A quick note on terminology; while Water Pressure and Water Flow are related, they are different. Water Flow refers to the volume of water coming passing through your outlet, while Water Pressure describes the force with which the water comes out.

Low water pressure is really frustrating in any home. What this usually looks like is a dribble of water out flowing out of your tap or shower head. Not enough to flow to wash soap suds out of your hair and certainly not enough to enjoy being in the shower.

In this situation, installing a shower pump or a mains boosting solution will instantly transform how you experience water pressure in your home and will certainly make showering a much more enjoyable part of your day.

An unbalanced flow, or poor flow on one feed and a strong feed on the other, can result in an unstable temperature in your shower. You often experience this when you shower turns cold unexpectantly. Alternatively, if your shower turns scalding hot when someone uses a tap or toilet elsewhere, this is another tell-tale sign of an unbalanced supply.

Using a shower pump on both your hot and cold feed is an excellent fix for this problem.

All Electric Showers have a defined minimum flow rate. If you can't reach this flow rate, the electric shower will shut off. So, if someone uses a tap or toilet elsewhere, reducing the water pressure to your shower, you may find yourself cold and covered in soap.

In this case, a shower pump can help you maintain the minimum flow rate of your Electric Shower, ensuring it doesn't shut off.

Sometimes you have one tap, or a shower on the other side of the house that can't quite reach the pressure you need. Using a shower pump is a common fix for this issue.

Gravity systems are typical of the old housing stock of the UK. This system will have a hot water cylinder somewhere in your home, which means you have a Gravity Hot system. You may also have a cold water tank in your loft. In this case you have Gravity Hot and Cold system.

This system works by relying on the power of gravity to give you a good flow rate. The problem is, this often isn't the case and they are renowned for poor water pressure. Shower Pumps are a popular solution to improving flow in this type of system.

Combi boilers are a very popular choice in the UK. These highly-efficient wall-mounted units save space by eliminating the need for a separate water tank. They draw cold water directly from the mains and provide instant hot water to your taps and showers and also powering your central heating. This makes them ideal for smaller homes where space is limited.

An unvented tank stores hot water at mains pressure ready for when you need it. They can typically support more hot water outlets than a combi boiler and so are more popular in bigger houses with more bathrooms.

You shouldn't need a pump with an unvented cylinder set-up as everything is at mains pressure. In fact, it is illegal to add a pump after the unvented cylinder. If you are suffering from bad flow rates with this system, you should call a professional.

Most pump manufacturers agree that if your flow rate is less that 2 litres/minute, you're in a negative head condition. In which case you will need a universal or negative head pump.

Negative head pumps are designed to be used when an outlet that you want to improve the flow to is in negative head. They need to be powerful enough to increase the pressure head for your outlet.

Positive head pumps are designed to be used where in positive head situations where there is an existing flow rate. These pumps will be triggered by your existing low flow rate and will boost it to the maximum flow rate of your chosen shower pump.

You may have heard the term "Universal Pumps" along the way. These the same as Negative Head Pumps. Negative Head Pumps are sometimes called Universal Pumps because they can be used in both positive and negative head situations.

If you only need to boost one feed (hot or cold), a single impeller pump will be sufficient.

Typically these pumps are used when there is a household with a Gravity Hot system, i.e. Gravity Hot and Mains Cold. By boosting the hot feed, you can balance the pressure from the Mains Cold Feed.

If you want to boost your hot and cold feeds at the same time, you will need a twin impeller pump.

Typically this type of pump is used on a Gravity Hot and Gravity Cold system, but in any case, this pump will result in a balanced feed to your shower fixing low water flow and temperature fluctuations.

Electric Showers heat mains cold water in the shower unit to the temperature you have specified. The problems arise when the incoming water pressure is too low and you find your Electric Shower shutting off.

For Electric Showers you will need a Single Impeller Pump as you are only boosting one feed.

Manual Mixer Showers mix hot and cold water at the shower valve according to how you have adjusted the valve handle. So for a Manual Mixer Shower you will need a Twin Impeller Pump in order to support a powerful and balanced flow.

Thermostatic Mixer Showers automatically mix hot and cold water at the shower valve according to the the value you have chosen on the scale. So for a Thermostatic Mixer Shower you will need a Twin Impeller Pump in order to support a powerful and balanced flow.