Is it possible or a really bad idea? Realise that the tank will empty much
quicker than with gravity shower and that I'll probably have to add a timer
to the thermostat (at present, CH HW running for two hours a day is
perfectly adequate) so that it can re-heat during the morning shower rush.

Thanks, Rob.

"Rob Nicholson" wrote in message
...
Is it possible or a really bad idea? Realise that the tank will empty much
quicker than with gravity shower and that I'll probably have to add a
timer
to the thermostat (at present, CH HW running for two hours a day is
perfectly adequate) so that it can re-heat during the morning shower rush.

Thanks, Rob.


What exactly do you mean by "hot water cistern"??

Do you mean the storage tanks in the loft? If so they are not known as "hot
water cisterns"!!

If it is the tanks you refer to then yes, that is exactly what shower pumps
are for. You will though be surprised at just how quickly your hot water
will run out and you'll probably have to double the "on" time.

"Rob Nicholson" wrote in message
...
Is it possible or a really bad idea? Realise that the tank will empty much
quicker than with gravity shower and that I'll probably have to add a
timer
to the thermostat (at present, CH HW running for two hours a day is
perfectly adequate) so that it can re-heat during the morning shower rush.

Thanks, Rob.

Hot water cistern/tank (stored hot water) is the way to go with a power
shower.

We had to upgrade our copper tank because we emptied it before all 4 of the
family had showered to their satisfaction.

Other thing to watch is the cold water tank in the loft.
It will empty faster than it can fill when the power shower is running - you
usually take both cold and hot (cold feed to the hot tank/cistern) feeds
from this tank to provide equal pressure and avoid sucking on the mains :-)
We have nearly emptied our loft tank in the past, before the novelty wore
off.
If it is a goodly size then you should be O.K.

Depends on how many and how long, plus mains water pressure to refill the
tank.
Like the old school test - water is flowing into the tank at x litres/sec
and flowing out at y litres/sec.......

HTH
Dave R

If it is the tanks you refer to then yes, that is exactly what shower
pumps
are for. You will though be surprised at just how quickly your hot water
will run out and you'll probably have to double the "on" time.

Yes, sorry mean the tank not the thing in the loft.

Cheers,Rob.

We did the exact same thing- but the header tank emptied too quickly, as
other posters have suggested. The water pressure is good, so I got a second
ball valve and plumbed that in in parallel, so now two feeds to the tank,
and it keeps up nicely.
hth
Neil

"Rob Nicholson" wrote in message
...
Is it possible or a really bad idea? Realise that the tank will empty much
quicker than with gravity shower and that I'll probably have to add a
timer
to the thermostat (at present, CH HW running for two hours a day is
perfectly adequate) so that it can re-heat during the morning shower rush.

Thanks, Rob.

are for. You will though be surprised at just how quickly your hot water
will run out and you'll probably have to double the "on" time.

That's a reasonably acceptable cost - minor compared to cost of refitting
the entire bathroom making it bigger at the same time :-)

Thanks, Rob.

We had to upgrade our copper tank because we emptied it before all 4 of
the
family had showered to their satisfaction.

The existing tank is hopefully a reasonable size - about 5' tall I'd guess.

Other thing to watch is the cold water tank in the loft.
It will empty faster than it can fill when the power shower is running -
you
usually take both cold and hot (cold feed to the hot tank/cistern) feeds
from this tank to provide equal pressure and avoid sucking on the mains
:-)
We have nearly emptied our loft tank in the past, before the novelty wore
off.
If it is a goodly size then you should be O.K.

I'd have to measure it but I get the feeling it's a reasonable size as well
compared to some other tanks I've seen.

Depends on how many and how long, plus mains water pressure to refill the
tank.
Like the old school test - water is flowing into the tank at x litres/sec
and flowing out at y litres/sec.......

I'll get my calulator out :-)

Thanks, Rob.

