How to increase water pressure to bathroom taps

scoot4nat

I've just had my bathroom done - hot water pressure previously was generally ok (poor in the kitchen), New hot water tap is a spout and curves quite a bit. The water pressue is terrible - almos a dribble - you wouldn't bruch your teeth with it! It took me an over an hour to fill the bath last night and by the time there was an acceptable amount of water in it it was starting to get cold.

We have aback boiler and a hot water tank which the plumber said isn't ideal. He was in the loft messing about with pipes trying to fix it for ages but he couldn't get it any better.

Well it has got worse and it renders the bath practically useless.

Is there anythingthat can be done to fix it,

When he opened the pipes the water seemed to rush throught without any issues but by the time he connected them back up it was back to normal.

keystone

Yes take the ceramic disc taps he or you supplied (which one was it BTW?) out and replace with conventional head gear taps, remove any restrictive iso valves he has fitted and replace with full bore variety.

Either do this or fit a pump or rip out the system guts and fit an unvented cylinder or a combi to give you mains pressure DHW.

You might also ask him why he didn't know or understand that this would happen. Also ask him why he thinks fiddling about in the roofspace is going to do anything except add to your bill for time spent in the wrong location looking for a problem which lies elsewhere.

BTW you do not have a pressure problem - you have a flow rate problem.

Cheers

roger196

Check that isolation valves are fully open, screwdriver slot should be parallel to pipe. Check that flexible pipe to tap, if used, is not kinked or too tight a curve. Remove top of tap and look at washer, does this need replacing. With top off tap, gently turn on water at stopcock, does water flow through ok (this will throw water everywhere so have plenty of towels etc...you need 2 people, one at stopcock in kitchen, other at bath, only try this if you are prepared to get drenched)). Remove whole tap from bath, check that it is not filled withmuck. Connect tap to hose pipe in garden , does water flow through ok.

scoot4nat

I should explain - we have a hot water tank in the kitchen - as far as I know the water for this is piped to the bathroom via the loft. The plumber didn't charge any extra for this and he spent a long time trying to sort the problem so I know he was genuine. In the end he said that because the water comes from a storage tank there is never going to be great pressure - and in fairness - it wasn't fantastic before we had the work done but it is now terrible. These are the bath taps we have. http://www.bathstore.com/_application/bathstore/products/taps/luna-taps/-luna-bath-shower-mixer-deck-mounted-1085.html?pg=0

without the shower attatchment

keystone

The problem remains the tap which has been fitted. Its nothing to do with having muck in it either or needing a new washer. By its very design its far too restrictive for your plumbing arrangements and if he's used flexi connectors and restrictive iso valves thats only compounded the problem. You need to look at replacing it with something that will work.

Cheers

BTW my second paragraph above was supposed to be a bit of a joke. Don't take that seriously.

BoxerfanUK

Some modern taps are only designed to work with high pressure systems, you need non high pressure taps for standard systems

andyhop

BoxerfanUK wrote: »

Some modern taps are only designed to work with high pressure systems, you need non high pressure taps for standard systems

Bathstore link says suitable for Low pressure

The plumber may have been in the loft as the pipework may be airlocked, Many a time when we drain a vented/tanked system that we need to force water back thro the pipework

keystone

BoxerfanUK wrote: »

Some modern taps are only designed to work with high pressure systems, you need non high pressure taps for standard systems

Indeed so but the spec for this tap is 0.2 bar. In any event I'm 99.999999% certain he has a flow rate issue rather than a pressure issue.

Cheers.

keystone

andyhop wrote: »

The plumber may have been in the loft as the pipework may be airlocked, Many a time when we drain a vented/tanked system that we need to force water back thro the pipework

I could be wrong but this:

When he opened the pipes the water seemed to rush throught without any issues but by the time he connected them back up it was back to normal.

suggests to me that the pipes are not airlocked in his instance.

Cheers

plasticandproud

My new bathroom is being fitted as I type. I have the same problem. I've never had great pressure, but now have a monobloc tap and the flow is really poor. My plumber has suggested that I could have a pump fitted to the outlet of the tank, but then the hot will still be poor. I have the same problem in my kitchen. A new modern tap replaced conventional taps where the pressure was reasonably OK. The common denominator is that modern taps use really narrow pipes, probably around 8mm, something like that, which connects to the 15mm, this seems to be maybe what is causing the drop in flow rate.

ListysDad

plasticandproud wrote: »

... The common denominator is that modern taps use really narrow pipes, probably around 8mm, something like that, which connects to the 15mm, this seems to be maybe what is causing the drop in flow rate.

It's much more to do with ignorance coupled with shininess!

The fact of the matter is that plumbers are not consulted PRIOR to a purchase so taps are bought either on price or style alone.