Electric Shower - Pressure problem

lukeod

Hi,

Any help would be appreciated on this shower problem!

Situation

• A Mira electric shower installed in bathroom, but there appears to be insufficient pressure.
• Water tank is maybe two meters above the bathroom in the attic, with a 15mm pipe supplying water so maybe no surprise the pressure is low

Questions!:
Generally, can a 1.5 bar single impeller shower pump be used to boost pressure for an electric shower?

If so, is a centrifugal pump suitable, situated in the attic about 60cm below the water tank?

I'm hoping this will be a case of installing a 1.5 bar centrifugal pump underneath the water tank to boost the pressure and satisfy the electric shower.

Any advice would be great!

whizbang

would you not just plumb it into the mains supply?

(cue a gaggle of "no you can't; yes you can" posters)

Maybe plumbing and heating is a better place for this??

lukeod

Thanks the the reply!

No mains supply to connect to! It's a rainwater system pumped from a storage tank outside to the header tank in the attic.

whizbang

Wow, Good stuff. I'm no good to you so!

lukeod

Thanks anyway.

Any other ideas out there?

LIFFY FISHING

The minimum static head you will need on the pump is 1 meter, in other words the pump will need to be 1 meter below your tank, so if you raise your tank and install a negative head single impeller 2 bar pump it will work.

lukeod

Hmmm. Raising the tank is not really an option unfortunately... Nor is lowering where the pump would be for that matter!

Thanks for the responses anyway.

Johnboy606

Hi did u try cleaning the little gauze filter under the cover? I had same prop and cleaning the filter did the trick! Or better again leave it out altogether gives even better pressure!

lukeod

It's a new shower actually, so that probably won't be much help.

Thanks anyway!

whizbang

If the shower is locking out due to low pressure, it might help to increase the pressure at the spray head; by replacing the head, or if its an adjustable, put it to the mininum flow.

Ano the head pressure includes the height of water, so if the top of the water level in the tank is 1Meter above the pump, then your covered!

lukeod

Thanks all. I ennded up just replacing the shower with one that pumps the water itself, so all sorted.

Thanks again for the replies.