Thermostatic Shower

[XamSpeP]

I want to upgrade my shower to a Thermostatic Valve, high preasure 14in shower head and body jets.

I've had a manual mixer in the past and it had very poor performance, especially in the morning and in the winter. Low preasure and extreemly low flow rate. So i currently have a 9.5kw electric shower which i'm also not very impressed with as in the morning it has very poor flow, and also doesn't seem to be able to cope with the current low temperatures.

To combat this i was thinking of installing 2 100 Gallon tanks in my loft, they would both feed into a pump, one to the combi boiler to become the hot feed, and the second the cold feed.

Is this allowed, as i know you cannot pump mains, but i wouldn't be pumping it at the mains as it would be pumped after the tanks.

So first question is can I pump from a tank into the boiler?

Are there boilers on the market that have multiple in and out feeds? My current boiler only has Central Heating in and out and Water feed in and out.

If I can get a boiler with multiple inlets then my whole system will not have to be pumped.

Sorry if this is a little unusual, i'm not a plumbing expert. I've had bad experience with tradesman in the past, i'm sick of dealing with shoddy workmanship so if i know what needs to be done i can ask them right questions and keep a close eye on things.

 

[XamSpeP]

I've attached a crude drawing to give an idea as to what I'd like to acomplish.

Untitled

• XamSpeP
• 11 Jan 2009
• 1

 

[Fluffster]

Yes you can pump to a combi but it should be a fully automatic pump not just a shower pump model.
Also the pressure and flow rate should be in line with the boiler mi.
I would recommend a pressure regulating valve too.

Pete

 

[XamSpeP]

Thanks for the quick reply!!

Sorry to be a pain, but does anyone know of any websites with the required pump type listed.

I've done a few Google searches but I've no idea if I'm looking a the right thing.

Thanks again!

 

[swbjackson]

Go to http://www.grundfos.co.uk/

If you contact them with your requirements they will be able to recommend a pump for you.

 

[JamesMo]

Hi XamSpeP,

I don't believe you will be able to achieve what you want from your current set-up. My concern is around how you are obtaining the hot water - in this case via a combi boiler. The problem is you will only be able to extact somewhere in the region of 12-15 l/min of hot from the boiler.

Your diagram shows 4x body jets and 1x large overhead shower. From experience each body jet will require 4-6L/min (minimum) and the overhead is going to need at least 12-14 L/min - thus with the whole lot turned on your going to need something in the region of 38 l/min of water - your combi bolier will not be able to satisfy the needs of your shower set-up and the whole thing will just run cold or extremely low flow.

The only way that you can achieve what you want is to employ a different means of supplying the hot water - either through pumping a gravity fed system or using a higher-flowing mains pressure system (e.g. megaflo).

Hope this helps you

 

[XamSpeP]

Thanks, this is the kind of information I'm looking for. I do my best to search but I can't seem to find anything useful...

Apologies if I'm being overly optimistic but I, unfortunately, always use the shower when demand is at it's peak. So I'm really looking for top performance.

I was shocked to hear the requirements of body jets, I thought they'd be around half of that. If that's the case I'll probably scrap the idea.

What's the typical flow rate of top range Combi boilers, I'd be prepared to pay the price for a good one, providing it will cope with the demand.

Thanks.

 

[XamSpeP]

I've had a bit of a re-think, how about a system that requires 18l/m. Above it says that I'd get around 12-15l/m from a combi, so together with the cold water, would I have enough flow to supply this new design.

Cheers.