Low Water Pressure In Loft Shower

[Dave-Sandra]

We recently converted the loft where we had a gravity fed system and changed it to a horizontal pressurised cylinder system and placed the cylinder in the eaves of the loft at floor level.

Since we changed the system, the shower water pressure on the 1st floor bathroom (existing) has increased immensely giving a really good shower. We did not replace the 20 year old Mira shower in this bathroom as yet but it seems to be Ok and a great shower now the water pressure has increased. The original copper piping into this shower was not changed.

The problem is in the new loft bathroom. The pressure is not as strong and this is very noticeable in the new shower and sink taps. The plumber has been back to look and checked the pressure coming out of each shower hose where the 1st floor shower is showing 2.5 bar and the loft shower 2.25 bar.

The plumber has said the low pressure in the loft bathroom is because the cylinder is below the shower head in the loft and also suggested to change the shower head on the new shower as it is has a wide circumference and that may also help the experience. The shower we fitted is a Hansgrohe Croma 100 Vario Hand Shower.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated?
Thanks in advance.
Dave

[The Builder]

Unless I've got this wrong, Dave, several things don't add up here.

I guess you have an unvented cylinder now, which will deliver hot water at mains pressure. With this, the position of the shower head relative to the cylinder is not relevant. It's at mains pressure, so the water will happily run "uphill".

The Croma needs 1 bar minimum, so 2.25 is plenty. I imagine it's simply the wide-bodied design of the head that gives a completely different shower from the older type.

I'm also surprised that the first floor shower runs at all, especially at the right temperature. A gravity based shower is low pressure... mains fed is much higher. They are completely different things.