I've been asked by a friend about installing a thermostatic (bar type)
shower in his bathroom above the bath, plumbed into the hot and cold
supply pipes to the bath. The hot supply is from an indirect cylinder
fed from a header tank, and the flow rate/pressure seem adequate for a
shower. However the cold supply is direct from the mains, at a much
higher pressure (I couldn't stop the flow from the tap with my thumb,
whereas I could with the hot tap).

There's no easy way of getting a low pressure cold feed from the
cylinder or header tank, and he doesn't want to spend a lot now
because the whole bathroom will be gutted and rebuilt in a year or
twos time. Similarly no easy way of getting a supply cable in there
for an electric shower. In fact the whole property (listed building)
will be replumbed and rewired, so this is just a stop gap until he can
get that work done.

So I was wondering about putting a pressure reducing regulator in the
cold feed to the shower thermostatic valve, to reduce the pressure to
something close to the hot water supply, which I'm guessing is about
7m head (0.7 bar?). I'll measure it more accurately in due course.

Is this the right path to go down, and is there anything I need to be
aware of when sourcing and fitting a regulator? Can anyone recommend a
source for the regulator?

Thanks for any help.
David

On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:07:24 +0000, DavidM wrote:

Is this the right path to go down, and is there anything I need to be
aware of when sourcing and fitting a regulator? Can anyone recommend a
source for the regulator?

Pressure reducing valves are available from proper plumbers' merchants and
quite possibly Screwfix and Toolstation. But do you need one? Many
bar-type valves work OK with asymmetric supplies.



--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
Tits like coconuts

"YAPH" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:07:24 +0000, DavidM wrote:

Is this the right path to go down, and is there anything I need to be
aware of when sourcing and fitting a regulator? Can anyone recommend a
source for the regulator?

Pressure reducing valves are available from proper plumbers' merchants and
quite possibly Screwfix and Toolstation. But do you need one? Many
bar-type valves work OK with asymmetric supplies.



--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
Tits like coconuts


Scroll down this page:
http://www.bes.co.uk/products/099.asp

"John" wrote in message
news

"YAPH" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:07:24 +0000, DavidM wrote:

Is this the right path to go down, and is there anything I need to be
aware of when sourcing and fitting a regulator? Can anyone recommend a
source for the regulator?

Pressure reducing valves are available from proper plumbers' merchants
and
quite possibly Screwfix and Toolstation. But do you need one? Many
bar-type valves work OK with asymmetric supplies.



--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
Tits like coconuts


Scroll down this page:
http://www.bes.co.uk/products/099.asp



Also:

http://www.arrowvalves.co.uk/pdf/afl...0&cat=z&scat=z

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember DavidM
saying something like:

So I was wondering about putting a pressure reducing regulator in the
cold feed to the shower thermostatic valve, to reduce the pressure to
something close to the hot water supply, which I'm guessing is about
7m head (0.7 bar?). I'll measure it more accurately in due course.

Is this the right path to go down, and is there anything I need to be
aware of when sourcing and fitting a regulator? Can anyone recommend a
source for the regulator?

It'll work fine. It's exactly what I did with a shower of mine, years
ago.
Get one online (bes) or at your local plumbers merchants.

On Thu, 4 Jun 2009 20:35:39 +0100, "John"
wrote:


"John" wrote in message
news

"YAPH" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:07:24 +0000, DavidM wrote:

Is this the right path to go down, and is there anything I need to be
aware of when sourcing and fitting a regulator? Can anyone recommend a
source for the regulator?

Pressure reducing valves are available from proper plumbers' merchants
and
quite possibly Screwfix and Toolstation. But do you need one? Many
bar-type valves work OK with asymmetric supplies.



--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
Tits like coconuts


Scroll down this page:
http://www.bes.co.uk/products/099.asp



Also:

http://www.arrowvalves.co.uk/pdf/afl...0&cat=z&scat=z

John,

Thanks for the info. Can you just clarify - these are flow regulators
as distinct from pressure regulators (which are rather more
expensive). I'm just a bit concerned that a flow regulator will still
allow high (mains) pressure to be applied to the shower bar valve
under low (ie nearly off) conditions and then damage the automatic
thermostat in some way.

I emailed tech support at Gainsborough (the shower my friend is
considering using) and they ducked the question of using a pressure
regulator but said that any guarantee would be invalidated unless both
hot and cold supplies were via the header tank. They may just be
playing safe, or maybe there's a reason why they are nervous about a
higher pressure (rather than flow) to the cold side.

David

In article , DavidM
scribeth thus
On Thu, 4 Jun 2009 20:35:39 +0100, "John"
wrote:


"John" wrote in message
news

"YAPH" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:07:24 +0000, DavidM wrote:

Is this the right path to go down, and is there anything I need to be
aware of when sourcing and fitting a regulator? Can anyone recommend a
source for the regulator?

Pressure reducing valves are available from proper plumbers' merchants
and
quite possibly Screwfix and Toolstation. But do you need one? Many
bar-type valves work OK with asymmetric supplies.



--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
Tits like coconuts


Scroll down this page:
http://www.bes.co.uk/products/099.asp



Also:

http://www.arrowvalves.co.uk/pdf/afl...0&cat=z&scat=z

John,

Thanks for the info. Can you just clarify - these are flow regulators
as distinct from pressure regulators (which are rather more
expensive). I'm just a bit concerned that a flow regulator will still
allow high (mains) pressure to be applied to the shower bar valve
under low (ie nearly off) conditions and then damage the automatic
thermostat in some way.

I emailed tech support at Gainsborough (the shower my friend is
considering using) and they ducked the question of using a pressure
regulator but said that any guarantee would be invalidated unless both
hot and cold supplies were via the header tank. They may just be
playing safe, or maybe there's a reason why they are nervous about a
higher pressure (rather than flow) to the cold side.

David

I suppose their concerned if the whole arrangement used mains pressure
that went inadvertently back into the gravity fed hot system which could
happen.

Pity you can't get the feed from the cold tank at the same pressure. Is
it really that difficult what with water pipe you can thread around
things and through them like I used recently for a shower supply?..
--
Tony Sayer