Replace gravity fed domestic water system with pressurised

[collieb]

HI,

Interested in hearing views on pros and cons of changing a gravity fed domestic water system with a pressurised one. I have 3 showers which all have brutal pressure, not to mention the taps in sink, and I thought that, rather than trying to put in 3 pumped showers (which would be diffiult owing to position of showers, lack of available power sources and having to rip out tiles etc), I could solve all my problems by replacing the cylinder with a pressurised one. The showers have thermostatic valves but the sinks have ordinary separate hot and cold taps. The hot press is directly below the storage tank and there is a mains supply in the hot press already for the pressurised heating system, in case the domestic pressurised system needs to be run from the mains.

So what are the issues involved - is it simply a matetr of switching thanks, installing a pump and everything shoudl work, or are there a load of things I am missing??

 

[alert]

I have something very similar in my house, three showers and all water, except for kitchen mains, comes from the pump.

Ensure that the pump is placed between the storage tank and the pressurised immersion cylinder then take a "T" out of the pump outlet, one branching to the cylinder, (for hot water), the other to your cold taps, this way you ensure same pressure for both waters at your showers.

The only issue people usually have with this system is the noise of the pump, it doesn't bother us but everyone's different. Also a pressurised cylinder is quite expensive - I think they're usually installed when people switch to solar collectors so you might want to consider this avenue, if you've the money and patience.

ALERT.