Loft Conversion and Loss of Pressure When Using Several Taps or Showers Together
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chris101
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Loft Conversion and Loss of Pressure When Using Several Taps or Showers Together

by chris101 » Wed Jan 24, 2018 5:57 pm

Good Evening,

I previously posted on here as we are having a loft conversion in March 2017 (2 bedrooms and a bathroom) and originally thought we needed a megaflow type system up in the loft with a new boiler (as our current boiler is a combi). However, after having British Gas out today to look at other options, we are not too sure what is the best option with least disruption.

Our current combi (Potterton Titanium 33kw) is located on the ground floor kitchen area and if any pipes needed to be added from the current boiler, it would need to travel around 5.5-6meters to get to the loft.
We currently have 2 bathrooms in the house (will be 3 bathroom once the loft conversion is completed).

We have a 22ml blue main supply pipe that enters under the house (partially accessible/visible from the cellar and then buried under concrete in the kitchen area which T's off to a water softener (which feeds the boiler and the rest of the house) and one cold feed only to the garden tap.
We also have 2 zones of under floor heating in our kitchen/diner.

The water pressure currently from all our taps and both bathrooms when used independently are fine (we believe 3+ bar), however, when using two or more taps or showers at the same time, the pressure significantly reduces.

It seems we have the following options -

1. Unvented hot water cylinder and either a new system boiler or our current boiler modded

We have been told this option will require multiple pipes running from our current boiler to the loft, which will require taking up some of our kitchen floor to access the pipes and then running it up through the house/walls to get to the loft.

2. An electric power shower in the new loft bathroom (no disruption)

3. Vented Cylinder with a power pump and cold water storage tank.

This is the first time we have come across this option but have been advised that only one 22ml main supply pipe will need to travel to the loft room and connect to the cold water storage tank and then the cylinder could be heated up via existing 15ml radiator pipes? (I think I may have misunderstood this option but hopefully one you can correct me).

We were really keen on the vented cylinder option due to the fact we would have the least disruption and it seems far cheaper than the Unvented cylinder option however our main priority is that we end up a quick supply of hot water and good flow rate in the loft.

Any suggestions/help would be much appreciated.

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