Fascinating, I know, but I'd really appreciate some opinions.
We have a tall, old house with very low mains water pressure. This is ok usually, but in the top floor en suite bathroom, the taps don't work at all whenever any water is running in the rest of the house.
Apparently the only way to improve this would be to fit a pump which would pressurise the whole system. Cost about £1,000 plus labour. Running costs? unknown. And it would make a noise all the time, and has the potential to break down, and we'd have to find somewhere to put it. I think they are about the size of a wheely trolley suitcase.
We are considering whether to put a shower in that top floor en suite. The shower in the main bathroom is fine, and I use it every morning before work. DD is 11, DS is 9. At the moment they have baths in the evening, but very soon I foresee a time when they will be showering for hours every morning, and I think it would be really helpful to be able to have a second shower.
The plumber has said that fitting a pump only to the proposed new shower won't work, it might give a decent flow rate for a minute or two at best.
Our water is mostly solar heated so it goes into a cylinder with a boiler attached. There are no cold water tanks.
So I have two sorts of questions:
i) is it a good idea to instal a second shower to accommodate teenage requirements, or would it be more practical just to have one shower where I can bang on the door if necessary and insist on a user timetable to prevent DD from draining the cylinder every day?
ii) has anyone had experience of living with a whole-house pressurising pump?
any other thoughts?