Home Booster Set

[ecnal]

I'm currently involved in refurbishing a19th century building in to 7 flats. The building is set over 4 floors.

We are upgrading the water mains an the water pressure won't be sufficient for the top floors There is very limited space to install a new booster pump and tank in the basement and limited roof void space for tanks.

There are a few 'packaged' booster sets available on the market, such as the Grundfos Home Booster. First thoughts is that they will be too heavy and cause noise/vibration problems in a delicate building, plus they are relatively big.

Has anyone installed one of these units?

 

[bright spark]

What about a Grundfos MQ 3-35 booster. Compact pump with diaphragm pressure switch etc all in one.

 

[Roger Welton]

Still need space for the break tank, and depending on mains flow and loading on pump it may need to be quite large.

 

[ecnal]

Yeah - I don't think I'd be gaining much by installing individual pump and tank.

Back to the drawing board..

 

[chris watkins]

[DLMURL]http://hartons.co.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/Hartons%20Interactive%20V.4.pdf[/DLMURL]

Have you got room outside ? if so stick it in the ground.

 

[ecnal]

Have you got room outside ? if so stick it in the ground.

Sadly not - we're smack in the middle of a town centre. But I will keep that in mind for other projects!

 

[Chalked]

[DLMURL]http://hartons.co.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/Hartons%20Interactive%20V.4.pdf[/DLMURL]

Have you got room outside ? if so stick it in the ground.

Nice bit of kit!

 

[chris watkins]

Personal if you have to boost to one flat I would do all of them. GRP break tank can be made to measure & you can reduce the storage if you can increase the refill rate, so large supply in with oversized float valve will help.

Twin booster pumps with a mains by-pass incase of power / pump failure.

Tell the Architect to either find you some suitable space or they can have a top floor flat with no or bottled water supply.

Why do these people always insist of invisible services, what do they think we have magic wands that we wave & it all suddenly disappears!!!

 

[stevetheplumber]

i love architects usually want the bath room in the worst possible position when you say to the customer its going to cost them £*** the architects suddenly find putting it where you said in the beginning would help the linear flow of the building or some such twaddle

 

[Ray Stafford]

It might be worth looking at the mainsboost extra range from Stuart Turner.

The smaller units fit into a standard kitchen unit.

 

[lame plumber]

when you say your upgrading the mains, are you installing separate mains to each flat off their own meter. if not, you should, if the mains in the road isnt up to supplying a 4th floor then you have no choice but to boost the top flats, but not often the mains in the rd wont reach a 4th floor, normally the issue is trying to run them all off one supply into the building.

 

[ecnal]

when you say your upgrading the mains, are you installing separate mains to each flat off their own meter. if not, you should, if the mains in the road isnt up to supplying a 4th floor then you have no choice but to boost the top flats, but not often the mains in the rd wont reach a 4th floor, normally the issue is trying to run them all off one supply into the building.

The minimum guaranteed pressure is 1.5 bar at the boundary which is reasonable. However, the 4th floor is approximately 12-13m from the supply, meaning we'll only have maximum 0.3 bar at the top floor flat which has to feed the flat with 2 bathrooms (conveniently located at the far end of the apartment) amongst other appliances.

Might be worth discussing with the water board but I suspect they'll still only guarantee 1.5 bar at the boundary! A bit frustrating as we'll probably end up getting more than the 1.5 bar in reality but the water board aren't willing to guarantee any more.

We've decided to go for the home booster set or equivalent and letting the architect give us some space! Thanks for some of the suggestions.

 

[chris watkins]

Sorry to add to your problems but they (under the Water Act) only have to guarantee 1bar (10M head) at street side.
So if it is turned down to this (& I have had this) you will have no water to the top floor & a home booster in the flat would not work which is why a break tank / booster set is normally used.

I would set this out in a letter to architect / client if I were you to cover your bottom!!!!

It sounds like you are designing the system therefore you have a "duty of care" to inform.

 

[Welder]

At that incoming pressure you'll need to boost to all flats.

A quick calc for 7 flats, assuming just one bathroom each, tells me youll need a bleedy big tank as its refill rate will be pretty poor. Speak to manufacturers as they will steer you right and keep you out of court. Architects know diddly about what really matters in areas such as this generally and you cannot afford, literally, to get it wrong.

 

[Gasmk1]

Not sure of this but how about using accumulator/s whatever you do the space is an issue.

 

[Roger Welton]

an accumulator wont increase pressure, just flow (if sized and pressurised correctly)

 

[Ray Stafford]

an accumulator wont increase pressure, just flow (if sized and pressurised correctly)

The Stuart Turner unit will increase both, because its a combination of mains pump and a small accumulator.

 

[Gasmk1]

Ok re accumalators I don't get involved much with plumbing side I am primarily a service and breakdown engineer gas. But think you are going to have to force the architects to give you a plant room, for the water mains