Pumping hot / cold water advice, please
Discussion
Hi all.
I am looking for some advice on pumped hot/cold water systems, please. I have 'googled this' loads, but can't find the same situation, so hoping for any plumbing expert P/headers....
We intend to renovate our 2 bathrooms and 1 shower room upstairs and a downstairs toilet. The 2 bathrooms have a bath, a wall mounted shower, a basin and toilet and the shower room has a wall mounted shower, basin and toilet.
Our system is a fairly standard tank gravity fed hot and tank gravity fed cold to all taps upstairs (all upstairs toilets seem to fill via the cold tank and NOT mains)
D/Stairs loo and cold tap is on mains cold supply, so that's OK - I will need to get a basin tap which will cope with the mains cold and gravity fed hot water supply.
I want to do away with the (LOUD) wall mounted mixer power showers we have in all 3 bath/shower rooms and pump the hot and cold to all 3 rooms so there's a central pump for all.
Also, most modernish taps seem to be for highish pressure systems, so I would possibly like to pump the hot and cold water to the 2 x baths taps and 3 x basin taps in all 3 bath/shower rooms, too. So far seems like a straight forward whole house pump is needed... BUT, what I don't want is for any of the 3 upstairs toilets to be pumped (as mentioned, they all seem to fill via the cold water tank in the loft).
Is there a way around this (ie to just pump the hot & cold supplies to all basin and bath taps & showers and not the toilets).
I haven't ripped out the old baths/showers yet, so not sure if the supplies to the toilets "T - off" the supply to the basins/baths. Would this be the case?
I realise that I could have a pressurised hot water system and feed all the cold taps at mains pressure, but this seems like a whole heap of re-plumbing and expense. Is this the case?
Sorry for the waffly explanation above...
Thanks in advance of any help.
Jon
I am looking for some advice on pumped hot/cold water systems, please. I have 'googled this' loads, but can't find the same situation, so hoping for any plumbing expert P/headers....
We intend to renovate our 2 bathrooms and 1 shower room upstairs and a downstairs toilet. The 2 bathrooms have a bath, a wall mounted shower, a basin and toilet and the shower room has a wall mounted shower, basin and toilet.
Our system is a fairly standard tank gravity fed hot and tank gravity fed cold to all taps upstairs (all upstairs toilets seem to fill via the cold tank and NOT mains)
D/Stairs loo and cold tap is on mains cold supply, so that's OK - I will need to get a basin tap which will cope with the mains cold and gravity fed hot water supply.
I want to do away with the (LOUD) wall mounted mixer power showers we have in all 3 bath/shower rooms and pump the hot and cold to all 3 rooms so there's a central pump for all.
Also, most modernish taps seem to be for highish pressure systems, so I would possibly like to pump the hot and cold water to the 2 x baths taps and 3 x basin taps in all 3 bath/shower rooms, too. So far seems like a straight forward whole house pump is needed... BUT, what I don't want is for any of the 3 upstairs toilets to be pumped (as mentioned, they all seem to fill via the cold water tank in the loft).
Is there a way around this (ie to just pump the hot & cold supplies to all basin and bath taps & showers and not the toilets).
I haven't ripped out the old baths/showers yet, so not sure if the supplies to the toilets "T - off" the supply to the basins/baths. Would this be the case?
I realise that I could have a pressurised hot water system and feed all the cold taps at mains pressure, but this seems like a whole heap of re-plumbing and expense. Is this the case?
Sorry for the waffly explanation above...
Thanks in advance of any help.
Jon
If you're renovating and want the best, and your cold mains is up to it, install an unvented mains pressure system.
You'll loose the cold water loft tank, so gain room. High pressure throughout, pick any taps you wish, upstairs taps not compromised due to available head. No annoying pump going off all the time.
You'll need to get a 22mm pipe from your mains stockcock to the cylinder. If it helps, the cylinder can be sighted anywhere. Then a 22mm pipe to the outside or a soil system.
Pumped supplies need a dedicated feed from the tank and a dedicated feed from the cylinder. (Are the cylinder and tank big enough to cope with a powerful pump?).
The pump has to be a fair bit below the tank for it to work. Pumps are also quite costly.
It'll still require quite a bit of plumbing to pump only the showers and not the taps/ toilets. So a whole reconfigured to isolate those supplies.
Oh and again, pumps are annoyingly noisy.
Best if renovating. Job will be a gooden then.
You'll loose the cold water loft tank, so gain room. High pressure throughout, pick any taps you wish, upstairs taps not compromised due to available head. No annoying pump going off all the time.
You'll need to get a 22mm pipe from your mains stockcock to the cylinder. If it helps, the cylinder can be sighted anywhere. Then a 22mm pipe to the outside or a soil system.
Pumped supplies need a dedicated feed from the tank and a dedicated feed from the cylinder. (Are the cylinder and tank big enough to cope with a powerful pump?).
The pump has to be a fair bit below the tank for it to work. Pumps are also quite costly.
It'll still require quite a bit of plumbing to pump only the showers and not the taps/ toilets. So a whole reconfigured to isolate those supplies.
Oh and again, pumps are annoyingly noisy.
Best if renovating. Job will be a gooden then.
Thanks so far, guys. Couple of useful ideas.
I did kind of assume that I'd maybe have to go down the mains pressure system...What sort of cost do you think such a system would be, installed?
(Oh and Gingerbread, I thought I recognised the username - I'm a fellow "Caterham-er" and I've read loads of your posts re:living with a Caterham - legendary!!). (Also, Matt, good to get advice from a fellow "Staffs-er" - I'm originally a Stokie)...
I did kind of assume that I'd maybe have to go down the mains pressure system...What sort of cost do you think such a system would be, installed?
(Oh and Gingerbread, I thought I recognised the username - I'm a fellow "Caterham-er" and I've read loads of your posts re:living with a Caterham - legendary!!). (Also, Matt, good to get advice from a fellow "Staffs-er" - I'm originally a Stokie)...
An unvented system would be my go to choice. But it requires a strong water mains, flow and pressure. If yours lacks, it'll probably have to remain a tank fed system.
You could lift the tank, then have a bank of pumps underneath designated to each bathroom. Or a digital shower which has it's own pump.
Either way the pipes will need exposing and configuring. Low pressure bath, basin and wc's. Then the shower pipes will require separate feeds to the pump/ pumps.
The pump/s will need a direct feed from the cylinder and also from the cold water tank.
If your showers are currently pumped, they may have separate rubs. Or they'll be tagged off the bath supplies.
But unvented would, if possible, be the best way to go.
My Caterham's currently sailing the 7 seas in a steel box.
You could lift the tank, then have a bank of pumps underneath designated to each bathroom. Or a digital shower which has it's own pump.
Either way the pipes will need exposing and configuring. Low pressure bath, basin and wc's. Then the shower pipes will require separate feeds to the pump/ pumps.
The pump/s will need a direct feed from the cylinder and also from the cold water tank.
If your showers are currently pumped, they may have separate rubs. Or they'll be tagged off the bath supplies.
But unvented would, if possible, be the best way to go.
My Caterham's currently sailing the 7 seas in a steel box.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff