Mixer Shower - Cylinder Downstairs All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[g10ayr]

I'm wanting to fit a thermostatic mixer shower but my hot water cylinder is downstairs. Does that mean I have to fit a pump on the hot water supply or will the shower just not be that powerful but still operate OK without a pump?

The shower I'm using just now is the kind that comes off the taps, when I want the taps I push the button down and when I want the shower I pull it up, pressure seems OK which makes me think I'll be OK when I install the mixer unit.

Your help is much appreciated.

Regards,
George.

[AdamsHeating]

Hiya!

Is it a vented or unvented cylinder?

if it is unvented you will have mains pressure hot water so nothing to worry about, if it is vented then you will have a cold water storage tank, probably in the loft.

As long as the cold water tank that feeds your cylinder is higher than the head of the shower you will always get pressure at the shower. I'll assume that your cold water tank is in the loft, if you raised the tank you would get more pressure conversely if you lower it you get less pressure.

The distance between the cold water tank and the hot water cylinder is know as "head of water". 10meter is approx= 1bar

So the short answer is, yes as long as the tank is above the head.

AH

[AdamsHeating]

oh and by-the-way, check that the thermo shower works with both low and high pressure.

The unvented system works at high pressure.
The vented system works at low pressure.

...mix them up and the shower will almost certainly be damaged. All showers say what they are compatible with so just read the instructions before you buy.

You can install a pump on the vented system to give you an extra boost, some will take you up to 3 bar, but if you already have decent pressure, it's just extra cost, but if you want to exfoliate without lifting a finger, install one.

One thing to watch out for is that it is against the water regs to pump mains water so if your hot is fed by a cylinder and the cold is mains, you won't be able to add a pump unless you bring the cold feed from the tank as well...

confused?!! I am!

Hope this essay helped, i'll post the references later!

AH.