Increase pressure for shower/bath in main bathroom

h0neybadger

Hi guys,

Rented property...

We have 4 bedrooms. On 3 floors.
Hot press is on middle floor, and has tank and pump.

Top floor - 1 x En-suite pump fed shower.
Middle floor - 1 x En-Suite with pump fed shower.
Main bathroom - bath tub, with gravity fed shower.

The main bathroom is mine to use. However, the pressure is pure muck, as it doesn't use the pump, just one of those gravity fed shower heads attached to the bath tub taps.

The 2 En-Suite showers have great pressure.

I requested permission from landlord to upgrade the bath tub shower.

Option 1 - Install Electrical shower. Rejected due to electrical cable routing back to fuse board. It's too big a project to run the cable there.

Option 2 - install a second pump to feed the bath/shower in the main bathroom. No additional pipes need to be run, plumber said it's a very simple job to setup.
Estimated a price of €300 inc installation/labor etc.

Landlord has rejected both ideas. I believe it's due to cost.

So, I'm looking for alternate solutions to increase the pressure, as it really is a useless shower...

Any suggestions?

kennethsmyth

I know it shouldnt really cost you money, but if you can talk with the landlord to go 50/50 its a 150 euro and it might go towards a very good future relationship with landlord that shows you can negotiate etc.

I'm not a landlord, and the above is purely voluntary, however it could rectify your issue.

Sleepy

One simple thing to test is the shower lead. I had always assumed these were made to a standard spec but there's different width bores to the pipes that run through them.

Changing one that had a narrow bore to a wide bore made a huge difference to the gravity fed shower in our main bathroom. Pressure still isn't amazing by any measure but it's usable now which it wasn't before for the sake of a €15 upgrade.

Another thing worth checking out is installing an Ionic Shower head, they're all over the place at the moment (Living Social, Pigsback, Wish, eBay, Amazon etc.) and only cost about a tenner.

Neither, nor both, will rival a true pump fed power shower but they're two simple upgrades which you'd fit in 15 minutes for the price of a round of drinks and once you keep the originals safe, you wouldn't even need to consult your landlord.

h0neybadger

cheers lads.

so, I checked the width bores and they're tiny... like, the pipe is thick. but the hole in the middle, could barely fit a pencil inside.

So I had a look in some stores, and they're all thin bores.. asked store staff, and they told me they don't stock them anymore, as this is the standard "water saving" techniques..

So I'll order online and see how it goes.

Have also emailed landlord and offered a 50:50 split on the cost. Hopefully she'll say yes!

Sleeper12

h0neybadger wrote:

Option 2 - install a second pump to feed the bath/shower in the main bathroom. No additional pipes need to be run, plumber said it's a very simple job to setup. Estimated a price of €300 inc installation/labor etc.

h0neybadger wrote:

Option 2 - install a second pump to feed the bath/shower in the main bathroom. No additional pipes need to be run, plumber said it's a very simple job to setup. Estimated a price of €300 inc installation/labor etc.

300 sounds too cheap on this. You'll pay more than this for the pump alone

h0neybadger wrote:

So I had a look in some stores, and they're all thin bores.. asked store staff, and they told me they don't stock them anymore, as this is the standard "water saving" techniques..

Buy a Triton shower hose. 15 euros for a shower one but if you have it attached to the bath mixer then you will need a longer one so could be 20 or 25 euros. These are designed for electric showers and have a very large center hole that won't restrict the water. A Triton electric shower head again won't restrict the water. At the end of the day you are governed by the head height of water. Changing the hose & head will help but don't expect miracles. Woodies sell triton hoses and heads

listermint

Sleeper12 wrote: »

300 sounds too cheap on this. You'll pay more than this for the pump alone



Buy a Triton shower hose. 15 euros for a shower one but if you have it attached to the bath mixer then you will need a longer one so could be 20 or 25 euros. These are designed for electric showers and have a very large center hole that won't restrict the water. A Triton electric shower head again won't restrict the water. At the end of the day you are governed by the head height of water. Changing the hose & head will help but don't expect miracles. Woodies sell triton hoses and heads

Got a beautiful refurbished Stuart Turner Monsoon for 200. Its been working superbly.

Sleepy

h0neybadger wrote: »

cheers lads.

so, I checked the width bores and they're tiny... like, the pipe is thick. but the hole in the middle, could barely fit a pencil inside.

So I had a look in some stores, and they're all thin bores.. asked store staff, and they told me they don't stock them anymore, as this is the standard "water saving" techniques..

So I'll order online and see how it goes.

Have also emailed landlord and offered a 50:50 split on the cost. Hopefully she'll say yes!

eBay is your friend for this. That's where I got our one at least.