I've moved into a house that has one twin pump on the hot and cold water pipes (leading from the tanks) to make the upstairs shower more powerful. It works fine in the shower, as it switches itself on (mains electric) when it senses flow in the pipes as you first turn the shower tap on.
Unfortunately it also does this when it detects the flow of cold water to the bathroom taps and the toilets in the house. This means I'm paying money to fill up my toilets, and also means if anyone uses a tap in the night there is a loud whirring noise in my 3yr old daughter's bedroom cupboard. Not ideal!
I see there are two sensors which are fitted on the outside of the cold and hot water pipes into the pump. Shall I just unclip the sensor on the cold side, in order that demand for cold water doesn't start the pump up?
I think there is only one motor inside the pump, so a demand for hot water will trigger the hot sensor, and pump both hot and cold water. So the shower should still work the same.
Any drawbacks? Other than: the toilets will refill slower?
Best Answer
Disconnecting the cold water flow sensor certainly sounds like a reasonable idea. Try it and see if you get the desired result. Do use care when disconnecting as the sensor wiring may not be isolated low voltage circuitry.
When the pump is deactivated you will want to evaluate fully whether the upstairs toilets and sink faucet water flow is adequate when only cold water is used.
You also have the option to add in a timer circuit device that could cut off power to the pump motor during certain hours of the day/night. The timer could, if the proper type, simply be used to cut off the cold water sensor to the pump as opposed to just simply turning off the AC power to the pump motor.