Shower help

[Wedg1e]

Here at Wedg1e Villas there's a Wickes (Halstead) combi in the loft feeding a thermostatic mixer on the end of about 20 feet of copper, so although it's only mains pressure driven it's plenty. All the central heating pipes drop down from the loft inside the wall cavities, lagged in felt - the radiators start to feel warm 20 seconds after the combi kicks in
When I did all the calculations for the radiators it told me I needed a boiler of such-and-such power: the difference between the nearest-rated Halstead and the one with 25% more poke was negligible so I bought the bigger one As I don't like scalding hot water the thermo mixer is permanently on the blue end of the scale.
The mains pressure here is not bad; I had to fit a pressure reducer as the previous Baxi (spit) used to pop heat exchanger seals; before I bought the place a water leak had brought down the bathroom ceiling below the boiler. To avoid a repeat with the Halstead I keep the pressure below 4 Bar although the boiler can cope with more.

 

[winchman]

We also fitted the next size up as it was very little more, but as you say warms up quickly

 

[sako243]

For whatever reason gas ever goes down, an electric shower a god send

Ah but some of us are still in neolithic times, my hot water is provided by the Aga which was advanced technology when Noah was around. So provided I don't forget to top up the oil tank then I shouldn't run out of hot water and/or cooking facilities (there's also an industrial gas cooker supplied by a bottle outside). Mind you the previous owners put in electric showers into the five bedrooms on the first floor so a moot point.

 

[Brad93]

Vaillant is a very good make, only reason I dont fit them often is they are physically large compared to other brands

Oh yeah, she is a lump in the downstairs walk in cupboard, not had an issue though touch wood.

 

[rtcosic]

But you are only entitled to take 12lpm from the main

I've never heard of a maximum rate a domestic consumer is entitled to draw.

Can you cite the source please?

Are you sure 12 lpm isn't the minimum the water company is required to supply?

 

[Kayos]

I've never heard of a maximum rate a domestic consumer is entitled to draw.

Can you cite the source please?

Are you sure 12 lpm isn't the minimum the water company is required to supply?

It's true, heading off to work now but that's the limit for domestic. If you want more you need a tank or accumulator. If more comes out its bonus but you cant direct pump more than 12

 

[rtcosic]

It's true, heading off to work now but that's the limit for domestic. If you want more you need a tank or accumulator. If more comes out its bonus but you cant direct pump more than 12

Every day is a school day! The mains pressure (and flow) is adequate for my DHW. I never needed to investigate the flowrate and pressure limitations of booster pumps.
No break tank, all direct mains fed system.

Edited for 'clarity'.

 

[Burdekin]

We have excellent mains pressure, so just have combis and thermostatic showers. I like a big change room style overhead showerhead style shower and a really hot shower. For me a proper shower is one of those things in life you want to get right.

 

[8ob]

We have excellent mains pressure, so just have combis and thermostatic showers. I like a big change room style overhead showerhead style shower and a really hot shower. For me a proper shower is one of those things in life you want to get right.

You are lucky, around here its just about average and dropping which is made worse by number direct supply combi`s in use. I genuinely dont know one person thats happy with a combi. Mostly recommended by lazy plumbers, great idea but the supply in and around the town is woefully inadequate. Run a tap anywhere in the house and the shower supply will drop like a stone. I will stick with the storage tanks and pumps, I reckon they would have to run me 75mm supply to match it

Bob

 

[RonA]

When we upgraded to a combo boiler left the hot water cylinder/ 3 way valve in but the hot water in the house is supplied direct from the combo.
The hot water cylinder now only supplies the shower via a double headed pump. The shower is absolutely superb due to the pump supplying both hot & cold water at the same pressure.
RonA

 

[WorkshopChris]

When we upgraded to a combo boiler left the hot water cylinder/ 3 way valve in but the hot water in the house is supplied direct from the combo.
The hot water cylinder now only supplies the shower via a double headed pump. The shower is absolutely superb due to the pump supplying both hot & cold water at the same pressure.
RonA

That sound like a good compromise, I am looking into something like this a its looking like next year I will have to have the bathroom changed to an accessible wet room. The new combi a Vaillant ecoTEC pro 28, combined with our low mains water pressure is not a good combination at the moment.

 

[RonA]

That sound like a good compromise, I am looking into something like this a its looking like next year I will have to have the bathroom changed to an accessible wet room. The new combi a Vaillant ecoTEC pro 28, combined with our low mains water pressure is not a good combination at the moment.

Noted, in another post someone was the pushing the virtue of a gas boiler & an electric shower, to head of future problems should the boiler fail.
In a similar vein I retained the immersion heater in the hot water cylinder. Ditto, should the boiler fail, you can still have a shower till the boilers fixed.
RonA

 

[Farside]

My advice, always have a backup plan

Bingo. My still-to-be-installed preferred shower is a decent flow fed from a tank (pumped if necessary, but usually not, as the head is good and the feed is through 19mm pipe) feeding a gymnasium shower head at who-knows-what L/min, but as backup I have a 10kW leccy job to go on the wall.
Even if the power goes off the hot tank will be heated from the stove in traditional manner.
In the sticks, all that urban stuff I used to take for granted, like 100% reliability of mains power, water, gas, etc, just doesn't exist, and there's a definite need to plan ahead.

 

[Nick67GT]

Have been hear over 40yrs never had a gas failure...

We did, about 3 years ago, for about 3 days when the contractor (Morrisons) replacing the old gas main with the modern yellow plastic stuff, forgot to plumb a feed for our property into the main line.

By the time we got home in the evening, they’d backfilled the trench, made good and cleared the scene. Took ages to convince them it was their doing. Thankfully we had an immersion heater for hot water, but everything else was gas.

Fair play to them, the guy in charge said “just keep your receipts for everything you’ve had to buy or go out for because of our mistake” and they paid in cash as soon as the supply was restored .