A ShowerPowerBooster with a small input of energy into a water system can create huge effect. For traditional pumps the reverse is true as the more energy you put into pumping water the harder water fights back, and for traditional pumps a lot of energy is simply wasted in creating turbulence and noise.

As a Civil Engineer and the inventor of the ShowerPowerBooster I know that traditional pumps are inefficient and my invention allows a small pump 1/20th of the size and wattage of a traditional shower pump to do the same job. 95% of customers fitting Shower Power Boosters are very happy

There are several products on the market which claim to boost low water pressure and among these are EcoCamel, StoneStream, and Showery Shower Heads. All of these have been reviewed by myself and it is a scientific fact that no shower head can boost pressure. See the evidence with your own eyes by reading my blog.

https://showerpowerbooster.co.uk/blog/can-a-shower-head-increase-water-pressure/

There are many factors which has resulted in 82% of our customers giving 5 star reviews and 12% giving 4 star with over 30,000 pumps sold. One is obviously the benefit of a UK production and the other an understanding of the science behind a good shower. Again there is a blog covering the science behind a good shower which you can read using the link below:-

Click on this link for the science behind a perfect shower

Underpinning the success of Showerpowerbooster is the following:-

TRADITIONAL PUMPS are designed to pump the maximum pressure required at the maximum flow required. A traditional pump needs to deal with say 20 litres (max flow for a bath) at 3.0 metres head (max head for a shower). Energy required = 20 x 3 = 60 units.

SHOWER POWER BOOSTER PUMPS use the existing gravity head to deliver the maximum flow so all it needs to be designed for is the head required for a shower (2 metres head (added to existing 1 metre head) and a flow rate of 6 litres a minute. Energy required = 6 x 2 = 12 units.

For the above reason the shower power booster is already 5 times more efficient but it gets better because the big traditional shower is trying to pump for different flow rates and heads.

The pump that needs to have a pump volute big enough to pump 20 litres efficiently is very inefficient when you pump water for a shower when you need just 6 litres a minute.

For a typical shower giving 6 litres a minute this is normally achieved by mixing 4 litres of hot water with 2 litres of cold water and a SPB is particularly efficient at 4 litres a minute.

The pump that needs to have a pump volute small enough to pump 6 litres efficiently is very inefficient when you pump water for a shower when you need 20 litres a minute.

Either way a traditional pump cannot win so they opt for a compromise pump that is neither efficient at pumping large flows or smaller flows.

A shower power booster  allows a bath to be filled using the existing gravity head and only adds the existing head when needed so if you have low flow it boosts it, but if you already have high flow it ignores it. In a power cut the shower goes back to what it was before you fitted it.

Efficiency
The increase in benefit of shower performance against power is not linear.
1.0 Small direct current centrifugal pumps are very efficient.
2.0 Between 5 Watts and 15 Watts most of the pump power is used to improve your shower and tap performance.
3.0 Above 15 Watts more power is wasted by creating noise, vibration, heat in the motor, and turbulent flow.

The result is that the power to benefit output of a ShowerPowerBooster is far superior to traditional shower pumps.

Pressure
The pressure rating of a pump is linked to the ability of the pump seals and the bursting force is related to the square of the area.
Small pumps can resist huge pressures and a ShowerPowerBooster can resist 10 bars pressure (100 metres head). We test them to 8 bars in the factory and sell them with a maximum sustained pressure rating of 4 bars in order to give a large safety margin when fitted.

Temperature
The pump and electronics for the ShowerPowerBooster are rated in excess of 100 degrees centigrade. The magnetic rotor in the flow switch is rated to 85 degrees centigrade but it only very slowly demagnetises over several years at temperatures in excess of this and since the maximum setting on the hot water system in a home should not exceed 60 degrees then there is again a wide safety margin.

Flow Switch
The ShowerPowerBooster uses a magnetic rotor which rotates when water flows. Its rotation changes a magnetic field which is sensed by a hall detector, allowing automatic switching for positive and negative head situations.

The minimum flow for positive head switching is 1.5 litres a minute.

Trial & Error

Most of the trial and error was sorted out in my 20+ years as a water engineer in municipal water before I invented the pump but we are also up to around the 20th version of the pump as we constantly make incremental improvements.

For those that like to see pump curves here is the link to see them:-

https://showerpowerbooster.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pump-Output.png

To see the latest ShowerPowerBooster Fitting Guide go to the Home Page and click on the download button.