caveats? Thanks in advance for all your help, Luke Sounds like a perfect situation for a venturi shower. They work best on mains pressure cold water and a gravity fed hot water tank. The pressure from the mains effectively pulls the hot water from tanks giving, allegedly power shower performance. Could be as cheap and simpler than pump + valve. Google for venturi showers for more information. HTH Peter |
#3
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Power Shower Dilemma
Sounds like a perfect situation for a venturi shower. They work best on mains pressure cold water and a gravity fed hot water tank. The pressure from the mains effectively pulls the hot water from tanks giving, allegedly power shower performance. Could be as cheap and simpler than pump + valve. Google for venturi showers for more information. HTH Peter Thanks Peter - I forgot to mention, I had considered this option but although I haven't measured it, her mains flow rate and pressure is pretty poor and I read there is a fairly tight "window" of compatability with Venturis in this respect. I will investigate further though. Luke |
#4
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Power Shower Dilemma
Wingedcat wrote:
I had a brainwave. Install a single impellor booster pump on the hot side only, and install a thermostatic mixer valve (cheapy from Screwfix), run the cold from the mains and she'll then end up with the equivalent of a fully-fledged power shower! My question is, can anyone foresee any problems with this idea? It ought to work, but you may find you want a pressure reducing valve on the mains side as well though to get the two feeds at least close to each other in pressure. -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
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