One for the plumbers.

[Beezerk]

Quick question if you have the time and the nous.
We had someone in to look at our old boiler with the view to getting it replaced with a new combi.
The old one is gravity fed I believe, there's a massive copper tank in the loft which I think holds the hot water. While in the kitchen he asked what our water pressure is like, I turned on the kitchen sink and it isn't very fast but it's always been like that. The guy advised we get it checked out and find out why it's so poor, ask neighbours what their water pressure is like etc as he didn't want us to spend a fortune on a system if it isn't suitable.
After he left I remembered something, I went up to the bathroom and turned on the cold water tap on the bath, it's really powerful. I did the 6 second test were you fill a jug of water, kitchen was 5, bath was 15.
How can that be?
In fairness I didn't try the bathroom sink but I'm pretty sure it's not as slow as the kitchen tap.

Any ideas how I should proceed?

 

[Old Colner]

Generally 22 mm pipes feed a bath & 15 mm pipes for a sink.

I am not a plumber.

 

[Beezerk]

Cheers mate, but wouldn't the water pressure be lower through a larger pipe?
Just kinda thinking aloud there

 

[Deleted member 1740]

Quick question if you have the time and the nous.
We had someone in to look at our old boiler with the view to getting it replaced with a new combi.
The old one is gravity fed I believe, there's a massive copper tank in the loft which I think holds the hot water. While in the kitchen he asked what our water pressure is like, I turned on the kitchen sink and it isn't very fast but it's always been like that. The guy advised we get it checked out and find out why it's so poor, ask neighbours what their water pressure is like etc as he didn't want us to spend a fortune on a system if it isn't suitable.
After he left I remembered something, I went up to the bathroom and turned on the cold water tap on the bath, it's really powerful. I did the 6 second test were you fill a jug of water, kitchen was 5, bath was 15.
How can that be?
In fairness I didn't try the bathroom sink but I'm pretty sure it's not as slow as the kitchen tap.

Any ideas how I should proceed?

Sounds like your bathroom supply is pumped.

Mains pressure (kitchen supply) should always be greater than a gravity fed system.

If you was my customer I would test your incoming main pressure myself before advising you any further......

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Indoor running water in the UK?

Brilliant!

I stayed at the Hyatt-Regency / Churchill at Portman Square and barely got any.
That doesn't happen in Vegas...and that's in the middle of a desert!

 

[Beezerk]

Sounds like your bathroom supply is pumped.

Mains pressure (kitchen supply) should always be greater than a gravity fed system.

If you was my customer I would test your incoming main pressure myself before advising you any further......

Thanks mate, I'll get it checked out.

 

[jim8flog]

The cold water in the kitchen should be mains fed.

The bathroom sink and the bath would both normally be fed from the tank in the loft (it is why you should not drink the water in a bathroom).

If you have low mains pressure the water from the tank will be at a higher pressure simply because it is tank fed.

One of the things to check is if the stopcock to the house and the one inside the house are both fully opened.

The other thing is to ask to check a neighbours to see if theirs is any different. If both are the same then it is just the water pressure in your area. (My MIL lived a house like this, very low mains pressure)

 

[Bunkermagnet]

The cold water in the kitchen should be mains fed.

The bathroom sink and the bath would both normally be fed from the tank in the loft (it is why you should not drink the water in a bathroom).

If you have low mains pressure the water from the tank will be at a higher pressure simply because it is tank fed.

One of the things to check is if the stopcock to the house and the one inside the house are both fully opened.

The other thing is to ask to check a neighbours to see if theirs is any different. If both are the same then it is just the water pressure in your area. (My MIL lived a house like this, very low mains pressure)

All my cold taps are mains fed, even when I had an indirect system with the cylinder and all the gumpf in the loft.

 

[Beezerk]

Right, I found the stopcock in the house, it's inside a cupboard in the spare bedroom (looks like it used to be an old airing cupboard or something), it's definitely fully open.
From there it looks like t's off left to the bathroom, to the right it looks like it goes towards the kitchen and then t's off again up into the loft. The one going to the kitchen must loop all over the place to get to the taps at the kitchen sink.
#confused

 

[Old Colner]

Generally 22 mm pipes feed a bath & 15 mm pipes for a sink.

I am not a plumber.

Maybe I misunderstood your little comparison, i was explaining why you would get more water from the bath taps, as I thought was your outcome.

 

[jim8flog]

Right, I found the stopcock in the house, it's inside a cupboard in the spare bedroom (looks like it used to be an old airing cupboard or something), it's definitely fully open.
From there it looks like t's off left to the bathroom, to the right it looks like it goes towards the kitchen and then t's off again up into the loft. The one going to the kitchen must loop all over the place to get to the taps at the kitchen sink.
#confused

Wow!! main stopcock to the house in an upstairs room.

Are you sure that is not just a service stopcock. Where does the water come in to the house and is there another stopcock outside the house.

 

[jim8flog]

PS When I had a new boiler fitted the plumber noted that the cold water feed inside the house was reduced to 15mm from the 22mm feed to the house. He recommended changing the feed to the combi boiler to 22mm which I never did because I never use the bath.

 

[Beezerk]

Wow!! main stopcock to the house in an upstairs room.

Are you sure that is not just a service stopcock. Where does the water come in to the house and is there another stopcock outside the house.

I found the stopcock valve thing in the street, the pipe appears to go to the house and then up into the spare bedroom. My mate came over and he split the pipe where it comes out of the wall in the kitchen, we get 7 litres per minute there but only 5 at the taps which is a few metres away. Bathroom taps still about 12 litres per minute which is odd as it's off the same supply. We're wondering if there's a dodgy/kinked pipe between the spare bedroom and the kitchen.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'm now imagining your house to be something like the one from the Adam's Family ?. There is some weird stuff going on there. I daren't think about your wiring. Is the bedroom light in your kitchen? ?

 

[Beezerk]

I'm now imagining your house to be something like the one from the Adam's Family ?. There is some weird stuff going on there. I daren't think about your wiring. Is the bedroom light in your kitchen? ?

It's weird as anything mate, for instance the loft is massive but in three sections for some strange reason. The wiring is old and odd, almost like it was an after thought