Water pressure - electric shower or water pump?

[JohnMalcolm]

Hi All,
I hope you are doing well.
My question is about the dilemma of installing an electric shower or a water pump instead?
The hot water pressure in upstairs bathroom is a bit weak.
I could get an electric shower installed but I also consider a water pump.
What would you suggest? A pump makes a noise which is the downside.
Best

 

[John.g]

A Pump, pumping both hot&cold water, the HW from the HW cylinder and the cold water from the CWST (cold water storage tank) will give you almost any flowrate you require up to say 15LPM. You can also buy a "electric" shower like the Triton Novel SR which has a internal pump, with hot&cold feeds like the above which will pump up to 14LPM, good enough for most needs. The pump noise from the Novel (SR stands for silent running) is quite low.
A all electric shower which has a cold feed only, either from the mains, or as you require, with the cold feed from the CWST, this shower also heats the water but will only give ~ 1/3rd of the flow of the above showers, a 9kw will give ~ 3.9LPM at 40C in the winter and 5.2LPM in the summer.

 

[Ric2013]

If it's only 'a bit' weak, would a Shower Power Booster work? I think they give a 0.6 bar boost, which is like lifting the cylinder feed cistern up another 6m.

 

[John.g]

it may but you would need two to boost both hot and cold.

 

[Knappers]

I like the mira digital showers (mode or platinum i think they're called), pricey but slick!

 

[JohnMalcolm]

I think in my case only hot needs boosting the pressure on cold is strong

 

[Ben-gee]

If all the cold is on the mains and all the hot is tank fed - consider a single impeller pump to boost all the hot. I’ve found this very satisfactory on a number of occasions. Use a Stuart Turner Monsoon pump, choose the ‘bar rating’ to match your cold main. ( if main is very high then put a pressure reducing valve on it down to 3bar)

 

[JohnMalcolm]

If all the cold is on the mains and all the hot is tank fed - consider a single impeller pump to boost all the hot. I’ve found this very satisfactory on a number of occasions. Use a Stuart Turner Monsoon pump, choose the ‘bar rating’ to match your cold main. ( if main is very high then put a pressure reducing valve on it down to 3bar)

Let me get the gauge and measure the pressure but I think it will be a booster pump, right?

 

[JohnMalcolm]

Let me get the gauge and measure the pressure but I think it will be a booster pump, right?

I just checked the water pressure and it's showing 3.75 bar so I reckon I should go for a 4 bar booster pump, right?

 

[JohnMalcolm]

I just checked the water pressure and it's showing 3.75 bar so I reckon I should go for a 4 bar booster pump, right?

The plumber came over and checked the pipework. It looks like installing that pump also involves some serious pipe work and ripping a lot of floor. I think the assumption was to install the pump for the shower only. Wondering if installing the pump for the whole system which is just additional tap downstairs is as complex as this booster pump for the shower.
The electric shower has been chosen but after the electrician has visited it looks like I need to run 20m cable.
The thing is because of that silly pull cord switch I have to run it in the floor then find a way to run it upstairs in the loft then down again for that switch. Do I really have to use that pull cord switch?
So my dilemma is between:
1. booster pump for the whole system provided it's simpler job than booster pump for the shower only.
2. electric shower provided I can use some wall switch instead