Mains boost pump in top-floor flat

[Kevan C]

Background

• I have a small one-bedroom flat in the roof space in a victorian house. There are three floors below and each floor has a single one-bedroom flat. The mains pipe bringing water into my top-floor flat is 15mm copper pipe. There is a water meter in the flat and a stop valve.
  
  
• There is no loft space in the flat so It has a combination tank - copper open vented hot water cylinder with a built in cold feed tank - located in a cupboard in bedroom. It supplies hot water to the bathroom with a bath and small sink and to kitchen with a single sink and washing machine.
  
  
• Pressure is one bar. I’ve checked this and the flow rate at different times of the day and the flow rate is always a little under 8 litre per min - around 7.5. The flow doesn’t change during different times of the day and is consistent.

Changes I would like to make

• I would like to remove the bath and instal a shower.
  
  
• I would like to remove the fortic/combination tank to free up the cupboard space in the bedroom as space is at a premium in such a small flat and replace with another solution for hot water.
  
  
• I would like to replace the electric wall heaters for another heating solution.

Advice needed
I’ve been looking at different solutions for all this but the main issue to resolve first is to get a solution to increase the pressure and flow rate

One option to boost the flow rate is to instal a Salamander Home Boost pump. This should hopefully increase the flow rate to 12 litres per min and pressure to 1.5 bar. Most of the information I can find online is about installing these mains booster pumps in in a standard home.

Question: Are there issues with installing a mains booster pump doing in a top-floor flat like mine e.g. impacting water flow for neighbours?

If a mains booster isn’t possible in top-floor flat I could put a water break tank and pump so it wouldn’t impact the neighbours and would give better flow rate and pressure - and maybe more options for the changes I want to make - but I would need to find the space for the water tank. I looked at a Powertank COMPACT – Fixed Speed Whole House Water Pressure Booster: 125ltr

Question: Would this be a better solution - or would it be overkill for a solution for a small flat like mine?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Do you know if you have a shared main eg each flat comes off the same pipe ?

 

[Kevan C]

Do you know if you have a shared main eg each flat comes off the same pipe ?

It's a typical property in the area in Hove built in mid 1800s - the cold water feed pipe running up to top floor flat can be seen in stairs below the flat then disappears. So am guessing we all have individual pipes coming into flats but they may join a shared pipe in property somewhere in ground floor or basement. I'm not sure if a property like this would have flats with water connected to mains directly.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Probably all off one main hence your problem the issue is if you boost yours all the other flats will get worse and you could have complaints

Might be best speaking to all and maybe the water board to see if you could upgrade ?