Shower pump DIY

kyeev

Hope this helps someone...

I decided to fit a pump to boost the pressure in my two showers.
I looked all over boards.ie and elsewhere and couldn't really find much help so I've decided to write down my own experiences.

First off, from reading around I quickly realised increasing the height of my cold tank in the loft is a waste of time, so I had to go down the pumped route.
Then I read plastic pumps are noisy, liable to wear, but are cheaper.
Brass pumps are quieter, more reliable, but more expensive.

So I shopped around and got a grundfos brass 2.0 bar positive head pressure pump for 400 euro.
Best price I could find around Galway. You could probably get one a bit cheaper online. Amazon were cheaper but of course they have the UK 22mm and not 3/4 inch connections.
Also because my hot tank is in the hot press, which is below the cold tank in the loft, I can use a positive head pump (which is cheaper than negative head pump).

Due to the plumbing system put in, I had no choice but to install the pump to pressurise the entire upstairs pipework (i.e. there was no separate pipework running straight to the showers).
The plumber had run 3/4inch pipe to the main bathroom and branched everything off that to the main bathroom and ensuite with 1/2 inch pipe using 90 degree compression joints.
So I'm stuck with that. (I'm in a new build so its my own fault for not checking - I didn't have the cash to add pumps at build stage)

The hot tank, has a T bar connection for the outlet hot pipe, one direction heading off downstairs and the other for upstairs.
I actually bought a essex/warick flange to replace the T-bar for the hot tank to prevent air trapping/cavitation but since my hot tank is set to 60 degrees, it doesn't seem to be causing any air trapping so I haven't bothered changing it. Cost about 35 euro so I think I will return it.

With 3/4 inch qualpex (plastic) pipe, connected to the copper pipe running down from the hot tank T-bar, going under the floorboards, the tricky bit was how to connect the pump?
I switched the hot and cold isolating vavles off, cut the pipe under the floor boards right beside the hot tank, drained maybe a pint of water into a bowl, added two more isolating valves so now I can take the pump out easily if needed in the future.
I ended up putting 90 degree compression joints connected to 1 meter qualpex pipe which loops up to connect to the pump's flexible (vibration reducing) hose inlet and then the outlet loops back down to connect to another 90 degree joint. I made sure to remove all the debris from the pipe cuttings, installed the mesh filters that come with the pump and ran water through the pump before turning it on.

So, even with these multiple 90 degree joints in the system, the shower strength is terrific, like a hotel shower is how I describe it.
The pump is plugged into one of them remote control plug sockets so we just turn the pump on and off as needed for showers/bath_fill with the remote control screwed in between the main bathroom light switch/extractor fan.
Otherwise the entire system is pressurised, including the toilet cisterns and basin taps (not needed especially at night).
With the pump switched off, there does not seem to be any decrease in the pressure we had in the taps/cistern before the pump was fitted.

All in all, cost me 400 euro for the 2 bar pump, 5 euro for 10 meters of qualpex pipe (plus compression inserts), 12 euro for 4 x 3/4 inch connectors, 16 euro for 4 x 90 degree compression joints, 8 euro for isolating valves and the flange was 35 euro but will return it. I'd say it took me 2 hours to do the whole job. Cheers.

John T Carroll

Looks good but you might give consideration to changing the shower heads to ones suitable for 1.5 to 2 bar pressure as with the existing ones you will get a huge flow but if you throttle in the flow (for economy or whatever reasons) the spray pattern will be very poor then whereas if you fit the proper ones you may find that you can still have a very fine shower with a lovely spray pattern but at a reduced flow and you wont empty the hot water storage tank too fast and save a few bob into the bargain.

Sleeper12

kyeev wrote:

The hot tank, has a T bar connection for the outlet hot pipe, one direction heading off downstairs and the other for upstairs. I actually bought a essex/warick flange to replace the T-bar for the hot tank to prevent air trapping/cavitation but since my hot tank is set to 60 degrees, it doesn't seem to be causing any air trapping so I haven't bothered changing it. Cost about 35 euro so I think I will return it.

Put in the flange, you'll be sorry in the long run if you don't.

Don't expect to notice air in the hot pipe. The air are tiny air bubbles. These hit the pump at high speed & cause damage to the pump. It will dramatically shorten the lifespan of the pump. It also voids the warranty.

kyeev

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Put in the flange, you'll be sorry in the long run if you don't.

Don't expect to notice air in the hot pipe. The air are tiny air bubbles. These hit the pump at high speed & cause damage to the pump. It will dramatically shorten the lifespan of the pump. It also voids the warranty.

Didn't realise that.
Will put the flange in so.
Thanks sleeper

John T Carroll

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Put in the flange, you'll be sorry in the long run if you don't.

Would you recommend doing likewise for a Triton AS2000XT which a neighbour is getting fitted next week?. Its supposed to have a maximum flowrate of 14 LPM.

Sleeper12

John T Carroll wrote:

Would you recommend doing likewise for a Triton AS2000XT which a neighbour is getting fitted next week?. Its supposed to have a maximum flowrate of 14 LPM.

Most of the shower manufacturers used to recommend a flange but they are now happy with a tee off the hot pipe. This is for power showers and not stand alone pumps. Stand alone pumps should have a flange.

The tee can be taken off the pipe coming out of the top of the cylinder before it reaches the vertical pipe. The tee must be facing down. Bring the pipe down 6 to 8 inches and come back up in a bend. You can run the pipe wherever you want then. They are happy that there'll be no air.

You can also take a tee from the vertical pipe but it MUST be below the top of the cylinder. They are happy with both of these set ups. There will be diagrams in the installation manual in case I'm not making sense.

I always recommend to anyone doing this type of work that for only a little extra work and very little cost they could change the three quarter inch valves for the hot and cold to lever valves. Around 10 euro each. They never seize up and you can shut them down in 1 second flat. I won't fit any other type of valve.

John T Carroll

Thanks very much for that, I'll certainly pass this on . John

air

Other points to note is to try and get full bore lever valves if possible, they will provide less restriction.
Finally the 22mm English supplied connections can be used fine on 3/4 in if you just change the olives to 3/4in ones. At 28mm you have to change both the nuts and olives (for 1in ones).

RCSATELLITES

The vibration couplers in the UK are 22mm push fit, you will need to get a reducer from 22mm to 3/4". Very easy done.

John T Carroll

Sleeper12 wrote: »

The tee can be taken off the pipe coming out of the top of the cylinder before it reaches the vertical pipe. The tee must be facing down. Bring the pipe down 6 to 8 inches and come back up in a bend. You can run the pipe wherever you want then. They are happy that there'll be no air.

You can also take a tee from the vertical pipe but it MUST be below the top of the cylinder. They are happy with both of these set ups. There will be diagrams in the installation manual in case I'm not making sense.

The Plumber installed the friends hot water take off from the top of the cylinder, brought it down 6 ins and then back up, as above, but the shower flow was still inclined to be a bit erratic, the plumber then changed the hot water supply to an already installed Tee in the vertical pipe about 4 to 5 ins below the top of the cylinder and the shower has performed perfectly since. The service guy at Triton said that his own preference would be the installation via the vertical pipe route.
The thermostatic function seems to give excellent control of the desired temperature.

Thanks for the advice.