Reduced water pressure at night

Cardew

stuarttunstall wrote: »

Why is it obvious the pressure is low?

I am not 100% sure how the system works, all I can work out, is that the tank in the loft feeds the hot water cylinder, this must then, some way feed through the fire to heat the water up... as I say I am not sure how it works.. I just know that if we turn the water off and drain the tank we need to let the coal fire go out...

The main concern is why the pressure drops over the last 2 nights,,, when it is OK last thing, but low or off as yesterday by 6am

Firstly your back boiler.

As said above the water in the boiler is in a sealed system, i.e. the water in the back boiler isn't the water that comes out of the taps or mixes with the water in the hot water tank. It is simply a loop with the hot water from the boiler passing through a coil in the tank and that coil heats the tank water.

If you have adequate cold water pressure to the taps upstairs during the day, and not at night, what else can it be but low mains water pressure?

It is not that unusual.

stuarttunstall

Cardew wrote: »

Firstly your back boiler.

As said above the water in the boiler is in a sealed system, i.e. the water in the back boiler isn't the water that comes out of the taps or mixes with the water in the hot water tank. It is simply a loop with the hot water from the boiler passing through a coil in the tank and that coil heats the tank water.

If you have adequate cold water pressure to the taps upstairs during the day, and not at night, what else can it be but low mains water pressure?

It is not that unusual.

This is the problem, the water company insist the issue is within the property, not there network... but myself, the builder, and the plumber all suspect it is, as nothing can be found in the house..

Cardew

Yes you have explained that - so escalate matters.

Write to the Consumer Council for Water, copy letter to the water company.

stuarttunstall

Ok Complaint on it's way!

Again, last night at 10.45pm the pressure to the cold water upstairs was fine, then again at 6.00am no pressure upstairs... little flow to the cold tap, downstairs, although a little down, cold water running...

If you ran the water downstairs, upstairs stopped!

It is more and more obviouse that the water company turn the pressure down between maybe 12.00-7 as stated in the first post... but why start in the last 4-5 weeks... cold snap maybe... and why not be truthful when you ask them....

Telephone call today, followed by letter

Stuart

deanos

Maybe they are doing mains repairs or working at the treatment works overnight ?

DVardysShadow

Cardew wrote: »

Surely the OP is complaining about low cold water pressure upstairs; and that cold water is direct from the mains.

Sorry, written in a hurry. That bit was about cold.

bryanb

When I was in the Fire Brigade (about 25 yrs back) we would contact the water company if we required more pressure at night, always got it inside 15 mins. Pretty obvious they lower pressure when demand is low.

keystone

bryanb wrote: »

When I was in the Fire Brigade (about 25 yrs back) we would contact the water company if we required more pressure at night, always got it inside 15 mins. Pretty obvious they lower pressure when demand is low.

Yes as it cuts down on the leaks. A certain very large water utility have been reducing the pressure in their supply region on a 24/7 basis in order to reduce their appalling rate leakage and thus get a smaller slap from OFWAT.

Cheers

burnsguitarman

We seem to have the same problem, but at weekends!
For at least the last 7 yrs we have noticed that the water pressure is very low every weekend. At first we thought it was due to increased demand in Summer, but it is all year round, to the extent that the over bath shower diverter valve won't work in the shower position, but only at weekends!
I did phone North West Water, who denied there was a problem, and said "it's probably because everyone is using a hosepipe"!

Rael

I've got problems with water pressure even during the day. The pressure has been like that since December 27th. My shower only gives cold water (the flow isn't enough to heat). The bath takes 30 mins to run enough to bathe in, but it has to be all hot to start with, then cold to cool it down. If I try to mix, the hot water flow reduces to zero and I get a cold bath anyway. The toilet cistern takes 1 hour to fill between flushes.

My water company have sent a rep out (March 3rd) who confirmed everything is turned on and he's 'listened' for leaks and there are none. I called them today and asked if they had a report from the rep from 3rd March. They said he reported 'low pressure due to a water leak in the area'. I asked if that leak had been fixed. She said it had. My water pressure is now worse than it was on 3rd March. Tomorrow they're coming out with data loggers to find which streets are affected.

14 years without a problem, now 3 months of misery. Hmmphh!