Understanding your bathroom water system will allow you to install fixtures than work best with it. You may also think about upgrading your system, if you have problems with hot and cold water.
Your bathroom water system controls how and when your water is heated and distributed. All of us want our water to be heated immediately, at just the right temperature. The reality is that many of us end up disappointed. Our showers produce a small trickle that becomes too hot, too cold or completely disappears when another tap is opened. This can be changed or improved; by looking at how your bathroom water system functions or which would be better for you.
Three well-known bathroom water systems:
Gravity Systems
These are extremely common in older homes. There is a hot and cold water feed, with a cold water tank installed. The tank is usually located in the roof, with a hot water cylinder found in another location. The contents of the hot water cylinder can be heated either by an external heat source like a boiler, or an internal heat source like an immersion heater. The pressure of the shower connected to this system, depends on the distance from the bottom of the cold water storage tank to the shower head. he greater the distance, the higher the pressure. It is recommended that there should be between 3 to 4m of distance to get adequate pressure. For those households that struggle with this bathroom water system, you can install booster pumps to increase the water pressure.
Mains Pressure System
The mains pressure bathroom water system is one of the mostly-used systems today. Instead of using a cold water storage tank with a hot water cylinder, this is one unit. The pressure in the wains water supply connected to your home, is used to pressurize the hot and cold water. A minimum pressure of 1.5bar is necessary but 3bar is ideal. The cold water can be heated directly on demand by a combination boiler or a thermal store. The cylinder has to be specially designed to store hot water under pressure. A pressurized system with a sealed cylinder will provide a powerful shower, without the need for a booster pump. The balanced hot and cold water pressure can eliminate the need for thermostatic mixer valves.
Combination Boiler Bathroom Water System
Pressurized cold water is heated on demand, and in theory should not run out. A powerful shower with a combination boiler will need a water flow rate of at least between 12 and 15 liters a minute. The larger the shower head, or number of nozzles, the more pressure you require. It is best to choose a thermostatic shower mixer valve, so that you can even out temperature fluctuations. These fluctuations occur when other taps are opened or when the toilet is flushed.
