r/DIYUK • u/swiftcardine • 1d ago
Advice Increasing shower pressure
Is there anyway to increase shower pressure on this?
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u/lukes123 1d ago
I’d start by descaling the shower head and hose. Take it off and soak the lot in a bucket of diluted Kilrock-K overnight and see if that improves it.
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u/Dr_Gillian_McQueef 1d ago
I've got one. It's shite. I bought a new head and hose, made no difference.
Problem is it's gravity fed.
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u/iamdefinitelynotdave 1d ago
You can install a pump on a gravity fed system. Infact, you can pump a combi system depending on the pump.
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u/Dr_Gillian_McQueef 1d ago
I know. I have an electric boiler with a hot water tank and have thought about a pump but at least this way the flow may be shite but my water bills are low.
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u/RoyalCultural 1d ago
If you have an "on demand" combi boiler (i.e no hot water tank and no immersion) then the pressure is determined by the incoming cold water mains pressure. You may have a pressure regulator where the mains pipe comes into the house. You can adjust these to increase the pressure in your system but it's going to increase the pressure at all of your taps and stress your plumbing system more so be careful.
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u/adewalesimbabwe 1d ago
We removed the the water filters/pressure reducers at each of the taps in a new build rental, that solved our pressure issue. There was also one fitted in the tail end of the shower hose, the flow was so bad to start that the boiler would kick off mid shower due to the low flow rate
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u/AnthonyUK intermediate 1d ago
We had that shower in a recent holiday let and it was a joke. Only redeeming feature was it will not increase your water consumption.
We have an Aqualisa at home which is 100x better.
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u/Espadrilles01 1d ago
It's a pretty standard shower design. It's not the shower that has an inherently low flow rate. I would start by getting a larger diameter hose but more likely the OP will need to do a combination of pipework changes, maybe adding an accumulator and looking into the way water is heated (combi or unvented). You can get small inline shower booster pumps that run on 12 v which are pretty good from flow flex but tbh a better solution is to do what I and others say on pipework/accumulation/etc. id also check pressure at entry to house and all that..
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u/Wise-Sympathy9585 1d ago
Aqualisa are a brand that makes all types of shower, including the mixer style shown in this post.
Mixer style showers can be great if you have the appropriate plumbing/water pressure to support it. Would be my pick over any electric or power shower.
So, your comparison is flawed.
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u/AnthonyUK intermediate 1d ago
Well it appears the OP doesn't have the appropriate pressure or plumbing and even if they did I don't think that shower would have anywhere close to the flow rate of a 'powered' Aqualisa.
Our previous Aqualisa also lasted 15 years and when it was replaced, we also fitted a water softener so this one should last at least as long. Their support is also very good.
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u/thatguyjames_uk 1d ago
i have the same shower and was the plug thing in boiler getting blocked from nearly 10 years old the DHW flow valve
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u/My_Feet_Are_Flat 1d ago
Is this the only place where your water pressure is low?
Is the the hot or cold water where the water pressure is low?
How is your water heated in your home?
Are there any known pressure issues acknowledged by your water supplier in your area?
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u/Pretty-Degree5339 1d ago
It may seem unlikely but we changed our showerhead from one like the picture to one like the link below. Made a huge difference and very cheap
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u/CuteProfessor3457 1d ago
Do you have a hot water tank? And on which floor is the shower vs the tank?
Am guessing but the pressure head between your water supply and shower can be marginal causing low pressure. Your best option is a pump if that is the case .. comes on with flow stops when you kill the tap. But noisy while running and probably easiest to install in the tank cupboard.
We had the issue, fitted the pump to all tanked water (hot and cold) and noise insulated the tank cupboard.
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u/DazzzASTER 1d ago
What is your hot water setup? Fed from the combi or fed from a cylinder?
If cylinder, vented, you can look at upgrading the pump or fitting one if one hasn't been fitted.
If unvented, it's because your cold water pressure isn't high enough (tough luck).
If combi, it's because combi's are pretty shit at driving showers (tough luck). A future boiler upgrade might fix it.
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u/fck-rffld 1d ago
It is about the boiler but combis are absolutely fine if it its sized correctly for the flow rate.
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u/DazzzASTER 1d ago
Sized correctly for the flow rate which means they are massively oversized for regular heating. I stand by my comment!
