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Pump Showers
A pump shower is a shower that delivers a high flow of water at a high pressure. While this sounds enjoyable, the question needs to be asked – are these showers practical for everyday use? Read on to find out more about this kind of shower.
What are Pump Showers?
Pump assisted showers are also commonly known as power showers. The shower is a mixer shower with an integral pump that increases the rate of flow from the shower head. They can only be installed on low pressure, tank fed systems. A dedicated hot and cold water supply is necessary. Also, the water supply must always be above the unit to ensure that the pump is always primed and does not have to suck any air.
Types of Shower Pumps
There are two types of shower pump:
• The single impeller pump has one driving blade which pumps the water, as it is mixed, to the shower head. This means that it needs to be placed between the mixer valve and the shower head.
• The twin impeller pump is connected to both the hot and the cold water before they reach the mixer valve.
Most pump manufacturers will recommend that the pump is within four metres of the hot water supply and at least 30mm below the cold water tank. The pump must have a dedicated water supply that serves no other outlet and they must also be connected to the hot water supply with an anti aeration flange. An electrical connection is needed.
Pump Showers and Water Usage
Pump showers are high pressure, high flow showers. They are less likely to be affected by variations in temperature, and can produce a lot of water with a lot of force. This is great for people that love a strong shower. However, pump showers use a lot of water and thus can be very water inefficient. In fact, pump or power showers can use more water than a bath! Some pump showers use up to 24 litres of water per minute, while a bath generally uses around 80 litres of water. This means that a 5 minute pump shower will use 120 litres of water. Water efficient showerheads aim to use less than 10 litres of water per minute, and often achieve targets much better than this.
Other Considerations with Pump Showers
They can also be noisy to operate. Pump showers cannot be used in shower installations where it is intended for the water to be heated directly by the shower itself, or where water may only be supplied under above-normal pressures. Because of the extra water coming from the pump shower, drainage needs to be considered. The shower tray or bath will fill up faster than with a normal shower. If the drainage is not sufficient to cope with this, then the pump shower quickly becomes impractical.
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Related Categories
Bathroom
Shower Screens