Not enough water for 2 showers

Users who are viewing this thread

DAVEYB

New Member
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hey people.
I hope someone can advise me on best way to sort this prob...
I have a convensional boiler running 11 rads. the cylinder is not a large 1, being about 1 meter tall. The shower is a thermostatic type which runs off the cylinder, My prob is that the water runs out after one and a half decent showers. So as soon as the second person starts to shower it goes cold half way through. My question is what would be the best way to ensure we could have 2 decent length showers without the hot water falling short??? Im looking to put in a new shower too, which will have a larger flow rate than the existing one. Ideally i dont yet want to swap over to a combi boiler just yet as the existing boiler is not v old. What would be the best way to overcome this problem?? would a larger cylinder surfice?? if so how much larger??
Thanks for reading this post, and all comment will be much appreaciated....

Cheers Dave.
 

Bob NH

In the Trades
Messages
3,310
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Location
New Hampshire
Does the water heater use oil, gas, or electricity to heat?

I assume that the existing boiler doesn't supply any of the hot water.

How many liters is the water heater? Is there a label on it? It sounds pretty small if only 1 meter high. That is probably about 120 liters.

Your heater can only deliver what it has in it. Recovery in the duration of a shower is pretty small.

Things you can do:

1. Reduce water usage in showers, as with a lower flow nozzle and shorter showers.
2. Increase time between showers.
3. Increase temperature setting on the water heater.
4. Add a bigger water heater in series with the existing heater.
5. Take turns being first in the shower, being considerate of who will follow because you will be second the next time.
6. Take "Navy showers" where you wet, turn off water, soap, rinse, out.
 

Jimbo

Plumber
Messages
8,918
Reaction score
18
Points
0
Location
San Diego, CA
I gather you are not US, and therefor may not be under mandatory usage of low-flow ( 2.5 gallon per minute) shower heads. Installing a low flow shower head will result in less water usage per shower, and may preserve enough water for the second shower.
 

Verdeboy

In the Trades
Messages
2,041
Reaction score
6
Points
0
You can get a shower head that has a shutoff valve on it, so you can turn off the water when soaping up. Many shower massagers have that featue as well. A larger tank or hotter water would do the same thing, but would cost more to operate.

I really like the on-demand water heaters. I think they are the most efficient, and you never run out of hot water.
 

DAVEYB

New Member
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Im in the uk people. And to be totally honest this prob is on a job im working on, so id love to say i would put a lower flow rate shower in but its not really my choice... have you ever tried changing a womans mind once she has it set on something??? lol :D The hot water is stored in the cylinder until used and is heated by an imersion heater.
Would a bigger cylinder do the trick??? or maybe some sort of instant water heater?? what woulb be the best way???

Really appreciate your help so far people...
I only joined yesterday and already feel part of you lot... Keep up the good work.

Cheers Dave
 

DAVEYB

New Member
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Soory I forgot to add that the imersion heater is electric:)

Cheers Dave
 

Jadnashua

Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Messages
32,770
Reaction score
1,190
Points
113
Location
New England
Don't know your electic costs, nor what fuel your boiler uses. You may be able to buy a tank with higher wattage elements if your wiring can stand it. A larger tank would work, but your standby losses would be higher.

Some boilers lend themselves to use all year with an indirectly heated tank, some don't. If the boiler only needs to keep a very minimal amount of water hot in standby, having a priority zone for the hot water tank means you can use the entire quantity of heat from it to heat and maintain hot water when it is under demand. If the boiler maintains a large quantity of water whenever it is on, then this is probably not a cost effective answer.

I've lived with tankless hot water systems, some are much better than others, but to maintain efficiency, they need periodic maintenance to clean out deposits. An electric unit large enough to provide an unrestricted showerhead might require signficantly more power than available. These also usually require installation or come with a flow restrictor, which can degrade available pressure.

A tankless system is ususally a love/hate thing. With an electric hot water tank, the standby losses are not a factor, in fact the storage tank may be better overall without the maintenance or flow/pressure restrictions created by the tankless system. It leans more the other way (but not as much as you would think in overall costs when you figure in labor) if the heater is fueled with gas.

The least intrusive may be to just replace the tank with a larger one, preferably with higher wattage, or just a higher wattage type with faster recovery rate. Running the supply at a higher temperature might help enough, but has its own risks from a safety viewpoint (may not be as serious with a good thermostatic control on the shower, but for other uses it could be). Depends on how high it is. Some places mandate the max unrestricted water temp, some don't. Also matters if there are children and old people around.
 

Bob NH

In the Trades
Messages
3,310
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Location
New Hampshire
http://www.edirectory.co.uk/pf/pages/moreinfoa.asp?pe=BGDEIACQ_+santon+santon+premier+plus+unvented&cid=880

In the US we might use a 300 liter electric storage heater which is a 300 liter (80 US gallons) tank with 4.5 kW heaters at the upper and lower levels. The controls limit the heater to one or the other on, but not both. The tank is well insulated and the water is kept hot at all times.

A bigger heater with higher temperature setting is the best way to have more water for showers.

The recovery rate on electric heaters is slower than gas heaters, which are selected wherever gas is available.

The heater operates a "mains" pressure and is refilled by the cold water as the hot water is used.

I have stayed in places with "Instant heaters" in the UK and elsewhere in Europe and my impression is that they heat a very small flow of water, producing what most people in the US would conisder an unsatisfactory shower. The law in the US prohibits shower heads with flow greater than 2.5 US gallons per minute (about 9.5 liters per minute) but some people install multiple shower heads.

If you get an instant heater, you can easily calculate the flow rate and temperature rise to see if it will meet your requirements. You also need to verify that there is enough electric capacity to run it.

The water heater at the link that I found shows prices two to three times what one would cost in the US, and the advert had no information on the kilowatts of the heating elements.

If the lady who wants the long shower has enough money to spend, you can get whatever is necessary to satisfy her needs.
 

DAVEYB

New Member
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Thank you all for sharing your knowledge with me, I asure you it has been very helpful indeed. And a very interesting link you have sent to me, Ill be looking into that further as that is possibly the way to go.
If the lady want a shower she will get a shower! all at a cost mind you.... but to be honest i dont think cost is a problem...

Once again thank you all very much for your help, it is much appreciated. Any probs I come across in the future Ill be sure to ask you people again.

Exellent forum! and exellent people!!

Cheers Dave
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks