I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my inly solution?

J

On 8 Nov, 11:04, JonG wrote:
I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my inly solution?

J

I looked into improving my water pressure a few years ago.

Rolls Royce solution: you could consider upgrading the water main all
the way back to the "service pipe" in the street. That's likely to be
expensive, but it will improve the water pressure around the house,
and would be great if you were considering installing a mains-pressure
hot-water system. You'd need a quote from your water provider for
this.

Otherise I was told I could get something called an accumulator. I
never really did get to the bottom of this. Apparently it is a store
of incoming water which is kept in a pressurised vessel of some kind,
in other words a kind of reservior of pressure which will provide a
certain amount of water at high pressure until it gets exhausted I
think. It would have sat in my cellar where the water main comes in.
Not sure what that would cost - probably a bit more than a new shower
and some replumbing, but again it would provide a solution throughout
the house. I have this link saved if it's any help:
http://www.rwc.co.uk/Product.aspx?page=CAT6


Cheers!

Martin

On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 03:04:29 -0800 someone who may be JonG
wrote this:-

I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my inly solution?

Not enough information.

What is the mains pressure at the shower?

Is this high enough to power a venturi shower?

How high a head could you obtain for a gravity only shower?

If a gravity only shower is not possible/acceptable could a pumped
shower be fed from the existing cylinder?

How many litres is the cylinder? How is it heated? How is this
heating controlled? How quickly does it recover?


--
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

In article . com,
JonG wrote:

I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my only solution?

I don't know much about anything, but:

(a) Shouldn't you ask your water company about this? Surely most
electric showers assume a basic water pressure which is reasonable? In
which case it would seem that your water pressure - as supplied by the
water company - is not at present reasonable.

or (b) Maybe the shower you have fitted is simply too powerful: you need
to downgrade the power, so that it fits the pressure you have (assuming
that this is indeed "reasonable" as in (a)).

I make this comment because I keep thinking about upgrading our shower
so that we get a stronger spray. What we have is plenty hot enough, but
the pressure is not as good as I get at the gym. To get *that* I'd need
to upgrade the shower to a higher wattage, but that in turn will need
greater mains pressure.

john

jal wrote:

I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my only solution?

I don't know much about anything, but:

(a) Shouldn't you ask your water company about this? Surely most
electric showers assume a basic water pressure which is reasonable? In
which case it would seem that your water pressure - as supplied by the
water company - is not at present reasonable.

Probably a very ignorant question,
but doesn't the water usually come from a tank in the attic?
I thought that was a speciality of the UK and Ireland.

On 8 Nov, 14:27, Timothy Murphy wrote:
jal wrote:
I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my only solution?

I don't know much about anything, but:

(a) Shouldn't you ask your water company about this? Surely most
electric showers assume a basic water pressure which is reasonable? In
which case it would seem that your water pressure - as supplied by the
water company - is not at present reasonable.

Probably a very ignorant question,
but doesn't the water usually come from a tank in the attic?
I thought that was a speciality of the UK and Ireland.

Short answer: sometimes, sometimes not!

On Nov 8, 2:47 pm, Martin Pentreath
wrote:
On 8 Nov, 14:27, Timothy Murphy wrote:





jal wrote:
I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my only solution?

I don't know much about anything, but:

(a) Shouldn't you ask your water company about this? Surely most
electric showers assume a basic water pressure which is reasonable? In
which case it would seem that your water pressure - as supplied by the
water company - is not at present reasonable.

Probably a very ignorant question,
but doesn't the water usually come from a tank in the attic?
I thought that was a speciality of the UK and Ireland.

Short answer: sometimes, sometimes not!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for all the above.
I also thought that showers would be fed from the tank as well. The
problem I'm having isn't helped by the fact that I am at the bank of a
development that slopes up towards the back, and the shower is on a
3rd floor. I'd say I'm just going to have to get an expert in to have
a look and see what can be done.

Thanks
J

In article ,
Timothy Murphy wrote:

(a) Shouldn't you ask your water company about this? Surely most
electric showers assume a basic water pressure which is reasonable? In
which case it would seem that your water pressure - as supplied by the
water company - is not at present reasonable.

Probably a very ignorant question,
but doesn't the water usually come from a tank in the attic?
I thought that was a speciality of the UK and Ireland.

Yeh - I should have made it clear that I'm speaking of a Mira electric
shower which is fed from the cold supply only.

John

JonG wrote:
On Nov 8, 2:47 pm, Martin Pentreath
wrote:
On 8 Nov, 14:27, Timothy Murphy wrote:





jal wrote:
I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my only solution?
I don't know much about anything, but:
(a) Shouldn't you ask your water company about this? Surely most
electric showers assume a basic water pressure which is reasonable? In
which case it would seem that your water pressure - as supplied by the
water company - is not at present reasonable.
Probably a very ignorant question,
but doesn't the water usually come from a tank in the attic?
I thought that was a speciality of the UK and Ireland.
Short answer: sometimes, sometimes not!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for all the above.
I also thought that showers would be fed from the tank as well. The
problem I'm having isn't helped by the fact that I am at the bank of a
development that slopes up towards the back, and the shower is on a
3rd floor. I'd say I'm just going to have to get an expert in to have
a look and see what can be done.


hire a pressure gauge and plumb to the mains. If it shows a bar or more,
pressure is not the problem..flow rate is.


Which is the (simple?) matter o upgrading pipe bores.

