Plumbing pressure question - diverter, will it work?

[JimmyP]

Hi All,
So about to order a new bathroom from some company or such, let's call them BathSnore. I need some advice on Bath/Shower taps and whether I can use a 'diverter'.

I currently have an old school set of bath taps which have a pull switch which will divert the water into the attached shower pipe and hey presto - I have water coming out of the shower head fixed to the wall.

I want to replace the bath and of course the taps and fancy a wall mounted bath/shower tap. The one I like the look of is £129 and is called a "Metro built in manual valve with divertor". Apparently it needs an operating pressure of 1Bar. Surely this will be fine??? Is this not what I have already but a wall mounted version???

I am a skin flint, agreed, but to get something that is operable at really low pressure (0.1 bar) from the same company is £399!! That's ridiculous.

Please help, hope to make my purcahse this weekend!
JimmyP

 

[Richard C]

Apparently it needs an operating pressure of 1Bar. Surely this will be fine??? Is this not what I have already but a wall mounted version???

If your operating pressure is less than 1 bar then no it won’t work; modern ceramic taps & diverters etc. have ceramic valves which require much higher operating pressure. Even with the low pressure version, if you have a gravity fed system the minimal static head you’ve most likely got will give very disappointing shower performance; another way would be to fit a shower pump but that will cost you even more.

 

[JimmyP]

Hi Richard - thanks for the fast response!

Ok so it sounds like I need to measure the pressure - any easy, non expensive way of doing this. Can I put my thumb over the end of the shower hose and get a rough idea of the pressure? (don't laught too loud if this is ridiculous)

Do both the hot and the cold pressures need to seperately be above 1 bar?

Ok so I should add some more details in case you can advise me further. I live in a one bed flat. It is all on one level. I have a Worcester 24CDI boiler providing hot water directly to the shower (and rest of flat). I am on the 1st floor of the building and my cold water pressure/flow is phenomenal. My hot water flow is not too rapid but currently with the old style bath and shower diverter taps I have a pretty good shower. To control it I open the hot tap to max and then control the cold to regulate temperature.

However I have no idea about the actual pressure of the hot or the cold water. What I can tell you is that when you first open the hot tap there is a impressive 'burst' of water that comes out and then it settles to a constant stream. The cold water also has the impressive burst but it just keeps on coming!

I don't want to buy a pump. What I really need to ascertain is whether I need to fork out for the low pressure expensive option.
Are there any other 'inexpensive' options I should be looking at?

Thanks,
JP.

 

[Agile]

With a mains supply like yours it probably will work.

But its not the static pressure but the dynamic pressure thats relevant.

You can measure pressure with a gauge you buy for about £15 if you want to be sure.

But even that may not give you the information you need to have to know if it will work.

Tony

 

[mysteryman]

Come on, Tony, you know better than that! Do try to be helpful, not just smart.

He's said that the mains pressure and flowrate are excellent. What the OP needs is a good quality combi-compatible shower mixer and no pump.

 

[JimmyP]

Thanks Agile Tony and MysteryMan.

So the cold water flow and (and I assume the pressure) is truly stunning, barely opening a tap gives a good steam of water. However the hot water flow from my boiler is much much reduced.

Ok so we're talking dynamic pressure, do I need to check +1 bar for cold and also +1 bar for hot?

MysteryMan - would you expand your comment - "a comb-compatible shower mixer."

Errrrrrr..... For all I know you could be asking me to get a left handed spanner

Keeping things simple, this is what I was looking at:
http://www.bathstore.com/_applicati...-in-manual-valve-with-divertor-1097.html?pg=0

OR

http://www.bathstore.com/_applicati...-thermostatic-shower-bath-valve-284.html?pg=0


Thanks,
JP.

 

[mysteryman]

You may have noticed that I have edited my spelling mistake!

I meant a combi-compatible mixer - one that is designed to be fed by a combi. This should cope with the cold and hot supplies such as you have described. You don't need a pump because you have plenty of pressure from your main.

 

[JimmyP]

Thanks MysteryMan,

Will ask the BathSnore highly skilled and professionally trained Saturday job experience lad tomorrow

JP.