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mains water pressure and getting rid of water pump

deffo19

Just moved in to our new place in Dublin (result!!!!), mostly loving it, but now thinking if we can get rid of the noisy water pump in the bedroom press and let the taps work on mains pressure. Kinda surprised there is a pump at all, it's only got 2 floors and the mains pressure seems fine downstairs. The pump is on a block of foam but still noisy enough to wake the kids, and it stays on a long time after water has stopped being used. I guess it's refilling the loft tank?

There's no bath, but a shower where it would have been. Gas boiler downstairs for shower, taps and radiators, but it seems to be filling a tank in the hot press instead of running directly to the taps/shower. Hot water doesn't come on demand, I had to set the times in the control panel.

What I'd like is to get an electric power shower installed that can pump and heat its own water on demand (would be upstairs), and let the cold taps run from the mains and the hot ones direct from the boiler. Then we could get rid of the pump, the cold water tank in the loft and the hot press tank.

I don't know much about this but guess the boiler would need changed to a combi that does instant hot water? Although we can live with the hot taps running cold when the boiler is off. And would the existing pipes likely have problems with different pressure, compared to using the loft tank?

Really just looking to understand why the house is set up like it is now, before I start calling anyone for quotes on work. It seems more complex than it needs to be, but is there a problem with using mains water here? Seems like the only thing we would need high pressure for upstairs is the shower, and I hope a power shower would fix that.

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Comments

10-10-20

Hi, welcome and congrats.

About this pump, it might be there to pump the incoming mains, but it's probably justified if it is, otherwise maybe it's just to boost the hot and cold taps and maybe it's also filling the cisterns (it should not be on the cisterns). Try turning off the pump for a day (such as a Saturday) and see if the main tank in the attic recovers quickly between showers. Upload photos of the setup if you can.

[Deleted User]

No one is going to lock you up for making the changes you are suggesting but it's worth pointing out that Irish building regulations state that mains should only feed the cold water at the kitchen tap and the attic tank. Everything else should be fed from the attic tank.

carveone

My place is a single floor apartment fed from an attic tank. The previous owner stuck in a pump to boost the cold feed from the attic and the hot feed from the tank via a Surrey flange. So it feeds the toilet as well (which I found alarming) .

I found it pointless and noisy, have never used it and the pressure was fine for me. Also it was dying anyway and sounded like a bag of nails in a blender. A plumber scoffed athl the water flow but I said I need to wash my hands, not take the skin off! I bet it'd be different if we all paid for water.

The built-in isolation valves have been very useful though as one gate valve is jammed and the other doesn't quite shut off. I won't diy those in an apt block though.

I just changed the taps and the flow rate jumped noticeably. The old ones had filters full of limescale.