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General Plumbing and Gasfitting Talk => Ask Plumbers (Public) => Plumbing => Q & A - Water Pressure => Topic started by: sooms on April 13, 2013, 01:22:15 PM

Title: Low pressure in our upstairs shower (header tanks)
Post by: sooms on April 13, 2013, 01:22:15 PM: We're currently experiencing rather low pressure in our upstairs shower. It is fed by a header tank which goes into a new topliss brand mixer. The header tank in question feeds the whole top story with hot water and no where else seems to experience the low pressure we get with the shower.

To explain out setup better, the house is two story with showers both upstairs and downstairs. The downstairs shower is also fed by another header tank which is right beside the other one and has no pressure problems.

Would raising the header tank for the upstairs shower improve the pressure much? It looks like we can raise it about 250mm. It is currently 1.6m above the shower head, which is 200mm above the recommended height.

Any other ideas on how we can improve the water pressure in the shower would be appreciated as well.

Thanks,
Andrew.
Title: Re: Low pressure in our upstairs shower
Post by: Plumber on April 13, 2013, 06:37:30 PM: Hi Sooms, I believe you have answered your own question. With the header tank being so close to the shower your bound to have lower pressure than ground level. Raising the tank by 250mm wont make much of a dent in it to be honest. You can try by I doubt it.. I think the best way to improve your pressure is to look at better low pressure tap ware (quick and cheap), replace the header tank with the correct feed valve or convert to mains.

In any case get a local licensed plumber to come around and have a look, there are several ways to skin a cat in this situation. Here a link to help find someone >> http://www.plumbers.co.nz/business/
Title: Re: Low pressure in our upstairs shower (header tanks)
Post by: anthonyc12 on July 21, 2013, 08:42:33 PM: i think you need professional care here. contact a plumber and let him do his work. you can go for DIY but it can cause you lots of mess which might take lots of money to redo.
Title: Re: Low pressure in our upstairs shower
Post by: Rod Roc on March 14, 2014, 05:28:27 AM: Quote from: Plumber on April 13, 2013, 06:37:30 PM
Hi Sooms, I believe you have answered your own question. With the header tank being so close to the shower your bound to have lower pressure than ground level. Raising the tank by 250mm wont make much of a dent in it to be honest. You can try by I doubt it.. I think the best way to improve your pressure is to look at better low pressure tap ware (quick and cheap), replace the header tank with the correct feed valve or convert to mains.

In any case get a local licensed plumber to come around and have a look, there are several ways to skin a cat in this situation. Here a link to help find someone >> http://www.plumbers.co.nz/business/

This is a very good answer. Thanks for the input.
Title: Re: Low pressure in our upstairs shower (header tanks)
Post by: robbo on March 14, 2014, 11:56:25 AM: hi sooms, convert to gas hot water then all your problems will be over,cheers