Thanks
J

"JonG" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Nov 8, 2:47 pm, Martin Pentreath
wrote:
On 8 Nov, 14:27, Timothy Murphy wrote:





jal wrote:
I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my only solution?

I don't know much about anything, but:

(a) Shouldn't you ask your water company about this? Surely most
electric showers assume a basic water pressure which is reasonable?
In
which case it would seem that your water pressure - as supplied by
the
water company - is not at present reasonable.

Probably a very ignorant question,
but doesn't the water usually come from a tank in the attic?
I thought that was a speciality of the UK and Ireland.

Short answer: sometimes, sometimes not!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for all the above.
I also thought that showers would be fed from the tank as well. The
problem I'm having isn't helped by the fact that I am at the bank of a
development that slopes up towards the back, and the shower is on a
3rd floor. I'd say I'm just going to have to get an expert in to have
a look and see what can be done.



What, this group not expert enough for you? The Triton engineer not expert
enough? Nobody has mentioned the Triton guide. Might save you some dosh.

http://tinyurl.com/2d8ocu

Attempt to address the pressure/delivery issue whether via a tank or via the
rising main and you benefit at every outlet, not just at the shower. As
someone else said there wasn't enough info given for the experts here to be
of much help.

Jim A

On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:37:24 -0800 someone who may be JonG
wrote this:-

I also thought that showers would be fed from the tank as well.

It depends on the type of shower. Since you reported that the mains
pressure is too low that implies it is an instant electric shower,
fed from the mains.

Other types of shower are fed from the cold water storage tank.



--
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

On 8 Nov, 11:04, JonG wrote:
I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my inly solution?

J

In my experience of mains fed, heat it as you go, showers the failure
mode when the water flow is inadequate is quite distinctive and easy
to spot. The shower will have one or maybe two heating elements and
will only be able to turn them fully on or fully off. The temperature
control is achieved primarily by altering the amount of water flowing
over the elements and only when the shower detects and over
temperature condition does it turn off the element(s). Typically this
results in an pattern of hot and cold water, often accompanied by a
kettling sound.
Depending on the complexity of the shower it may turn the elements off
completely or it may turn one of the two or three off to give an
attempt at finer control.
For the shower to "not produce any hot water" the flow would need ot
be really quite abnormally low - so low you'd be comenting on the flow
from the taps etc.

So, it's easy enough to measure, how much water comes out of the
shower head in 1 minute?

If the shower does heat the water at all what happens if you flush the
toilet while its running? In fact what is the flow rate from the
shower if you flush the toilet?

And just for completeness what is the flow rate from the kitchen
*cold* tap?

Martin Pentreath wrote:
On 8 Nov, 11:04, JonG wrote:
I've just had a triton shower engineer in to look at my shower which
was not producing any hot water. He told me the mains water pressure
was too low for the shower to work and I'd need to change the shower
to a pumped shower and change the plumbing to take the feed from the
tank rather than the mains.
Would anyone know if this is my inly solution?

J

I looked into improving my water pressure a few years ago.
SNIP.

Otherise I was told I could get something called an accumulator. I
never really did get to the bottom of this. Apparently it is a store
of incoming water which is kept in a pressurised vessel of some kind,
in other words a kind of reservior of pressure which will provide a
certain amount of water at high pressure until it gets exhausted I
think. It would have sat in my cellar where the water main comes in.
Not sure what that would cost - probably a bit more than a new shower
and some replumbing, but again it would provide a solution throughout
the house. I

That of which you speak is a booster pump
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...trifugal-pumps

Cost around £150 -£200. Very effective, I installed more than a few in my
'high pressure cleaner' days.

The reservior holds say 25 litres of water at 2 - 3 bar pressure, so is all
ready to go when you turn on a tap/shower/whatever. As soon as the flow
starts/pressure drops the pump kicks in to maintain the flow.

I've installed these to run pressure washers that need 24 litres a minute
and they work very well indeed.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

In message .com,
Martin Pentreath writes

Rolls Royce solution: you could consider upgrading the water main all
the way back to the "service pipe" in the street. That's likely to be
expensive, but it will improve the water pressure around the house,
and would be great if you were considering installing a mains-pressure
hot-water system. You'd need a quote from your water provider for
this.

Otherise I was told I could get something called an accumulator. I
never really did get to the bottom of this. Apparently it is a store
of incoming water which is kept in a pressurised vessel of some kind,
in other words a kind of reservior of pressure which will provide a
certain amount of water at high pressure until it gets exhausted I
think. It would have sat in my cellar where the water main comes in.
Not sure what that would cost - probably a bit more than a new shower
and some replumbing, but again it would provide a solution throughout
the house. I have this link saved if it's any help:
http://www.rwc.co.uk/Product.aspx?page=CAT6

I've just had my incoming water main replaced, it made a hell of a
difference, previously I got at best 12 litres a minute hot through the
combi, noticeably less between 7 and 8 in the morning, and substantially
less if a toilet was flushed. Now I reckon, but not measured yet, it's
giving twice that flow on the hot and the cold can be turned on full
speed simultaneously with almost no change to the hot flow.

I had the 15m of pipe from the street main replaced with 32mm dia and
split that internally at 28mm into three separate feeds for hot, and for
cold upstairs and for downstairs.

The cost of replacing the pipe was approx. £900 inc. VAT in N.Hants..


--
bof at bof dot me dot uk