Ron54
New Member
Sorry for the very long post, but thought it best to give all details in original post.
Bath remodel, with three body sprays, showerhead, and separate hand wand with sliding grab bar. Will be plumbed by contractor but I can direct how that will be done. The only thing I am doing myself today is installing some shut off valves so they can work without losing water to entire house. 1/2 inch PEX presently feeds a tub that will be removed and use the same feed to new shower system. Wide-open, I presently get about 6 1/2 gallons per minute from the tub spout.
I am on a private well shared with neighbors, A retired couple as we are. The only time there are more than two people using water in either house is when we have guests. Never noticed any issue with this, they had a houseful last week and we didn’t notice any problems. The hydrant coming directly off the well produces about 11 gpm volume. 50 gallon pressure tank, and 40/60 pressure switch. Set to kick in at about 41 and out a little over 60 according to pressure gauge. My house has a booster pump that increases pressure to a static psi of 80. With the present tub spout wide-open, producing 6 1/2 gallons per minute, the pressure holds steady at about 68 psi With the booster pump running. We did not build the house, but the entire lower level with the exception of a small store room is finished. Not sure exactly how it was Plumbed, but don’t think a manifold was installed anywhere. Appears they ran three-quarter inch PEX trunk lines and tapped off for fixtures with half-inch PEX. That’s what I think anyway. The present tub feed that will be used for the new shower system, is closest to the booster pump, directly above it. I can see where they tapped into the three-quarter inch PEX for the half inch hot and cold to the tub, maybe a five foot run of half inch, no fittings.
New fixtures are as follows:
Delta T27T959 integrated pressure, temperature and six way diverter. Rated about 7.5 gpm
Delta SH5005 hydrachoice body sprays rated at 1gpm each, 3 total for 3 gpm
Delta slide bar shower with wand rated at 1.75 gpm
Delta shower head rated at 2.5 gpm
The diverter only allows two functions at same time so max of about 5.5 gpm with shower head and body sprays.
Here are questions needing advice:
1. I can get to the present 1/2 inch feed to install shut offs but will this restrict the volume to the valve/ diverter? My preference would be to feed the valve/diverter with three-quarter inch but that will be difficult to get to without cutting drywall but could do that after install if pressure is a problem. Just don’t want to lose much of the present 6.5 gpm flow. Relating to this question, would there be any advantage to installing a shut off valve at the present half inch with three-quarter inch outlet to the valve/diverter? This would only add 1/2 inch fitting then expanding to three-quarter inch till it gets to the valve. Not sure that really helps.
2. Planning to just have half inch feeds from diverter to the three shower fixtures. On the other hand would using all 3/4 inch help by not having restriction from half-inch fittings?
3. I was planning to use a three port closed end manifold, with a three-quarter inch input and three half-inch outputs for the body sprays. Then I see that they recommend a pressure loop piping system to feed body sprays. Is that really going to function differently than a manifold? Not a big deal but involves a lot more elbows and connectors. Perhaps that would be the reason to go all three-quarter inch?
May have other questions, thanks for any help. Also any thoughts if this will work with my volume/pressure situation?
Bath remodel, with three body sprays, showerhead, and separate hand wand with sliding grab bar. Will be plumbed by contractor but I can direct how that will be done. The only thing I am doing myself today is installing some shut off valves so they can work without losing water to entire house. 1/2 inch PEX presently feeds a tub that will be removed and use the same feed to new shower system. Wide-open, I presently get about 6 1/2 gallons per minute from the tub spout.
I am on a private well shared with neighbors, A retired couple as we are. The only time there are more than two people using water in either house is when we have guests. Never noticed any issue with this, they had a houseful last week and we didn’t notice any problems. The hydrant coming directly off the well produces about 11 gpm volume. 50 gallon pressure tank, and 40/60 pressure switch. Set to kick in at about 41 and out a little over 60 according to pressure gauge. My house has a booster pump that increases pressure to a static psi of 80. With the present tub spout wide-open, producing 6 1/2 gallons per minute, the pressure holds steady at about 68 psi With the booster pump running. We did not build the house, but the entire lower level with the exception of a small store room is finished. Not sure exactly how it was Plumbed, but don’t think a manifold was installed anywhere. Appears they ran three-quarter inch PEX trunk lines and tapped off for fixtures with half-inch PEX. That’s what I think anyway. The present tub feed that will be used for the new shower system, is closest to the booster pump, directly above it. I can see where they tapped into the three-quarter inch PEX for the half inch hot and cold to the tub, maybe a five foot run of half inch, no fittings.
New fixtures are as follows:
Delta T27T959 integrated pressure, temperature and six way diverter. Rated about 7.5 gpm
Delta SH5005 hydrachoice body sprays rated at 1gpm each, 3 total for 3 gpm
Delta slide bar shower with wand rated at 1.75 gpm
Delta shower head rated at 2.5 gpm
The diverter only allows two functions at same time so max of about 5.5 gpm with shower head and body sprays.
Here are questions needing advice:
1. I can get to the present 1/2 inch feed to install shut offs but will this restrict the volume to the valve/ diverter? My preference would be to feed the valve/diverter with three-quarter inch but that will be difficult to get to without cutting drywall but could do that after install if pressure is a problem. Just don’t want to lose much of the present 6.5 gpm flow. Relating to this question, would there be any advantage to installing a shut off valve at the present half inch with three-quarter inch outlet to the valve/diverter? This would only add 1/2 inch fitting then expanding to three-quarter inch till it gets to the valve. Not sure that really helps.
2. Planning to just have half inch feeds from diverter to the three shower fixtures. On the other hand would using all 3/4 inch help by not having restriction from half-inch fittings?
3. I was planning to use a three port closed end manifold, with a three-quarter inch input and three half-inch outputs for the body sprays. Then I see that they recommend a pressure loop piping system to feed body sprays. Is that really going to function differently than a manifold? Not a big deal but involves a lot more elbows and connectors. Perhaps that would be the reason to go all three-quarter inch?
May have other questions, thanks for any help. Also any thoughts if this will work with my volume/pressure situation?
