My electric shower is driving me crazy – Would a booster pump help?

[Moonlover]

36 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

wow i will have to tell my landlord.

 

I wouldn't bother. There are plenty around who emulate him!

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

21 hours ago, Moonlover said:

It is illegal to connect a pump directly to the water supply.

wow i will have to tell my landlord.

 

The point that most people who do connect a pump directly to the mains water supply don’t think about is that apart from being illegal it’s a bad idea as you can contaminate your, and other people’s, water by doing that.

 

Many supply’s leak the positive pressure keeps the mains supply as clean as it can be. Once you start sucking from the mains supply you can bring in contamination into the water that was kept out by the neutral or positive pressure. So bad practice as well as illegal.

[NCC1701A]

5 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

The point that most people who do connect a pump directly to the mains water supply don’t think about is that apart from being illegal it’s a bad idea as you can contaminate your, and other people’s, water by doing that.

 

Many supply’s leak the positive pressure keeps the mains supply as clean as it can be. Once you start sucking from the mains supply you can bring in contamination into the water that was kept out by the neutral or positive pressure. So bad practice as well as illegal.

yes the water at my house is seriously filthy.  

[NanLaew]

21 hours ago, Crossy said:

If you can locate a shower with a boost pump it would likely help but I've not seen any available for sale here.

Agreed, I haven't seen such in Thailand. The appended Midea brand units were what we have installed in our field camps in Myanmar. They have a thermostat control and an internal booster pump control on the front. This is from lazada Malaysia and Myanmar imports a lot of stuff from Malaysia. We also had Midea air conditioning and fridges and they were all pretty good.

 

 

The fun bit was the installers had plumbed them all in ass about tit so you ended up with shower head AND rain-shower on at the same time. After I sorted mine, I was tasked with visiting all the camps to swap the hoses over; a 5 day exercise involving domestic flights, 4 x 4 jungle transits and river excursions! Amazing where a degree in the earth sciences will take you.

 

 

[tomgreen]

12 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

Pretty much. The non-return valve next to the pump (inside the dotted line) is usually part of the pump unit so you don't need another.

 

Of course our Grundfos is the exception to the rule and came with a separate valve (easy to replace when it started leaking).

 

I would be tempted to use a bigger pump if the shower is upstairs, talk to your local pump shop, they should be able to recommend a unit suitable for your home.

Can I ask another question 

 

One thing that has just crossed my mind is this. Some times the water supply pressure to our house slows right down to a trickle , so if that happens and we are using the electric shower at the time ,  does that mean the pump continues to pumps water from the water stored in the water tank to the shower and what will happen when the stored water level in the water storage tank runs out /low , does the tanks float valve have an electrical switch on it that will shut off the pump should the water level reach near / empty ? 

 

[Crossy]

How long do you spend in the shower to empty a 1000L tank? ????

 

Some pumps do have a zero-flow cutout, but most do not, in this case if the tank runs dry the pump will continue to run until the overheat cutout operates.

 

If you are worried about this possibility you will need to add a float switch to your tank wired to kill the pump on low water.

[tomgreen]

1 minute ago, Crossy said:

How long do you spend in the shower? ????

 

Some pumps do have a zero-flow cutout, but most do not, in this case if the tank runs dry the pump will continue to run until the overheat cutout operates.

 

If you are worried about this possibility you will need to add a float switch to your tank wired to kill the pump on low water.

Thanks 

 

May be i'm just worrying to much ????

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, tomgreen said:

May be i'm just worrying to much ????

 

Yup ????

 

[Gweiloman]

Genuine thanks to all the posters posting useful and helpful information on this thread. 

[CanadaSam]

Does the OP really need a booster pump?

 

Why not just install an external water tank up high?

 

IMHO that would be cheaper and would definitely solve the problem!

[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, tomgreen said:

Can I ask another question 

 

One thing that has just crossed my mind is this. Some times the water supply pressure to our house slows right down to a trickle , so if that happens and we are using the electric shower at the time ,  does that mean the pump continues to pumps water from the water stored in the water tank to the shower and what will happen when the stored water level in the water storage tank runs out /low , does the tanks float valve have an electrical switch on it that will shut off the pump should the water level reach near / empty ? 

 

For the majority of people a 1,000 litre tank will supply enough water for 1 person for 5 to 10 days, so unless your water is completely cut off you are extremely unlikely to run the tank dry. Although I have heard that some teenage girls are capable of trying very hard to use enough water for that!

[Isaanbiker]

On 12/1/2019 at 3:51 PM, VocalNeal said:

Doesn't stop people doing it. Half the street at least where I lived had that set up. 

 

There are some quite small normal looking water pumps. say 80W. If the shower is on the ground floor. Less than 5000 baht. 

It's like online teaching. If people don't see you, nobody would try to make any problems. 

 

     OP< have you checked if there's a smaller ring that only lets a certain amount of water into your heater?

 

  Is it possible that the water consists of a lot of dirt that somehow blocked a pipe? Easy to check. 

 

If so, take it out and the pressure will be much better. 

[Isaanbiker]

4 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

Genuine thanks to all the posters posting useful and helpful information on this thread. 

We have a heater in the toilet of our bedroom with an extra pump built in, should the pressure be low. 

 

[VocalNeal]

On 12/1/2019 at 5:09 PM, VocalNeal said:

Not from HomePro but I have one from Malaysia. But only 3.8Kw  

Jet Pump shower heater

Specs. say min. water pressure needed is 4.9kpa or about 0.7psi. 

 

HomePro? Interestingly the quick read instructions are also in Thai. 

Edited January 5, 2020 by VocalNeal