The shower in my new home is a bit weak. Descaling the shower head helped,
but only a little. I suspect there is just not enough of a head of water -
the bathroom is only 7 ft 6 high and the cold water tank is on the loft
floor. What would be the best/cheapest remedy?

Do I fit a power shower, or do I raise the cold water tank?

As far as a power shower is concerned, I would only want it to make the
shower flow acceptable - so I would be happy to buy the least powerful unit
and set it to its minimum setting just to do the job - from a conservation
point of view I wouldn't want to start using a lot more water for showers.
Raising the tank sounds more complicated but I guess may not be, and may be
a cheaper option - how much of a head would be needed to get a decent shower
flow? I'm also concerned about how I would adequately insulate a tank
situated a number of feet above the loft floor, and also about how
substantial a stand would be needed, recognising that water is b****y heavy.

Keith

On 18 Jun, 10:26, "Keith Dunbar" wrote:
The shower in my new home is a bit weak. Descaling the shower head helped,
but only a little. I suspect there is just not enough of a head of water -
the bathroom is only 7 ft 6 high and the cold water tank is on the loft
floor. What would be the best/cheapest remedy?

Do I fit a power shower, or do I raise the cold water tank?

As far as a power shower is concerned, I would only want it to make the
shower flow acceptable - so I would be happy to buy the least powerful unit
and set it to its minimum setting just to do the job - from a conservation
point of view I wouldn't want to start using a lot more water for showers.
Raising the tank sounds more complicated but I guess may not be, and may be
a cheaper option - how much of a head would be needed to get a decent shower
flow? I'm also concerned about how I would adequately insulate a tank
situated a number of feet above the loft floor, and also about how
substantial a stand would be needed, recognising that water is b****y heavy.

Keith

Is it for an electric shower?
Would it be possible to take a feed from the rising main to supply the
shower with mains pressure cold water?

Mark.

On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 09:26:10 GMT someone who may be "Keith Dunbar"
wrote this:-

The shower in my new home is a bit weak. Descaling the shower head helped,
but only a little. I suspect there is just not enough of a head of water -
the bathroom is only 7 ft 6 high and the cold water tank is on the loft
floor.

I assume you have a gravity shower with the cold taken directly from
the storage tank. What size are the pipes feeding the shower and how
torturous route do they take?

What would be the best/cheapest remedy?

Often mutually exclusive. Also you need to define what you will
consider best, as this varies from person to person.

You might also like to consider a venturi shower.



--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Keith Dunbar wrote:

The shower in my new home is a bit weak. Descaling the shower head helped,
but only a little. I suspect there is just not enough of a head of water -
the bathroom is only 7 ft 6 high and the cold water tank is on the loft
floor. What would be the best/cheapest remedy?

Do I fit a power shower, or do I raise the cold water tank?

Depends on how much better you want it to be. I would guess the former
(or a venturi shower) unless you are looking for only a very small
improvement.

As far as a power shower is concerned, I would only want it to make the
shower flow acceptable - so I would be happy to buy the least powerful unit
and set it to its minimum setting just to do the job - from a conservation
point of view I wouldn't want to start using a lot more water for showers.
Raising the tank sounds more complicated but I guess may not be, and may be
a cheaper option - how much of a head would be needed to get a decent shower
flow? I'm also concerned about how I would adequately insulate a tank
situated a number of feet above the loft floor, and also about how
substantial a stand would be needed, recognising that water is b****y heavy.

Every 30' of head gives you 1 bar of pressure. Many people find that a
shower will feel rather weak with anything less than 1 bar.

Have a look here for some options:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Showers



--
Cheers,

John.

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In article ,
Keith Dunbar wrote:
The shower in my new home is a bit weak. Descaling the shower head
helped, but only a little. I suspect there is just not enough of a
head of water - the bathroom is only 7 ft 6 high and the cold water
tank is on the loft floor. What would be the best/cheapest remedy?

Do I fit a power shower, or do I raise the cold water tank?

As far as a power shower is concerned, I would only want it to make the
shower flow acceptable - so I would be happy to buy the least powerful
unit and set it to its minimum setting just to do the job - from a
conservation point of view I wouldn't want to start using a lot more
water for showers. Raising the tank sounds more complicated but I guess
may not be, and may be a cheaper option - how much of a head would be
needed to get a decent shower flow? I'm also concerned about how I
would adequately insulate a tank situated a number of feet above the
loft floor, and also about how substantial a stand would be needed,
recognising that water is b****y heavy.

You can get a surprisingly effective high flow shower with a small head if
you are careful with pipework sizing, design and the choice of shower. You
need to reduce the flow resistance to a minimum. Unfortunately many bath
type shower mixers are poor in this way - but things like Aqualisa
temperature controlled 22m fed ones can work very well. However, I realise
due to the position of the storage tank this may simply be impracticable.
So you have the choice of raising the header tank or fitting a pump.

If you use the same size timber as the existing joists, you won't go far
wrong. Screw the vertical timbers on one side to a wall if possible.
Triangulate the sides of the frame too.

--
*What happens if you get scared half to death twice? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 18 Jun, 15:53, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
In article ,
Keith Dunbar wrote:

The shower in my new home is a bit weak. Descaling the shower head
helped, but only a little. I suspect there is just not enough of a
head of water - the bathroom is only 7 ft 6 high and the cold water
tank is on the loft floor. What would be the best/cheapest remedy?
Do I fit a power shower, or do I raise the cold water tank?
As far as a power shower is concerned, I would only want it to make the
shower flow acceptable - so I would be happy to buy the least powerful
unit and set it to its minimum setting just to do the job - from a
conservation point of view I wouldn't want to start using a lot more
water for showers. Raising the tank sounds more complicated but I guess
may not be, and may be a cheaper option - how much of a head would be
needed to get a decent shower flow? I'm also concerned about how I
would adequately insulate a tank situated a number of feet above the
loft floor, and also about how substantial a stand would be needed,
recognising that water is b****y heavy.

You can get a surprisingly effective high flow shower with a small head if
you are careful with pipework sizing, design and the choice of shower. You
need to reduce the flow resistance to a minimum. Unfortunately many bath
type shower mixers are poor in this way - but things like Aqualisa
temperature controlled 22m fed ones can work very well. However, I realise
due to the position of the storage tank this may simply be impracticable.
So you have the choice of raising the header tank or fitting a pump.

If you use the same size timber as the existing joists, you won't go far
wrong. Screw the vertical timbers on one side to a wall if possible.
Triangulate the sides of the frame too.


I know this is uk.d-i-y, but what Dave proposes sounds like hard
work.

Have a look at the Aqualisa Quartz pumped showers. They are not cheap
at around £600, but are very easy to fit especially in a situation
such as this (retrofit rather than new build).

There is a small box to which the 22mm connections are made, and then
a single pipe goes down to the control position. Difficult to explain
in a few words, but have a look at their web site. In it's standard
rather than boost mode, I think it gives a good compromise between
effectiveness and eco-friendlyness. I say the single pipe goes down,
as the gubbins can be located in the loft (depending of size/head of
tank etc, you'd need to check) they can also be located under the bath
or in an adjacent airing cupboard, etc, etc.