Mains water instead of cold tank to power shower

[cable_guy]

Hi all,

I am not a plumber, I just come here for advice and tips as a customer of professional plumbers.

I need to replace my power shower unit, but upon investigation it seems that my power shower was plumbed with the cold feed coming from the mains opposed to the cold water tank.

Am I right to think this is bad practice, and I need a outlet plumbing in from my cold water tank to feed this power shower?

Or under any circumstances could I use the mains? OR should I take the power shower back and there are other options open to me?

thoughts welcome, thanks in advance.

 

[Masood]

Are you talking about an electric shower, or a pumped shower with a hot feed from the hot water cylinder?

If it's the former, that's how they're designed to work. The latter, it's governed by how many litres per minute the pump will draw.

 

[jtsplumbing]

It needs feeding from cold water tank , your going to get different pressures that could affect how the shower works, when you say power shower have you got a separate pump that runs the shower ? or is this the built in type that looks like an electric shower ?

 

[cable_guy]

It needs feeding from cold water tank , your going to get different pressures that could affect how the shower works, when you say power shower have you got a separate pump that runs the shower ? or is this the built in type that looks like an electric shower ?

It's the built in type that looks like an electric shower. The pump is inside the shower unit

 

[jtsplumbing]

It's the built in type that looks like an electric shower. The pump is inside the shower unit

Then this needs feeding from roof tank, not made for mains pressure you will damage the unit.

 

[plumben]

As above if its a pumped it needs to have a connection from the cold water tank lower than the feed to the hot water cylinder, All this information should be in the MI's you got with the unit

 

[cable_guy]

OK thanks all, I thought as much, can I assume I can't do anything drastic to get a shower without the plumbing work involved? I guess there aren't other types of shower units which can take advantage of mains cold and hot from a tank?!

 

[ShaunCorbs]

other than fitting a prv and setting it the same pressure as the hot

 

[Riley]

Or do away with hot and just fit an electric shower

 

[jtsplumbing]

Depends on cost, could be more expensive running a cable to consumer unit & maybe a new fuse box if not suitable. even with prv not a good idea to pump mains water, Just get a price to run a 15mm supply from roof tank to shower pump, think that will be the most cost effective solution .

 

[Riley]

Depends on cost, could be more expensive running a cable to consumer unit & maybe a new fuse box if not suitable. even with prv not a good idea to pump mains water, Just get a price to run a 15mm supply from roof tank to shower pump, think that will be the most cost effective solution .

Sorry I assumed by the name he was a sparky

 

[cable_guy]

Depends on cost, could be more expensive running a cable to consumer unit & maybe a new fuse box if not suitable. even with prv not a good idea to pump mains water, Just get a price to run a 15mm supply from roof tank to shower pump, think that will be the most cost effective solution .

thanks I thought as much, I'll get the cost for that thanks again

I'm not a sparky no, I sometimes regret my username choice as it's the same on the uk electricians forum! i think i just watched the Jim Carrey film when I chose it.