Low Pressure to Rising Mains Fed Electric Shower

[iac890]

Hi all,

I have recently moved into a Victorian Property and am experiencing some low pressure / reduced flow to the electric shower. The shower works perfectly well in normal operation, but as soon as kitchen tap / washing machine is switched on the shower becomes a trickle.

Some facts about install to answer some questions you may have.

Shower is fed from the rising main and is Triton brand. Kitchen Tap & Washing Machine are both fed from the main. Cisterns and Bathroom Taps are fed from header tank in loft. I have checked and incoming tap is fully opened. Shower head has been cleaned and inlet valve to shower has been cleaned / checked also. Diameter of pipe to shower is 15mm plastic.

I must add that pressure in general especially to the hose pipe is not as strong as to previous properties.

Having read some previous posts, many have advised against a shower pump to electric showers, citing that they are not needed, but in my circumstances do you think this would help ? Alternatively can anyone suggest any solution ?

Apologies for long post but thought it best to provide as much detail as possible.

Thanks

 

[muggles]

OK first off it's illegal to pump direct from the mains, so you'd need to get a loft tank fitted and pump off that if you wanted to go down that route.

Your low flow could be caused by a number of things, including poor supply pressure, small-bore supply pipe, a dicky stopcock that's partly blocking the flow, a stopcock that's not turned on fully, a well supply with a failing pump etc etc.

If your standing pressure is high but your flow is poor an accumulator would help, if you can find somewhere to put one (they're about the size of a washing machine). Failing that you could look into upgrading your supply pipe (if it's lead it may have been crushed by something).

If standing pressure is also low this probably wouldn't help, in which case you simply have a crap supply. You could fit a loft tank and pump off that to the whole house, this would improve things.

 

[iac890]

thanks.

i have header tank in loft so may go down that route, although long term plan is to convert loft and install combi boiler as we want to use the space where hot water tank sits.

have checked and when kitchen tap is on the hose flow is vastly reduced and vice versa.

have double checked that rising main stopcock is fully open. is there a way of testing incoming pressure ?? as I understand it the water board has a duty to supply at suitable pressure ?

 

[muggles]

Beware putting in a combi if you have a large house, most combi boilers won't reasonably supply more than one outlet at once, even with a supply that's much better than yours. Also you'll need a higher pressure than you currently appear to have in order to be able to run one.

You can get a pressure gauge from all good plumbers merchants, generally they fit onto an outside tap thread. IIRC the water board only have to supply 0.7bar minimum, which is not an awful lot.