Low pressure in the pipes

Quenastoise

We have been limping with low pressure in the pipes/central heating for 3 weeks now and we are feeling increasingly desperate.

We think that our pipes froze when we had that cold spell. Since then, there has been low pressure in the pipes. The flow is extremely weak upstairs and sometimes we have no hot water in the bathroom at all. Currently, there is nothing coming out of the hot tap upstairs at all.

We had the water board coming and telling us that there is nothing wrong with the outside pipe from the road into the house. Yesterday, I had two qualified plumbers in the house for 4 hours with no results. They did a pressure check, replaced the stopcock and looked for a hidden capped pipe. Who's trying to fob me off here, I wonder ?

Any hints regarding the next course of action would be greatly appreciated. The water board is coming back to check both flow and pressure at the front and back of the house.

Many thanks in advance

Chippy_Minton_2

So what did the plumbers say?

The_Pedant

You mention only hot taps, but the talk of checking the incoming mains feed suggests both hot & cold have low pressure?

I don't suppose the water board told you what pressure they'd measured? It at least gives a comparison to give some idea of the pressure you could expect indoors.

Have you got a water meter? Is a leak between the street & the house a possibility? Can take a reading, turn everything off in the house & check a few hours later.

What about neighbours? If they have good pressure then that does imply the problem lies somewhere between your connection point & the first tap. If they have the same issue, it's time to go back to the water board.

Just got to rule out each part of the puzzle.

Quenastoise

Yes, the pressure is low in both taps.

The plumbers said that they had checked everything, if the water board came back and said the problem was from inside the house, they would investigate under the kitchen plinth. Not sure what they expect to find, though ?! They checked all the pipes in the house, even in the loft. According to them, SWW will try to fob you off if they can get away with no carrying out the work.

Everyone ruled out an outside leak, mainly because the water meter was not running wild (yes, we are metered)

Apparently, pressure is high in the neighbourhood, my neighbour had to had a pressure regulating valve to bring it down.

gas4you

Is this a combi boiler you have or a hot water cylinder fed from a storage tank in the loft?

What are your kitchen taps like for flow?

roger196

If you have two cold water tanks in the loft, you have the old style open vent system. The large cold tank feeds and provides pressure for the hot water tank below. You need to check that the large cold tank in the loft is full. If not jiggling the float arm may release the valve. Otherwise replace. The small cold tank in the loft is the feed and expansion tank for the central heating system. Again the ball valve can stick. It needs to be freed or replaced. The water level in the f&e tank is low when cold.
The other system is the combi. Here there are no cold tanks in the loft and usually no separate hot water tank. The domestic hot water is pressured from the water mains.
To check the pressure of the water supply in the house, you need one of these to measure the pressure at the tap www.screwfix.com part no 82412. It fits onto washing machine tap. Water flow meter (weir gauge) is at www.bes.co.uk part no 11491 and and water pressure gauge is part no 11711. A cheap way of measuring flow is to use a stopwatch to time how long it takes to fill a 5 litre can from the kitchen cold tap or bath cold tap.
Ask you neighbours if you can check their water pressure. If much different to yours you know you've got the problem. To check shared supply, turn off supply in road and see who does not get water....MUST Confirm with neighbours that OK to do so. You will need a stopcock key screwfix 71652.

Chippy_Minton_2

roger196 wrote: »

To check shared supply, turn off supply in road and see who does not get water....MUST Confirm with neighbours that OK to do so. You will need a stopcock key screwfix 71652.

You may not even need a stopcock key and if you do it doesn't have to be a Screwfix one. Toolstation is cheaper and you only need to spend £10 for free postage.;)

ormus

make a free stopcock key with a bit of scrap wood.

cut a V shape at one end. make a hole at the other end for a bar to go thro.
just turn the bar to operate it.

keystone

Why has this thread moved to stop c o c k keys when it hasn't even passed first base by the OP telling us what system they have gravity or mains?

What did the plumbers who spent 2 hours in the place actually check?

Cheers

gas4you

keystone wrote: »

What did the plumbers who spent 2 hours in the place actually check?

How deep his pockets were?:(

Quenastoise

We have a combi, a Worcester 28i Junior.

The pressure downstairs in the kitchen is OK, not as good as it used to be but upstairs it's dismal, it usually just a trickle from the bath tap, with a slightly better flow from the shower, with the temperature going from icy to warm to to cold within a short period of time.

Really appreciate the advice and the ideas, BTW, many thanks for your input