Cost to improve water pressure

C14N

I've just moved into a house and only found out after moving that the water pressure is pretty poor, both from hot and cold. The house has a standard unvented cold tank in the attic and an 88L hot water cylinder in a hot press. Mains pressure in the kitchen tap eems to be pretty weak too though. Seems the previous owners basically relied on an electric shower inside the attic conversion as there is no shower set up to draw from the hot water tank, only a bath. However, the electric shower is unreliable and often cuts out. Not sure whether its because its being incorrectly fed from the mains or if it's because it's in the attic and the cold water tank is just struggling to get any kind of pressure to it.

Either way, what we want is to install a shower that can connect to the hot water cylinder, probably just in the bathtub, and preferably with pretty high-pressure water. I asked at Tubs and Tiles about showers and they said they'd recommend minimum of a 2-bar pump, but preferably 3-bar for good pressure, so I'd probably rather go with the 3-bar if I could.

Most plumbers I called up said they wouldn't be free to do any work for at least another month, but one gave me a quote for a 3-bar pump and installation of about €1600 for a 3-bar brass Stuart Turner pump. Is that a pretty reasonable cost for a new pump install? It seems a bit high, especially since he quoted a price of over €300 less for a 2-bar pump, and searching online, prices don't seem to generally be that much higher for 3-bar compared to 2-bar.

Also, would a 3-bar pump realistically require a bigger hot water tank to supply it? 88L seems particularly small, and I'd be worried it could get used up entirely in just a few minutes if the flow rate was 15 L/min. Same plumber quoted about €1000 to replace the tank. I just don't really know if that's reasonable or not, I've never really dealt with plumbing issues before.

Ethereal Cereal

I'm in a similar boat to you, like most traditional Irish homes, I have one electric shower, gravity fed from the watertank in the attic. I think most people live off one electric shower. I would look into why your not getting sufficient water pressure first.

Recently my shower started cutting out. I called a plumber out to have a look and he suggested I might not be getting sufficient water pressure to feed the attic tank. The downstairs tap has ok pressure, but it looks like the pressure isn't enough to flow up to the attic. I have to call IrishWater to get them out to check from the external supply if there is enough pressure coming into the house. If there is, there is likely a leak between my house and the external supply.

Do you need a powerShower? Which will require an additional pump. I looked into it before, and as you suggested, they are water intensive, not sure my attic tank would cope. My parents have a pump in their house for the powershower, but its a new home, that is not gravity fed, and the pump often gives them trouble.

Disclaimer, I am not a plumber and know very little about plumbing. I have no problems being corrected if anyone thinks anything I said above was in-factual.