Some plumbingy advice would be appreciated here people.

Our second bathroom is at the other end of the house from the hot and cold water tanks, 20m pipe run minimum, about 1.8m head of pressure. Currently the shower relies on gravity and has a very poor flow-rate. We have a re-circulating pump in the hot water tank cupboard which reduces the warm-up time somewhat, if we remember to turn it on. There is no water mains supply in the second bathroom, and to install one would require considerable re-building of the room.

What is recommended for a more powerful shower? As far as I can make out the options are install a dual pump in the airing cupboard and have a normal mixer shower, install an all in one pumped shower thingy in the bathroom, or run an electric self-heating shower off the mains (but they don’t seem to be pumped and our mains pressure isn’t great). The latter would deal with the warm-up time issue, but maybe with the extra flow the delay won’t be too bad.

Anyone had an installation/ installed something in a similar situation?

Thanks

Can you route a mains water feed through the loft at all and drop it into the bathroom behind a bit of boxing in?

an electric self-heating shower off the mains (but they don’t seem to be pumped and our mains pressure isn’t great)

This could be good for two reasons:
1) it gives a backup shower source if the boiler goes down
2) as you said…. Reduces the time you wait for the water to run hot

Poor water pressure (might be poor flow, which is another thread) wouldn’t really matter as much as AFAIA electric showers, on the whole, cannot really heat a high water volume.

Have you thought about the power supply to an electric shower? There might be some messing around needed to get a big enough supply cable in there.

We have a re-circulating pump in the hot water tank cupboard which reduces the warm-up time somewhat, if we remember to turn it on

Nearly put one in here as we have a similar situation, but couldn’t get my head around the heat loss as the hot water was going round!
We just wait a couple of minutes for the hot water to arrive at the shower – worked for us for the last 18 years!!

What is recommended for a more powerful shower?

We went with fixing the poor flow that we had (replaced the internally corroded galvanised mains supply pipe going through our land) and fitted an unvented cylinder.

Can you route a mains water feed through the loft at all and drop it into the bathroom behind a bit of boxing in?

What would that achieve?

We’ve got a pump, noise asside it’s great. Don’t let the plumber mount it to the floor, put it on some rubber mounts or matting.

Dunno about distance and warm up times, with the added pressure could you use smaller bore piping for the run?

I’d never go back to an electric shower.

Little tank with an immersion heater next to the bathroom.

Proper pump – we have one that drives a shower in the attic and downstairs (not enough drop for the downstairs shower) and it’s great. The throughput means no real need to wait for hot – it’s there in moments. Solves need for any faffy extra plumbing or new power supplies etc.

Swap to an unvented system? One of the issues here is your old pipe work may show leaks at hight pressure that didn’t show previously.

Worth checking if this would suit, Mira Event XS, mixer with built in pump, non-mains but check the manufacturers instructions; https://www.screwfix.com/p/mira-event-xs-rear-fed-white-thermostatic-power-shower/8387r

Thanks for the responses peeps, @TheBrick – good point, not sure if that can be checked in advance? I have looked into pumps, and one advantage would be we could also serve the other shower, which is “OK but could be better”. Plus actually run a bath in the far away bathroom in a reasonable time (possibly). However, they seem to specify 22mm pipe to the bathroom, I am pretty sure we have something smaller.

Leaning towards a pump in the airing cupboard, and going for an expensiver quiet one atm.

Thanks again.

if you’ve got decent cold water pressure I’d also recommend an unvented system. Saves the cost/complexity of having a pump yourself, applies to everything in the house, and the pressure is naturally balanced between hot/cold. I’d imagine you can just change your tank and keep everything else the same, but I might be well off the mark.

Best solution is unvented with an accumulator to maintain good flow and a charge pump to boost the pressure if needed. Along with secondary hot water circulation to prevent long draw off time.

Another vote for unvented here.
wondered about secondary circulation but didn’t bother in the end. OK for us. Confusing for American visitors who were used to hot water coming immediately out of a tap turned to hot.

I think a pump would work. Had one in previous house, the noise does travel along whatever it’s mounted to even with rubber mats, but it’s only whilst the shower is being used.
An unvented system like a megaflo would be better and deliver pressureized water to all showers but a lot more expensive.

My experience of self heating electric showers with low water pressure isnt good…standing in a cold room whilst hot water trickles out Of the shower