2/8/2018 Guidance on flow rates for taps, showers and baths | Plumbers and Heating Engineers

Guidance on flow rates for

taps, showers and baths
Low Pressure (Gravity) Installations –
Typically for a two storey house with cold
water tank in loft serving hot water
cylinder on the first floor.

The bathroom taps would have

approximately 0.2bar pressure.

A shower head would have approximately

0.1bar pressure.

Gravity fed taps on the ground floor

would have approximately 0.4-0.5bar
pressure.

Normally the kitchen sink cold tap would

be supplied from the incoming mains
water supply and would be high pressure
at anything above 1bar pressure.

Flow Rates in Litres per minute (l/m) –

Approximate.

Old style ¾” bath taps = 15 l/m

Old style ½” basin tap = 10 l/m

Modern ¾” bath mixer tap = 12 l/m

Modern monobloc basin mixer with 10-

12mm connections = 4 to 5 l/m

Old style ½” kitchen tap = 12 l/m

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Monobloc sink mixer = 8 l/m

A gravity shower on the ground floor with

0.5bar pressure would have approximately
10 to 12 l/m depending on the actual
shower valve.

High Pressure Systems – Mains fed

storage systems- normally restricted to 2.5
to 3bar pressure.

Typically these would need to have a

larger mains water supply coming in to
the house and would give good flow rates
all round in excess of 15 to 25 l/m.

If the old original ½” mains water supply

was used the flow rates could drop
considerably even with good pressure.

Good pressure doesn’t necessarily mean

good flow.

High Pressure Systems – From a gas

combi boiler.

These systems are governed for hot water

delivery by the kw rating of the boiler.

Generally they are as follows:- 24kw =

9l/m

28kw = 12 l/m

35kw = 14 l/m

Oil fired combi boilers tend to have a

slightly higher flow rate.

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Showers:

Gravity showers will only be just

adequate enough at best.

If you want a good shower on a gravity

system it will need to have a pump on it.
Any pump producing a pressure of 1bar or
above would be fine for a single headed
shower.

If using body jets as well then you would

be best to choose a 2.4 to 3 bar pump.

Any power shower system incorporating a

pump should be plumbed in with
independent hot and cold water supplies
directly from the water tanks with special
attention being paid to the hot water tank
connection thus making them fairly
expensive to install correctly.

Incorrect installation could result in

premature failure of the pump.

There is no such thing as a good cheap

shower.

Beware; when installing a pumped shower

system consideration should be given to
the size of your existing hot and cold
water tanks. An average shower time is
reckoned to be 8to 12 minutes.

A 12minute shower with a flow rate of 15

l/m would use 180 litres of water.

With a 60/40% split of hot to cold water

the shower would use about 108 litres of
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2/8/2018 Guidance on flow rates for taps, showers and baths | Plumbers and Heating Engineers

hot water. The average hot water cylinder

for a three bedroomed house would have a
capacity of around 117 litres therefore
your 12 minute shower would have used
approximately 92% of your hot water.

Recommendation:

Always get your plumber to survey your

plumbing installation and advise you
before purchasing.

Remember:

Flow rates stated by manufacturers are

typically what their fitments will pass but
will be subject to specific site conditions.

Bath – Hot Water demands facts:-

NHS maximum safe water temperature for

baths – 44 to 46’C

Average bathing temperature – 40’ to

42’C

BS6700 allows for standard (1700 x

700mm) bath of 100 litres at 40’C.

This is split into 60% hot and 40% cold.

Or 60 litres of hot and 40 litres cold.

Standard/average bath has a capacity of

180 litres to the overflow.

Home Test: 1700 x 700mm bath with

capacity of approximately 175 litres to
overflow.

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2/8/2018 Guidance on flow rates for taps, showers and baths | Plumbers and Heating Engineers

Hot water at 60’C and cold at 8’C

Used:- 70 litres of hot and 30 litres of

cold and produced a bathing temperature
of 40’C. Gave 180mm depth measured in
centre for 100 litres of water. This was
100mm below the overflow.

Info:

Adult male 12 to 16 Stone (80 – 100KG)

would displace approximately 0.75l/kg

Or displaces between 60 – 80 litres.

Maximum hand temperature = 47-48’C

Maximum body temperature = 42-43’C

Grampian 1800 x 800 cast iron bath has

capacity of 250 litres.

1700 shower bath has capacity of 250 litr

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