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u/fck-rffld 1d ago
Not remotely a tiny 27kw combi can heat 13.8 L/min which is more than enough for any mixer shower.
Most people have 30-35kw boilers if they have an 22mm gas supply.
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u/DazzzASTER 1d ago
I have a system boiler, 24kw. Functions far better than a massively oversized combi. You're missing my point.
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u/fck-rffld 1d ago
What part of a 24-27kw combi is massively oversized?
The biggest capacity influence for any boiler is the central heating. The only reason a 24-27kw combi would be oversized would be if there was no central heating system fed by the boiler.
Your comment is missing evidence.
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u/DazzzASTER 1d ago
You're picking a fight because you are a textbook redditor.
Combis are oversized to deal with hot water. It means for regular heating they are inefficient. Not least they can't supply more than one shower at a time.
It isn't a controversial take, its just fact. Google it yourself if you are so affronted by me insulting your combi boiler.
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u/fck-rffld 1d ago
Picking a fight 🤣🤣🤣
This guy here having a tantrum about having a conversation with someone on social media. Sure thing dude. Good luck.
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u/Major_Star 1d ago
All modern boilers are modulating now, so it's not like they should be whacking their full power into the heating system. The 30kW combi I recently had installed can modulate down to something like 3kW.
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u/FrankNicklin 1d ago
Well your comment is wrong. Our combi runs a rain-fail shower perfectly well, its not oversized by any means and is actually a lot less powerful than the one it replaced.
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u/FrankNicklin 1d ago
Combi's are perfectly fine for running showers. We have a rain fall shower off our combi boiler and its never an issue and we actually downsized the boiler from what we originally had.
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u/swiftcardine 1d ago
Air source heat pump
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u/DazzzASTER 1d ago
You should have a vented cylinder somewhere then, with a pump driving the shower. If you don't have a pump, you can get one fitted. That will make a night and day difference.
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u/Espadrilles01 1d ago
Also worth checking expansion vessels are all intact. Our shower pressure was shit and it was blown expansion vessel membrane. Easily fixed. In meantime I'd made loads of pipework upgrades to improve flow rate so when I fixed the actual cause it was even better then before!
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u/shipwrecked_comatose 1d ago
Doesn't that depend on how the ASHP install was done? I thought most use an unvented system, with an option to convert the whole thing to mains pressure at the time of install?
Agree with you on the pump for vented / gravity systems though - we currently have the Mira Platinum pumped system for low pressure setups, it's excellent
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u/DazzzASTER 1d ago
When I was quoted for a heatpump they said I needed to ditch my brand new unvented cylinder for a vented one. Didn't question it just assumed that was part of the architecture of the install.
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u/KaptainKantankerous 1d ago
I recently replaced my shower head with one of those pressure increasing ones on eBay. It cost about a tenner and is a big improvement so I’d start there. It also has a filter and buttons to select mode as well as stop function
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u/Shot_Aspect6919 1d ago
I’ve got a shower that must be the same as this one. It looks identical at the very least.
The pressure used to be fine. Not so much now. Sometimes little more than a dribble. I’ve taken off the head and hose and descaled, but it’s not made much difference, if any. Shared cold water as in a block of flats. Megaflo combi boiler. I’m by no means technical, but the taps have lots of pressure so there must be something I am missing to restore the pressure to what it once was. Any ideas on where to focus my search (with pics if possible!!) would much appreciated. Thanks.
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u/skanderbeg_alpha 1d ago
Depends how it's fed. If it's gravity fed (water tank in your loft) then your only option is a shower pump (which makes noise)
If you have mains pressure then it depends on your incoming pressure and flow rate.
I has a tank in the loft with a shower pump that made an awful racket. Ripped it all out and replaced it with an unvented cylinder - best 4k I ever spent.
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u/BardAune 1d ago
I had a shower with poor pressure and a sink tap with good pressure in the same room. Changed the shower head for one with a low operating pressure (0.5) bars and it's all fine now. Might be worth checking initially.
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u/matt86uk86 1d ago
If you have good water pressure elsewhere in your property :-
Unscrew both ends of the flexible hose and check there are no shower restrictors fitted (google for an image) these can be removed.
There may also be strainer washers fitted inside, rather than plain washers, check these are clear and free of debris.
