Pressurised system or Gravity system?

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pudzer

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I've just been researching taps for my new build. At the planning stages, my plumber tells me that I opted for pumps on my showers and a gravity system on my taps.

Whilst Looking at taps and talking to the sales assistants in the shops, it appears that 'the way to go' is a pressurised system on your taps also.

I am useless at plumbing (and my plumber knows this!) so, any advice on the best way to go would be very welcome.

Also, as a btw, we have UFH downstairs and rads upstairs.

Thanks in advance.
 
Having your shower pumped is a good way to go, really improves the water pressure. Cant see any major reason why you would want to have the taps pumped. Gravity would be fine. I have this system and it works fine. Your plumber sounds as if he is giving good advice.

"my plumber tells me that I opted for pumps on my showers and a gravity system on my taps."
I think this means that the plumbers price includes for pumped shower and gravity taps. If you were to go with pumped taps a larger, more expensive pump may be required..
 
Many of the taps you see on sale are high-pressure fittings, these need a pressurised supply, either by a pump or Combi boiler etc.

I think what your plumber is talking about here is having booster pumps in-situ for selected showers rather than a pressurised system.

I can't see why you would have a pressurised (pumped) system for the showers and not bother putting the taps on it too.

SSE
 
Do you not trust your plumber?. I would follow his advice. If you are fitting a pump I would only connect it to the showers for two reasons.
1 To lengthen the life of the pump
2 Pumps make noise, every time a toilet is flushed or tap turned on it will sound, not great when its the early hours of the night/morning.

Do make sure you get low pressure taps if you decide to go with the gravity system. Alot of the taps here come from main land Europe and they are designed for high pressure systems and have restrictors built in.
 
DavyJones said:
Do you not trust your plumber?. I would follow his advice. If you are fitting a pump I would only connect it to the showers for two reasons.
1 To lengthen the life of the pump
2 Pumps make noise, every time a toilet is flushed or tap turned on it will sound, not great when its the early hours of the night/morning.

Do make sure you get low pressure taps if you decide to go with the gravity system. Alot of the taps here come from main land Europe and they are designed for high pressure systems and have restrictors built in.
Click to expand...

Are we talking about the same thing? If you do this you'll end up doubling up on the pipework to each bathroom with a shower in it! One for the gravity-fed taps and one for the pressurised showers, plus you'll have to have the hot water tank upstairs (the pointless "hot press") to get any sort of head and you'll have to have the pump next to it. With a pressurised system you can put the tank on the ground floor in a utility room, right next to the pump.

You need to buy a pump and thermostatic valve anyway - just don't buy cheap ones. You can place the pump on a cork base to reduce noise. We don't even worry about ours, it's barely audible.

OP - give me a shout if you want the details of what we did - UFH downstairs, rads upstairs and fully pressurised hot and cold water.

SSE
 
All showers must have seperate feeds and should never be be tee'd off for WHB and toilets. Always follow manufacturers instructions or your warranty is invalid.

the hot feed should be tapped directly from the cylinder(using a essex or surrey flange) via the pump and the cold likewise, being tapped directly from the storage tank. 3/4" feeds will service two showers comfortably.

Sharing supplies with WHB and toilet, kithen sink (hot feed) is not recommended, if water demand is high, the shower will under perform. showers need a constant, uninterrupted supply at all times, thermostatic and manual.

Where you fit the cylinder is completely irrelevant, The height of the cistern/tank (usually in attic) dictates the pressure at the outlet e.g tap.
 
Not exactly the info you are looking for, but having moved into a new build 2 years ago, I really wish that I had spec'd mixer taps for all WHB's, doing it now is a major hassel, but every time I get my hands roasted ...................:mad:
 
I put a pump outside in my garage. All my taps and showers are off it except the mains water to the kitchen. It is brilliant and means we can have the powers showers and quick delivery of water in the house. Definitely recommend it if you have somewhere to store the pump so you cant hear it. I know there are other smaller pumps out there that may not be as noisy as mine.
 
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