Advice please - Shower Pump ?

[IanEdwards]

Hello

First time poster, often been a lurker in the past.

So here goes your advice please, we have an en-suite with a Mira Discovery Thermostatic Shower http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/mira-discovery-thermostatic-1792-16357 The shower is at best a slow trickle, to get the pressure up we open all the taps and shower in the house for a few mins which clears air out of the system, cold tap then hot tap..

Although the shower is used a couple of times per day the pressure drops over time and if it isn't used for a few days.

The shower is feed from a tank in the airing cupboard the top of the is about 6inch lower then the shower head, the pipe(15mm tapped off a 22mm pipe) from the tank goes up into the loft then back down into the mixer, the cold water comes directly from the 50G water tank in the loft which can't have much more then a foot of drop.

So would fitting a shower pump improve my situation ? or would I benefit from simply fitting a surrey flange ?

also would I need to pump both hot and cold ?



And can anyone tell me what this is please? I have one in the airing cupboard and one in the loft


Wild guess its something to do with bleeding air out the system ?

 

[muggles]

Yes, a pump would help, and yes you would need to pump both hot and cold supplies. You'll probably need a negative head pump, Stuart Turner Monsoon are the ones to go for, then just pick your pressure.

 

[HERTS P&D]

A Stuart Turner 2 bar negative head shower pump is need.

Andy

 

[IanEdwards]

Cheers guys, do you think fitting a surrey flange would help ?

And correct me if I'm wrong to fit the pump, I would need to run a loop from the cold in the loft into the airing cupbaord, and then in turn to the pump then back up into the loft to the inlet for the the shower ?

 

[muggles]

Yes, you'll need a Surrey Flange, and yes you need to run a supply from your loft tank to the pump, then from the pump to the shower, for the cold supply

 

[IanEdwards]

http://www.bellabathrooms.co.uk/blog/2011/03/shower-pumps-explained/

looking at this web site my system falls more into line with the positive head rather then the negative, or I'm taking the pictures to literally ?

Negative head pumps do seem to be the safer bet, would this be sutible ?

http://www.plumb-warehouse.co.uk/ishop/968/shopscr2604.html

 

[muggles]

The one you've posted will be OK, the Showermate pumps aren't as well made as the Monsoon ones though, all plastic and you only get two years warranty as opposed to five years on a Monsoon. You could also have a higher pressure if you wanted, you might find 1.5 bar to be a bit disappointing. You definitely need a negative head one.

 

[45yearsagasman]

Wild guess its something to do with bleeding air out the system ?

Spot on!

 

[IanEdwards]

Cheers, so is that an auto vent ? that covers the whole system or just the central heating ?

the slotted bit on the top if slightly knurled on the outer edge, it's totally solid thou, probably cos it's been pained at some point in the past