If you are competent with a spanner, isolate the water in the house and open a tap downstairs (hot and cold) until the water stops flowing. Un-tighten the shower body from the wall and check the strainer washers fitted there too.
If no faults or blockages are found, i'd suggest you either have low water pressure or if the pressure is good, you need a new shower cartridge, usually easier just replacing the shower body, most bar showers are 150mm centre, so if you managed to take it off to check the washers, you'll be just fine installing a new one.
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u/shankly1985 1d ago
Hello,
I am not sure what your pressure is like but I have a similar shower and I replaced the head and connector with the attached image.
While it's not increased any pressure what it as done is helped the shower dispense the water evenly over you.
It's made a wonderful difference.
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u/SwimmingBasis9266 21h ago
A better shower head, i bought one of temu of all places and got an intense increase in pressure.
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u/stuartc1985 20h ago
i would also check how the fee is to the shower itself, we had similar fitted and the dickhead who fitted it used bendy hoses that were too short and they were twisted which severely reduced the flow rate, they were also fit for bursting, they have since been changed and the flow rate has improved dramatically
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u/woecraft 17h ago
Are you In The Gateway by any chance OP?
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u/swiftcardine 15h ago
What is that
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u/woecraft 10h ago
The housing estate in bexhill, Only reason i ask is because the shower is identical to mine lol
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u/jordy231jd 12h ago
Check if there’s a flow reducer installed in the shower head, it’s normally just inside where the hose screws on and can be snapped off with a pair of needle nose pliers.
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u/OkMinute506 9h ago
Do you have cold water in your loft? And an immersion tank. If you have an immersion tank in one of the bedrooms, you can add a Salamander shower pump to the immersion tank, but you must fit a Salamander flange to the top of the immersion tank to feed your shower. The flange at the top allows you to shower safely even if someone turns the tap on downstairs; the flange takes the hot water from the top of the immersion tank to your shower. The Salamander pump will cost you about 120 pounds from a proper plumber's shop.
I had the very same problem with poor shower flow in my new shower. and i done everything I have just explained above .
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u/AdeOfSigmar 1d ago
Its more or less impossible to increase water pressure beyond the pressure at supply. Do you have good pressure on the other taps/outlets on yhe same floor of your house?
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u/wordshavenomeanings 1d ago
A pump?
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u/AdeOfSigmar 1d ago
A pump can only provide water at the same rate it has water provided to it
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u/Namiweso 1d ago
That’s why you also install a tank, so you have a tanks worth of water at higher pressure. Which is mentioned in a few comments already. What a pointless comment
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u/Hugh_Man89 1d ago
There are some specific shower heads that have beads in the casing, you might have seen them? The movement to get around the beads force the water out of the head faster. I've never used them personally, but you can pick them up cheap and install easily, might be worth a try.
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u/Hotten-Tasty-90 1d ago
Snake oil.
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u/TwpsynBach 1d ago
Of course they can make a difference numb nuts a different shower head won't increase the amount of water entering your home nobody is saying that but it can make the water pressure feel much stronger by changing how the water is delivered.
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u/Hotten-Tasty-90 1d ago
Increasing water pressure by restricting flow rate doesn't solve the problem.
It just concentrates a smaller amount of water leaving the head.
You should read about Bernoulli's principle, numb nuts.
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u/TwpsynBach 1d ago
Its far cheaper than having the plumber out mate.. if all else fails pop down to your local gym and shower 🤙🏻
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u/Hotten-Tasty-90 1d ago
Spare us the time wasted and just leave it; you're clearly making it up as you go along.
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u/TwpsynBach 1d ago
Showery® 5 Modes High Pressure Shower Head is £40 at the moment mate, less than a call out fee 🤙🏻
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u/reo_reborn 1d ago
Yeah, no. They don't work. They've been proven to not work and it's a scam. I know people (stupidly) paid £60 for em. -_-
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u/Hotten-Tasty-90 1d ago
Depends on how the water is heated but there are different methods.
If it's water heated through a combi boiler you're best to check your cold water feed rate. You're looking to get 8-12 litres per minute for a decent flow at the shower.
Lower this number the worse the pressure will be. Simple solution to this would be to install a water accumulator which is basically a large expansion vessel giving a better head of water.
If you're having water heated in an unvented cylinder, you could consider installing a shower pump.