Pumped shower. Boiler efficiency when pump & HW both on ?

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I have a question and wonder if someone can answer this

I have a gas boiler CH & HW fully pumped system. Pretty standard. Hot water tank with 4" of insulation all over

We have a pumped shower which is activated with the flow when the shower is turned on, increasing the pressure.


We have 2 adults and 2 students, all have morning showers.


Boiler heats HW from 6:30 till 8:30 during which time 3 to 4 showers.

Now here is my question. Using the shower draws hot water from the tank from the top and cold water enters at the base. Once the HW tank temp drops the boiler fires for a period.

Is it a good idea that the boiler fire at the same time the tank is delivering HW to the shower ? It seems to me that with cold water entering at the bottom of the tank, the boiler is not delivering heat into the tank as efficiently. as when the tank is not delivering hot water to the shower
It occurred to me that it might be possible to wire an additional sensor to prevent the boiler from firing while the pump shower was on. that way the boiler would only deliver heat to the tank when the tank was in a non-circulation state.

Q: is this a sound assumption ?

Q: thoughts on how to do this. It occurred to me that I could wire a sensor in series with the tank stat i.e an additional switch that needed to be closed for the boiler to fire. The pump is always 'on' and the drop in pressure causes it to pump, so there are no signal wires as such. I guess it would be possible to maybe detect the pump was on via induction i.e some form of current detecting switch, or possibly even vibration (the shower pump vibrates when in use)



Thanks


Jonathan
 

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