"Rob Nicholson" wrote in message
...
Is it possible or a really bad idea? Realise that the tank will empty much
quicker than with gravity shower and that I'll probably have to add a timer
to the thermostat (at present, CH HW running for two hours a day is
perfectly adequate) so that it can re-heat during the morning shower rush.

Thanks, Rob.


There are cold water cisterns and hot water cylinders, there is no such thing
as a 'hot water cistern'.
Mike.



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"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote in message
...
"Rob Nicholson" wrote in message
...
Is it possible or a really bad idea? Realise that the tank will empty
much
quicker than with gravity shower and that I'll probably have to add a
timer
to the thermostat (at present, CH HW running for two hours a day is
perfectly adequate) so that it can re-heat during the morning shower
rush.


There are cold water cisterns and hot water cylinders, there is no such
thing
as a 'hot water cistern'.

Unless the plumber makes a stupid mistake, and yes I've seen it happen, cold
water out of the hot tapes and hot water out of the cold taps - not to
mention filling the WC cisterns !

Needless to say the plumber got the sack, when he next decided to turn up
for work....

"Rob Nicholson" wrote in message
...
If it is the tanks you refer to then yes, that is exactly what shower
pumps
are for. You will though be surprised at just how quickly your hot water
will run out and you'll probably have to double the "on" time.

Yes, sorry mean the tank not the thing in the loft.


Err... I think you actually mean "cylinder!.

"Mike Cawood, HND BIT" wrote in message
...
"Rob Nicholson" wrote in message
...
Is it possible or a really bad idea? Realise that the tank will empty
much
quicker than with gravity shower and that I'll probably have to add a
timer
to the thermostat (at present, CH HW running for two hours a day is
perfectly adequate) so that it can re-heat during the morning shower
rush.

Thanks, Rob.


There are cold water cisterns and hot water cylinders, there is no such
thing
as a 'hot water cistern'.
Mike.


depends - moved into previous house where thermostat on cylinder and on
boiler were set way too high, so much hot water passed through the open vent
that the cold cistern was definitely a hot water cistern ;-))

Steve Firth wrote:

Gripper wrote:

We did the exact same thing- but the header tank emptied too quickly, as
other posters have suggested. The water pressure is good, so I got a second
ball valve and plumbed that in in parallel, so now two feeds to the tank,
and it keeps up nicely.

How well does the hot water cylinder cope with the demand?

Or alternatively fit a much larger coffin tank, if you have the room. I
designed our DHW system for a shower pump and although it's taken me a
few years to get around to fitting one, it was an absolutely essential
fit. The mild "drip, drip" that the English seem to think is acceptable
for a shower *really* irritates me.

Any worries about the increased load on the ceiling?

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
Steve Firth wrote:

Gripper wrote:

We did the exact same thing- but the header tank emptied too quickly,
as
other posters have suggested. The water pressure is good, so I got a
second
ball valve and plumbed that in in parallel, so now two feeds to the
tank,
and it keeps up nicely.

How well does the hot water cylinder cope with the demand?


The pump is plumbed to two showers: the cylinder is a relatively small one
(it's marked 36x16): recipe for failure you may think, but in fact the
system copes well. Taking a bath is more likely to overextend the hot water
supply than showering.
I was pleased that the pump (Aqualisa) can cope with even both showers being
used simultaneously. As long as the cylinder is full of heated water, there
is no problem with the shower running cold, in normal use.
The system is ready for use again only after about 10 mins. We do however
have a well lagged cylinder, and the immersion and hot water gas heating is
on 24/7.

Neil

and the immersion and hot water gas heating is on 24/7.

Why the immersion? If you have gas heating, the immersion should be an
emergency backup only. It costs around 4 times as much to use. If the
thermostat is set higher in temp than the gas (or lower in the cylinder), it
will even use it in preference to the cheaper source.

Christian.

