Booster Pump for hot water low pressure, any advice please!

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iapple

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#105681 7-Jul-2012 20:41

Hi my hot water is a low pressure one, and I am thinking of install a booster pump with the hope of making the hot water pressure a bit higher,I have a look on trademe and find one http://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/bathroom/showers/shower-heads-mixers/auction-490638044.htm but not sure this will work.

I just wonder if any one here have used it or would recommend a solution to booster the hot water at my house without to install the main pressure ,Thanks

Jaxson

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#652362 7-Jul-2012 21:03

Be careful where you install this, as you'd want to make sure your pipework is rated to the higher pressures you now want to send down it.

gzt

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#652370 7-Jul-2012 21:11

I'm terrible at plumbing but I'm guessing if the mixer and shower head are low pressure there may be a need to replace that at the same time.

Remember these pumps are on or off only - you cannot control the flow rate / pressure. Related to that you cannot control the activation flow rate either. This will not be problem if you have the correct shower head and mixer.

Batman

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#652384 7-Jul-2012 21:51

get the correct hot water cylinder?

itxtme

2102 posts

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#652387 7-Jul-2012 22:08

Got one installed as a stop-gap measure. It worked fine until I could afford to have a high pressure cylinder installed. Mine was installed on the other side of the cylinder. It did what it said it would, and made showers bearable, and the plumber said it was fine and installed mine for me.

It has a couple of drawbacks

1) The auto spring used to get stuck open, this meant that the auto function wouldnt turn off so had to go to the pump and turn it off - fixed this by putting a pressure valve thing in front of it so if the tap was off it could release all the way (not called a pressure valve but dont know the correct name)
2) Noisy - very very noisy
3) Started leaking at one of the joints, I fixed this with ++++ thread tape...

And then I got a high pressure cylinder about a year later - 10X more pressure than even the pump. If you get a high pressure cylinder you will have to get heads changed in your roof, you will also probably need to replace your show head/unit, I could empty my tank in 15 minutes with a mains pressure tank and a low pressure shower, much better when the new bathroom went in, lasts a good 45 mins.