Call Us Mon - Fri 9:00 am - 5:00 pm 01342 321121

Pumps made simple

There are different types of pumps available depending on your application we have created this page to help customers to understand more about pumps and to help assist you in selecting your correct product, you are always welcome to contact our helpline for more specific advice on your needs.


Pump Terminology

 

Single Impellor Pump

Single Impeller Pumps

 

Single impeller pumps are designed to pump either hot or cold water to a shower or outlet like a tap.
These are most commonly used to pump the hot side of a water system (gravity fed) where the cold water is mains fed.
They are also used as a separate hot and cold pair of pumps, these are used where the cold water storage tank and hot water cylinder are not close in location to each other so for practical reasons two pumps would be used instead of a twin pump.

 


Twin Impeller Pumps

 

Twin Impeller Pump

Twin Impeller are designed to pump both hot and cold water to a shower or outlets.
These will pump both hot and cold water at the same time or individually, they are designed to be used on gravity fed water systems.
Twin pumps will work best with showers and mixers alike as they will produce an even pressure (balanced supply) giving better mixing capability’s.
The best position for a twin pump is at the base of the hot water cylinder as they are designed to push water to a device such as a shower.


Positive Head Pumps


A positive head is a pump that is activated by a flow of water, the water flow to activate a pump is normally about 1 liter per minute per side. If you have a small amount of distance between the bottom of the cold water storage tank and the shower head then it is likely that you will not have enough flow to activate the pump.


Typical use for a positive head pump is where you want to boost a slow flowing device such as a tap or shower but there is at least 1 liter per minute of water flowing.


Negative Head Pumps

 

A negative head pump is a pump that is pressure sensitive and is activated by a drop in pressure between the device and the pump. These are commonly used where there will be little or no flow at the device (shower or tap).

Typical use for a negative head pump would be loft conversions, low head (distance between shower head and bottom of cold storage tank) and whole house applications where a variety of devices are pumped.

Regenerative Impeller



Regenerative Impeller Pumps

 

 

Regenerative pumps simply act like a powered water mill grabbing the water and spinning the water around and throwing it out the other side of the impellor, the benefits of a regenerative pump is that they are easier to install and are pretty tough.

 

 

Centrifugal Impeller Pumps

 

Centrifugal Impeller

Centrifugal impeller pumps create a vortex of water with the pressure increasing towards the outside of the impellor, they are harder to install and instructions should be read carefully, the benefits of a centrifugal pump are a greater volume of water at the same pressure as a regenerative pump and quieter in operation.

 

Applications for a Pump

 

Pumps are designed to boost the water pressure to devices such as taps and showers where the gravity pressure is not sufficient to give a satisfactory flow to single outlet taps and mixers.

Sometimes it is necessary that a taps or a mixer tap is in need of a boost in pressure for this you would normally use a single impeller booster pump.

 

Shower Valves and Mixers

 

Where you need to boost water pressure to showers a twin pump is advisable to give a easily mixed blend of both hot and cold water, sometimes for practical plumbing reasons this is not possible and either two separate pumps are used or cold water is supplied from the mains and hot from a gravity fed supply that is boosted with a single impeller pump.

 

Bathrooms and En-suites

 

It is quite normal for a bathroom or en-suite to need a boost of pressure on either hot or cold or both hot and cold water supplies. Basins and WC’s are commonly supplied with mains pressure cold water, the basin as it is considered cleaner and healthier to brush ones teeth in mains cold water and WC’s because most people would not like pump noise late at night.

 

Whole House Pumping

 

Pumps are used in whole house pumping for several reasons, to boost the mains water supply via a break tank system where insufficient pressure or flow is available from the mains water. It would be quite common to boost all of the hot and cold water from tank fed supplies to the complete house due to modern styled taps showers and mixers needing a higher pressure to operate nowadays.

 

 

Identify your Plumbing System

Identifying your Plumbing System

 

If you are in any doubt regarding your plumbing system see our Identify your plumbing system information page.