Rainfall Shower Help needed

Bandara

Hi all

could anyone advise of the pressure requirments/things I need to check before installing one of these?

Am thinking of getting one put into my ensuite but have heard that they require lot of pressure to get the desired full flow effect

I live in an newish apartment block, in which each apartment has its own water pump.

Any advice greatly appreciated. (I know they use a lot more water than a regular shower)

thanks

Outkast_IRE

If you want a strong shower i wouldnt reccomend these heads , i have installed top of the line Grohe ones and they are designed for a rainfall effect not a strong invigorating shower,
The type i installed had the rainfall head and the normal shower head on a rail , even with a 3 bar shower pump and excellent pressue in the normal shower head the rainfall shower head simply wasnt that strong its not designed to give a strong shower like what you are describing.
I would say a lot of them are pressure restricted to achieve the rainfall effect.

I would reccomend the combined rail with shower head and a rainfall head above you this way you get the best of both worlds.

As for pressure requirements that could change depeneding on manufacturer as they put pressure restrictors etc in . Best bet is to pick the shower you want and find out off of manufacturer what the optimium pressure is then get the pump to suit

slavetothegrind

i see you are in an apartment so you may have a relatively small hot water tank.
This will give you a relatively short hot shower with a head of high flow rate!

In case you or the missus are liking the long soak!!!;)

I'm guessing you had the experience in a hotel and want to replicate?

Joey the lips

For apartments no a rainfall head over 6" will not work.

The reason being is that the draw of water for a 12" head required a 3 bar pump and a large volume cylinder so change the head and this is what you will get


Standard Head

---

12" Head
1,5 Negative head pump

---

3 Bar negative head pump
standard 317/144 Copper cylinder

---

42 x 18" indirect insulated c/w new closet water tank

Budget on Parts above 2k for parts and 2k for fitting.

Now thats a cold shower...

paddy147

I just had a Grundfos 3 bar water pump installed and a rainfall type shower system in my ensuite.

The water flow and power is brilliant.The shower head is a Nikles XL 180 chrome shower head.It extends out off the ensuite wall by 300mm,and then the shower head itself is 180mm in diamater.Im very happy with the end result.:D

Bandara

Thanks very much for all the replies lads

I think its back to the drawing board !

Regards
HT

Joey the lips

paddy147 wrote: »

I just had a Grundfos 3 bar water pump installed and a rainfall type shower system in my ensuite.

The water flow and power is brilliant.The shower head is a Nikles XL 180 chrome shower head.It extends out off the ensuite wall by 300mm,and then the shower head itself is 180mm in diamater.Im very happy with the end result.:D

Did you change the size of your cylinder.... or what is the current cylinder size

paddy147

Joey the lips wrote: »

Did you change the size of your cylinder.... or what is the current cylinder size

Whole new central heating system installed,havent a clue on tank size,just know thats its a tank and it holds water.The only reason why I know the type of shower head,is because the plumber left the box and booklet for it down by the side of the ensuite sink.

I aint no plumber,and never will be.

paddy147

I,ll take a pic of the shower head in the morning.

Too lazy to do it now,and Im too comfy watching the TV and enjoying a cold frosty bottle of beer to move now.:D

Joey the lips

paddy147 wrote: »

I,ll take a pic of the shower head in the morning.

Too lazy to do it now,and Im too comfy watching the TV and enjoying a cold frosty bottle of beer to move now.:D

You dont need to... You answered the question with the picture. 42x18 ind insulated cylinder. If memory serves correctly you were asking about excessive noise. Did you sort the problem with the tile.

paddy147

Joey the lips wrote: »

You dont need to... You answered the question with the picture. 42x18 ind insulated cylinder. If memory serves correctly you were asking about excessive noise. Did you sort the problem with the tile.

Yep,its a fair bit less noisy downstairs now.

Thanks for the tip.:)

Bandara

Ok maybe there is hope for me, my cylinder is wayyyyyy bigger than Paddys (na nah na nah na )

Is it possible to get this working decently with this cylinder?

Joey the lips

Hammertime wrote: »

Ok maybe there is hope for me, my cylinder is wayyyyyy bigger than Paddys (na nah na nah na )

Is it possible to get this working decently with this cylinder?

Yes its way bigger but its 317/144 most likely. In lay persons terms Your cold tank is sitting directly on the top of your hot tank.

Do you see that little indent that looks like the indents of a womens hips... Below that is the size of your hot cylinder which in lay persons terms again means its tiny....

Sorry, There is not a chance you will get away with a 3 bar pump here.

paddy147

Grundfos 3 bar pump and the Nikles shower head in action.:)

yoshytoshy

Paddy ,that job you got done looks great. One thing I didn't spot in the picture of the cylinder is a thermostat for the water.
You can save yourself a few quid having one installed.

paddy147

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Paddy ,that job you got done looks great. One thing I didn't spot in the picture of the cylinder is a thermostat for the water.
You can save yourself a few quid having one installed.

Well,its the plumber that did it all,the only thing I did was open my wallet.

Tell me more please about the shower thermostat.
Would it be hard to have 1 installed,and where would it go?

Ive 2 hardwired thermostats on the walls on the landing,and in the sitting room,but I presume thats just for the central heating and keeping at the correct temps downstairs and upstairs??

yoshytoshy

paddy147 wrote: »

Tell me more please.Would it be hard to have 1 installed,and where would it go?

Ive 2 hardwired thermostats on the walls on the landing,and in the sitting room,but I presume thats just for the central heating and keeping at the correct temps??

Usually your stats are powered from your clock and in turn power your valves ,then your boiler is powered by your valves turning.

What boiler do you have ?

paddy147

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Usually your stats are powered from your clock and in turn power your valves ,then your boiler is powered by your valves turning.

What boiler do you have ?

From looking at my tender list,is says the following........................


the tank is a 300l dual coil stainless steel fully insulated tank with a motorised temperature valve to shut off the hot water cycle when the set temperature is reached.Imersion heater as a back up.


may aswell be chinese to me.

yoshytoshy

You should be alright so. It's hard to tell from the photos that theres a stat there ,sorry.

You can usually control the temperature yourself from the front of the cylinder ,but you might have control down at the boiler panel.

paddy147

yoshytoshy wrote: »

You should be alright so. It's hard to tell from the photos that theres a stat there ,sorry.

You can usually control the temperature yourself from the front of the cylinder ,but you might have control down at the boiler panel.

Theres a Siemens control panel on the wall in the kitchen beside the boiler,and then theres some sort of small LCD screen with a number on it,at the bottom of the boiler.

yoshytoshy

It's a long time since I installed a siemens/landis gyr clock. But I don't think you have temperature control there.

You should locate the control of the water temperature ,it can save you a few quid by lowering it and still having enough hot water.

paddy147

yoshytoshy wrote: »

It's a long time since I installed a siemens/landis gyr clock. But I don't think you have temperature control there.

You should locate the control of the water temperature ,it can save you a few quid by lowering it and still having enough hot water.

This is what the Vokera boiler looks like,so Im presuming that I am able to adjust the hot water temp from this??