combi shower

[mark.s]

Hi all
I am trying to solve the problem of the water flow/pressure dropping in my combination boiler/shower set-up when other taps/appliances are turned on. I'm not a plumber, but just had a thought, has any one ever fitted an on demand pump to the inlet side of the boiler that pushes the water through it at a constant rate/presure?

any thoughts on this would be much appreciated

 

[kay-jay]

"If you put a pump on incoming main you will cause yourself endless amount of problems forcing water through the combi would not be recommended"

What are these endless problems i would cause if i only pump it through at the recommended rate? surely mains pressure forces it's way through the boiler?

forget the pump idea, you are very very unlikely to get permission for an install even within the legal limits as said above.

 

[kay-jay]

assuming that your boiler is adequately sized (37kw is fine) you are left with 2 options both of which will incur a reasonably meaty expense.

run cold feed to shower from a large cwsc in loft fitted with a pump that will balance supply with combi's hot water output. or go for the accumulator

 

[glenno1]

you can only pump what the main is supplying.Problems that could arise are similar to power flushing like leaks appearing

 

[dancinplumba]

there is a thanks icon you can click on mark.s, in the bottom left, if you would like to thank a poster for them giving you their knowledge ??

 

[Mike Jackson]

Kay-jay, i understand that "all that comes out of a combi is what goes in", my problem is there isn't enough going in so there isn't enough coming out.
Thanks for the advice about the pump but "something you need to just put up with" is a typical tradesmans answer to something he doesn't have a solution to!

No it's the only cheap way round the problem.

The installer that put your combi in obviously didn't check that the flow rate was sufficient before he installed it. You now need to overcome that problem.

The best solution is to upgrade the cold main to your property to give you the flow rate you require but before you do this you need to make sure that the local water undertakings supply is sufficient to supply the pressure and flow rate that you require.

If this is not a feasible solution then you are local at either fitting an accumulator, a whole house booster or provided pumped water to the combi from a cistern in the roof space.

I've recently looked at a property with low pressures and due to problems with the main coming in and other site conditions the only proper solution comes in at over 2 grand. The solution the customer has chosen is to live with it as she doesn't have a couple of grand spare.


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[SimonG]

Everything is possible if you are prepared to chuck enough money at it.

Lets have a few more details. i.e. what size is your incoming main?, is it lead, steel or alkathene? Have you spoke to your local water authority?, have you checked your cold water flow?, have you checked your static and dynamic water pressures? How many bathrooms/showers etc are you trying to run?