I studied the DHW thing for ages before deciding what I should do. We had a
standard loft tank and hot water cylinder heated from both the gas boiler
and elec for backup. I installed a pump to get a real shower. Then the
boiler packed up. As did the motorised valve, thermostat and timer. I
studied unvented but after showering at a friends house I realised the
pressure was crap when compared to a pump.

So I installed a combi boiler which gives unlimited hot water to the
kitchen, utility, bath and bathroom taps. I plumbed the heating side of
things just as if I had a conventional boiler and fitted new stat, valve,
etc. I kept the loft tank and DHW cylinder which no only feeds the showers.

Expensive to run? Yes, bloody right BUT it gives me loads of HW and a
proper shower so what's a few extra quid for heating!

As did the motorised valve, thermostat and timer. I studied
unvented but after showering at a friends house I realised the
pressure was crap when compared to a pump.

But the performance of unvented depends on your local pressure and flow
rate. There is little point in looking at a friend's system unless they live
next door and have an indentical water feed.

I have used pumped, unvented and heat bank systems. Each one provided a
fantastic shower at high pressure, and not flow rate limited.

Christian.

depends - moved into previous house where thermostat on cylinder and on
boiler were set way too high, so much hot water passed through the open
vent
that the cold cistern was definitely a hot water cistern ;-))

I had that when the thermostat on the hot water tank failed so it stayed on
and heated the cold water tank. It was discovered by somebody going for a
number 2 and getting a bit more than they expected!

Rob.

"Christian McArdle" wrote in message
. net...
As did the motorised valve, thermostat and timer. I studied
unvented but after showering at a friends house I realised the
pressure was crap when compared to a pump.

But the performance of unvented depends on your local pressure and flow
rate. There is little point in looking at a friend's system unless they
live
next door and have an indentical water feed.

Agreed but no manufacturer could guarantee me power shower pressure even
though I quoted my main pressure so I had to assume that the systems simply
could not perform

"Christian McArdle" wrote

Why the immersion? If you have gas heating, the immersion should be an
emergency backup only. It costs around 4 times as much to use. If the
thermostat is set higher in temp than the gas (or lower in the cylinder),
it
will even use it in preference to the cheaper source.

because I want the hot water cylinder to heat back up again after use, as
quickly as possible.
The immersion is set to 40 deg C, and the cylinder stat to 50, so the
immersion only kicks in if the cylinder is drawn on heavily. As a result it
only takes about 10mins for the water to be ready for the next showerer.

Neil

Christian McArdle wrote:

But the performance of unvented depends on your local pressure and flow
rate. There is little point in looking at a friend's system unless they live
next door and have an indentical water feed.

I have used pumped, unvented and heat bank systems. Each one provided a
fantastic shower at high pressure, and not flow rate limited.

What about the options of either a break tank and pump, or a
large accumulator?

How do the costs etc compare?

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

"Rob Nicholson" wrote:

Hello Rob

RN| Is it possible or a really bad idea? Realise that the tank
RN| will empty much quicker than with gravity shower and that
RN| I'll probably have to add a timer to the thermostat (at
RN| present, CH HW running for two hours a day is perfectly
RN| adequate) so that it can re-heat during the morning shower
RN| rush.

HW via a Surrey Flange from the hot water tank. Cold water via a
direct tapping into the cold water storage tank. You're not allowed to
fix a pump directly onto a main, it has to come directly from the
storage tank.

I'm in the testing stages of mine atm. Done all the prelim pipework,
fitted the pump - awaiting january sales for the tiles and suite.

During testing, turning on both HW & CW pump-assisted emptied the cold
water tank in 15 minutes. I'm hoping I'm not going to need all that
for the shower, or I'll have to be quick with the soap!

OTOH, the bath (also pumped) is going to be very quick to fill...

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK
uk.d-i-y FAQ: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/

During testing, turning on both HW & CW pump-assisted emptied the cold
water tank in 15 minutes. I'm hoping I'm not going to need all that
for the shower, or I'll have to be quick with the soap!

What size pump have you used?

Regards, Rob.