A common question we get asked is how to increase shower pressure, and why there is poor pressure despite best endeavours to change shower heads and not running more than one shower at once etc.

There are few things worse than spending a large amount of money on a brand new state of the art shower room, to find that the water barely trickles out! Not the most invigorating start to your day.

Well the good news is, your system can be fixed and additionally here are a few things to bear in mind when putting a new shower system in place.

First things to look at when increasing the pressure of an existing shower:

To start with there are a few relatively simple things you can do:

  • Remove the shower head and remove any build-up of matter within the shower head and tubing.
  • Check the shower head face is clean and the nozzles are free of dirt and scale.
  • Replace the shower head completely – an old shower head can get blocked over time with sediment or scale which is hard to clean off. May also be worth looking at a shower head with larger nozzles to create less restriction and increase flow rate.
  • Check there are no pressure reducing valves set at low pressure, or undersized, restricting flow to the shower head.
  • Fit an electric shower. These have pumps built within the shower unit which will increase the pressure to that single shower head. The downside to these units is they can be fairly expensive, will only increase the pressure to that shower head and can be quite noisy!


Do I need a shower pump?
If nothing can be done to improve the pressure of your shower by cleaning and you don’t wish to go down the route of an electric shower, then a shower pump could be your answer for gravity fed systems.

There are two main types of shower pumps;

Positive head shower pumps.
These pumps rely on a feed of water from a water storage tank – ideally at least a metre above the pump to activate the pump. When the shower starts the small amount of water that flows by gravity is sensed by the flow switches on the pump and activates it; when the flow stops the pump stops.

Negative head shower pumps
As the name would suggest these pumps are designed to be used on negative head applications. If the tank is below or level with the pump and the outlets that need boosting, then a negative head shower pump will be required. These keep the supply to the shower head under pressure at all times and start when there is a drop of pressure.  The pump switches off when the shower is turned off and the pressure rises.

Please be aware; shower pumps are not always very quiet, so please bear this in mind when choosing the pump location, where near a bedroom for instance!

Please see our range of shower pumps online: https://www.tradepumps.com/pumps-by-type/shower-pumps


Don’t want a noisy shower pump? What other options are there?

All pumps fitted directly into the water supply on any properties within the UK, cannot boost the flow rate more than 12 litres per minute as stipulated in The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999.

Most power showers (excluding large rain head showers) normally operate between 10 and 15 litres per minute. So a directly connected shower pump cannot normally operate more than one power shower.

With a property having multiple shower outlets and the rise in demand for high rain head showers at 20 l/min+, we are faced with an obvious problem.

The only way to boost the water supply more than 12 litres per minute, is to install a break tank. In simple terms this is a separate tank in the system, fed by the mains supply, to which you can install a pump in conjunction and boost the water to whatever the outlet(s) flow and pressure requirement is.

Dutypoint is here to make things easy! Dutypoint is a manufacture of the ideal solution: The ScubaTANK.

The ScubaTANK is a combined booster set and break tank designed specifically to suit the domestic and residential needs in the 21st century. Where individual shower pumps are inadequate, a single ScubaTANK will boost the flow and pressure to all outlets in a property.

Below are the key attributes for this product:

  1. Easy To Install – connect incoming water main, bring your 240V 1Ph power supply to the control panel and install a discharge pipe for the overflow outlet. See previous blog: https://www.tradepumps.com/blog/2018/10/29/how-to-install-a-scubatank/
  2. Space Saving – rather than the traditional method of installing a tank and an external pump beside it. This is an all-in-one unit with the pump(s) inside the tank, which saves a bucket load of space – especially important for tight plant rooms, cluttered outbuildings or garages!
  3. WRAS Approved – approved by the Water Regulations Advisory Scheme as a suitable product for drinking water applications. This is a requirement for all pumps installed in residential drinking water applications.
  4. Minimal Noise – the tank is a GRP fully insulated unit with the pumps submerged below the water level resulting in extremely quiet operation.
  5. Single/Twin – the ScubaTANK is available as a single & twin pump system. Twin pump systems give you greater back-up. In the case of unusually high demand, both pumps will run together ensuring all outlets maintain the same performance.
  6. Variable Speed – the pumps are controlled by variable speed inverters ensuring maximum performance at a minimal energy usage. The pumps will speed up and down depending on the demand, and will switch of completely at zero demand.
  7. Automatic – the sensors within the tank control the level of water coming into the tank and will ensure there is always a sufficient volume of water within the tank to meet demand. The pumps will increase/reduce the supply to the outlets depending on demand, without any human intervention!
  8. Tank Sizes – tank sizes range from 175 litres to 2250 litres. Some of the smaller models will fit through a normal doorway, making them ideal for retro-fit applications.
  9. Pre-Programmed – the unit will come from the factory pre-set to the set pressure you require for you system outlets. Speeding up and simplifying the install.
  10. Fast and British – available from UK stock! Oh and did we forget to say – the ScubaTANK is entirely British made!

See link to the ScubaTANK range: https://www.tradepumps.com/manufacturers/dutypoint/scubatank-booster-sets

Please remember, we would recommending getting a qualified plumber to assess the existing plumbing before installing a booster set. As many systems were designed for gravity feeds, you would need to make sure all fitting are correctly rated and tested for pressurised water.

ScubaTANK booster sets are often fitted in conjunction with the Element range of high pressure/high flow unvented hot water cylinders – see link and contact us with any questions!

https://www.tradepumps.com/manufacturers/dutypoint/hot-water-cylinders

For larger residential applications we can offer larger booster sets and tanks – please get in touch today. We’re good at this!