water pump

loyatemu

I've just moved into a new house which has an electric water pump in the hotpress. This gives great water pressure for showers but it also comes on whenever I run a tap in the bathrooms and gives far too much pressure (wet trousers and shirts all round!)

anyone got a similar system - is this normal?

I assume the water for all the bathroom fixtures is on the same circuit but it would be better if the sinks were not attached to the pump. Or is there some way to reduce pressure on a tap by tap basis??

garyh3

Hi loyatemu

Moved in a month or so ago to a new house and have the same problem + the pump is really noisy. I have good pressure in the house so I just turned the thing off and have a normal shower. I dont think you can do anything as I spoke to the plumber with regard to turning on the taps and the pump coming on. He said that the shower and taps are plumbed together upstairs. He recommended turning the pump off if you didnt need it.

Dont understand why you have to plumb the taps into the pump at all. Anyone care to explain?

regards

Garyh3

loyatemu

i suspect that they're all on the same circuit and separating them out is just more hassle than the builders can be bothered with.

might see if I can put a switch on the pump and just turn it on for showers - I do like the power shower effect (although it goes through the hot water very quickly).

garyh3

Is your pump on all the time. The Pump we have is a bit of a beast as it has to power 3 showers (2 ensuite 1 Bathroom) but at least they have put a switch in the hot press to turn it off...

Garyh3

loyatemu

it seems to be - the power cable runs into a blank box but I could possibly replace that with a switch.

it would be a bit of a pain turning it on and off though (I fear our water pressure would be a bit weak for showers without it) - is there any way of reducing the pressure in the taps individually, using washers maybe?

Wobs

Hi Guys,

We had a one of those pumps in our apartment. Reason being it was a down stairs apartment, so water tank was downstairs and we needed the pressure. The only thing it didn't come on for was the cold tap in the kitchen. For everything else it came on, Flushing of toilet, washing machine etc. It drove me mad to begin with, but its one of those things you get used to. After a while we didn't even notice it.

loyatemu

word from the plumber - no way of separating the sink taps from the showers
he suggested I put some sort of pressure reducing valve on the sinks that are causing the problem.

rooferPete

Hi,

It should be easy enough to regulate the flow to the wash hand basin, if the plumber is still on site then it should be easier because they know where all the pipe runs are.

I expect the reason the water to the WHB is worked off the pump is because the WHB water supply is taken from the same pipes feeding the shower / bath.

I am open to correction on this but I think all electrical appliances that have any contact with the bathroom must be the wired to "spur" fused but without switches.

.

davidoco

For the bathroom if you can find a piece of pipe to work with, either from the floor up to the sink tap or behind the bath panel, it may be branched from there, you can use one of these

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/343-1892?PHPSESSID=aecbe04861a39591623b22a4bbfab69d

1.5 bar min setting on these would still be good pressure not but the jet hose type. It's a basic diy job you will need two 1/2 pipe/male connector for each end. A plumber would probably charge anywhere from 60 to 100 euro to do the job.

Somethign else to note you should find what the rating of the pump that you have in the hot press is. If it's giving out a very high flow rates then the pressure reducer won't solve that.

tapest

rooferPete wrote:

I am open to correction on this but I think all electrical appliances that have any contact with the bathroom must be the wired to "spur" fused but without switches.
.

Instant showers sometimes have double pole switches (non-fused) in bathrooms, but they are pull cord only to avoid frying (wet hand on plastic switch). Reason for shower switch is to prevent scalding, i believe.
t