The story has continued since I first wrote this blog in 2016 and in November 2019 I can now say we have sold 17,000 pumps to date. I visit China in January to look at new product innovations.

I am a Chartered Civil Engineer, a hydraulics expert, and have worked in municiple water for 30 years (25 years with Anglian Water). Over the years I have designed and worked on clean and dirty water projects and was often given the more difficult schemes and brought in to make put right the mistakes of others. In my early years as a reservoir inspector I saw and was impressed by the superb work of Victorian Engineers who understood water and made things happen without complex electronics. They made things work by making the physics right and not forcing water to do what it does not want to do. Water is like a naughty child but it needs to be encouraged not punished.

The invention of the ShowerPowerBooster was one of several inventions which spun off from work on solar thermal work at my home in Norwich where I invented a solar collection system. Perhaps one day my best invention, which is the harvesting of energy from the sun, or perhaps the water purification I invented for third world countries, will come to the fore, but in the meantime I am manufacturing an amazing little pump which is now being sold all over the world.

The invention of the pressure enhancing device (Shower Power Booster),was brought about because I wanted to bring hot water to a tap without running cold water to waste and my first attempt involved complex changes underneath a sink – my sisters sink. I worked all afternoon and ended up with a solution which was not what I wanted but I woke up at 04.00 the next morning and sketched the solution – the pressure enhancing device – the shower power booster.

The invention at first seems illogical – to increase flow and pressure the first thing you do is put in a valve which reduces the pressure, then you add a bypass in order to compensate for the pressure loss, then you add a pump, and bingo you have a device which for the right application can achieve the same effect as much bigger pumps. A pump which does the job of a pump ten or 20 times bigger.

The science dictated it would work but I had to build it in order to demonstate it worked, until then even the University at Wolverhampton claimed it defied the laws of physics (even now I have plumbers who will not fit it because they think its too small). I took the precaution of actually building it before I introduced it to Cranfield University. It was tested and verified at Cranfield University in the Oil and Gas research laboratories under the direction of the senior research scientists there. It was very funny seeing my little pump the size of a mouse sitting besides pumps the size of an elephant.

I was granted a UK Patent in June 2012 but I had run out of money! We had a product, but was it as reliable as it should be, we needed to continue the trials to be sure. My wife continued to sell pumps in Norwich whilst I got a Job near Chester working on Welsh Water Schemes to earn money to pay for patent fees. Wales was such a beautiful principality and the joy of working in a profession I excell in returned (and what a joy to get a regular income again). After 6 weeks into my contract ………. I won top prize of €20,000 as the best water invention 2012 from Imperial Colledge, London.

With my bank balance partially restored I returned to Norwich and immediately spent most of the money on starting work developing the fully automatic upgrade and selling the product.

For over 3 years our own shower pump in our house had worked with a simple on off switch, we sometimes left it running all day with no ill effect, and we would not dream of going back to the dripply showers we had before (or a noisy power shower). We sold a great little automatic switch which turned the pump on and off by sensing the temperature but so many people wanted a better automatic flow control.

In trying to add an on/off switch by sensing flow we find that because our pump is different to old fashioned shower pumps we cannot buy a traditional automatic on/off switch off the shelf. A new automatic switch was finally ready for sale November 2013 but I had to go back to basics and manufacture it myself using some really cleaver electronics (I employ some cleaver electronics engineers – my forte is hydrualics not electronics). The switch is on a par with the most sensitive and reactive in the market and despite my wish for simplicity I have splashed out on a flashy green light.

I am proud to say – cleaver physics from a British Invention and ‘Made in Britain’

Since leaving Anglian Water I have had many experiences. 12 hours in Dragons Den studios and the hour and a half in the Den is on a par with my first visit to the dentist, sitting in various board rooms wasting my time trying to introduce the invention by the conventional route is of note. Most people would have folded and so would I if it had not been for my background in material science, physics, and my ability to solve problems.