Low Water Pressure and Shower Useless

[m00rfarm]

We have low water pressure in a house in the UK. We have a convention gas boiler for heating water in the tank and for the radiators. The shower pressure is so low that it is almost impossible to rinse conditioner from hair unless the hair is very short. What sort of shower (electric? pump?) will work to make the water flow faster and provide a normal shower experience?

How bad is the actual house pressure for a start ? For a rough idea use the sink tap on full flow and a 10 ltr bucket. How many litres per minute do you get ?

An electric pump in the airing cupboard will do the job

A pump will sort this you can get ether a pump to boost the mains water coming in or a power shower pump
best asking a plumber

whilst power shower pump will increase shower pressure from storage tanks they still need to refill at a decent rate to keep up with PS pump

That is great info - thanks to all of you.

If you are on the Low Pressure register the water companies can also fit a pump and help towards running costs. That’s what happened to us anyway as we are only 300m away from the reservoir and water needs distance to build up pressure apparently. We had the same problems as you.

You can get Severn Trent out to test the water pressure from the road, as if it’s too low they have to address it.

You can get showers with built in pumps or put a pump on your water supply. They’re relatively inexpensive and quite effective.

Water companies have to provide water at a pressure of at least 0.7 bar, or pay you compensation. More info here: https://www.ccw.org.uk/faq/what-standards-are-guaranteed-by-water-and-sewerage-companies/

We were quoted the same for a pump to boost the mains water or a new combi boiler which would increase the water pressure everywhere. We went for the combi as we were upgrading the heating anyway. It was great having pressure in the taps and decent flushing toilets at long last.

It's unlikely to be the water pressure to the house that's low. I bet your kitchen tap is just fine. It's having stored hot and cold water feeding your upstairs taps and shower. The only pressure you have from that arrangement depends on how much higher the tanks are than the tap/shower.

As others have said, a pump will sort it BUT you need to check how big each tank is. A strong pump will empty a small tank too fast for the water to refll/reheat. The only solution then would be either change the whole system, get rid of the storage tanks and have a combi boiler fitted or fit a high wattage electric shower (which, like a combi, will run directly off the mains supply).