Upgrading water mains with wider Pipes

Canucklehead

keystone wrote: »

Nope - thou shalt not directly connect a pump to mains water. So sayeth the Water Regs. Here endeth the lesson.

If the house has low mains pressure as supplied by Water Co then the solution is to install a break tank between the incoming mains and your pump. Then you can pump away to your hearts content.

Cheers

Hi

Not strictly true, it does have in integral break tank ......

I think this is what diable meant.

GSR


Perhaps the OP would like to tell us what the mains water pipe is made of.

keystone

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi

Not strictly true, it does have in integral break tank ......

I think this is what diable meant.

GSR


Perhaps the OP would like to tell us what the mains water pipe is made of.

Ahh OK, thank you. I thought he might have meant a bog standard whole house pump (eg Salamander) but then again the price quoted should have given me a clue really. My bad.

Cheers

MX5huggy

It's not complicated you have to dig a trench between 750mm 1000mm deep line it with sand and put the pipe in (the water company will want to see it before back filling). it needs to enter the property at the low level so this can be a bit difficult.

Bleg

Thanks for all the replies. I do not know what the current pipes are made of. And I may be getting flow rate and pressure mixed up. Its just that I want a pressurised hot water system and I have been told the final out put pressure would depend on the pressure coming in. We are planning to have alot of work done which involves a whole new central system. I would just like to know the extent of the digging that would be needed as we would be living in the property.

Many thanks for all the responses and comments.

Bleg

MX5huggy wrote: »

it needs to enter the property at the low level so this can be a bit difficult.

So it would have to go either under the foundations or through it?

keystone

Bleg wrote: »

And I may be getting flow rate and pressure mixed up.

yes I think that may be the case.

Its just that I want a pressurised hot water system and I have been told the final out put pressure would depend on the pressure coming in.

Thats true so you design the system accordingly as mentioned above. First step is what pressure are the water co delivering at? Simplest way of checking that is a pressure guage on the W/M connection or on the outside tap.

I would just like to know the extent of the digging that would be needed as we would be living in the property.

Errrm none probably. Increasing the bore of the supply pipe (assuming there are no obstructions in it) really won't help you at all.

Cheers

diable

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi

Not strictly true, it does have in integral break tank ......

I think this is what diable meant.

GSR


Perhaps the OP would like to tell us what the mains water pipe is made of.

Something like this the GF has something similar under the floor in the stair cupboard.

MX5huggy

Bleg wrote: »

So it would have to go either under the foundations or through it?

Yep! http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/leadpipe.htm

I was lucky 1930's foundations 5 bricks deep to under a suspended wooden floor then ran the pipe (full insulated) in this void to the corner of the dinning room (sold floor to kitchen) so ran the water up the dining room wall to the floor void and down to the boiler and to the taps.

All this talk of pressure and stuff is fine, but I have had the main replace on 2 properties now, the one I mention and another when the street main was replaced and a small amount of cash got them to use the mole tool up the drive to change my main (actually some weeks after the main was done).

On both occasions the result has been a drastic improvement in what I call pressure but probably is volume. ie it takes 1/4 of the time to fill a bucket, it is possible to have a combi powered shower.

keystone

diable wrote: »

Something like this the GF has something similar under the floor in the stair cupboard.

Yes thats what I thought you had in mind or somthing very similar. So the solution for increasing the supply pressure (if needed but in the OPs case we don't yet know) is either one of these but with a separate break tank in between it and the mains supply or one like the one that CH linked to which incorporates a break tank.

Cheers

Bleg

keystone wrote: »

Simplest way of checking that is a pressure guage on the W/M connection or on the outside tap
Cheers

Excuse my ignorance is this a gauge I use myself on my kitchen tap?- as it is fed directly from the mains.

Thanks