Advice on water pressure reducing valve please ...

MimiJane

Hi all,

We had a new bathroom fitted a few months ago, including a new electric shower. When the shower is turned on to the hot setting, it makes a loud squeaky sound, which you can eventually get rid of by turning it to a colder setting (annoying to say the least!). We're also getting a loud "clunk" whenever we use a cold tap/washer is on, etc. ... this has been a slight problem since we moved into the house a couple of years ago, but is much worse since our new bathroom was fitted. We've tried turning the water pressure down, which has slightly reduced the clunking noise, but it's still pretty loud.

We've been told that, if the noise from our shower goes when the cold water tap is turned on, it's likely we need a pressure reducing valve. This is the case and so my question is .... is it likely that, should we have a valve fitted, this would solve, not only the problem of the squeaky shower, but also the loud noises from the cold taps? (Don't want to waste money here!).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

x

kenshaz

15MM ball-o-fix valve fitted inline on cold feed ,this valve is also called a restictor valve

MimiJane

kenshaz wrote:

15MM ball-o-fix valve fitted inline on cold feed ,this valve is also called a restictor valve

Many thanks ... do you think this will cure both the problem of the squeaky shower and the clunking noise when cold taps are on?

Fred_Bear_2

If the ball-o-fix solution isn't satisfactory you could try fitting a pressure reducing valve on the mains (I use a Yorkshire Fittings E2000AL valve set at 2 bar, together with a gauge so I can see the pressure selected) although this costs a lot more.

uncle_buck_3

If as you say the squealing noise stops when you open a cold tap I would try fitting a ball-o-fix valve as these are very cheap.
You can’t actually drop the water pressure with this type of valve or by closing the stop c0ck a bit ….all this will do is reduce the flow of the water….but it may just do the trick for your noisy shower.

The banging pipes will more than likely just be that the pipes around your house aren’t supported with pipe clips. When you open a cold tap the pressure is taken off the pipes but when you close the tap it is reapplied & this causes the pipes to jump & bang. Try looking for any pipes flexing while someone opens & closes a tap. If you have a combi boiler also pay attention to the pipe work around the house for the hot taps as with a combi this is also at mains pressure & this could be banging as a result of the cold tap being closed.

One last thing is to fully open your stop c0ck (always turn it back from fully open a ¼ of a turn to stop it jamming) I have known pipes to bang when the stop c0ck wasn’t fully open for some reason.

See if any of that works first.

plumb1_2

kenshaz wrote:

15MM ball-o-fix valve fitted inline on cold feed ,this valve is also called a restictor valve

Maybe you call it a restrictor valve, but 100% of Qualified plumbers wouldn't, a ballofix is a isolation valve! on/off.
Although a flow restrictor can be fitted to the inside a ballofix, reduceing the flow, but not the pressure.

Op, best to fit a PRV valve, turning the mains stop tap down will only de-crease the flow( and affect your supply to all taps etc) of you water and not the pressure.

kenshaz

plumb1 wrote:

Maybe you call it a restrictor valve, but 100% of Qualified plumbers wouldn't, a ballofix is a isolation valve! on/off.
Although a flow restrictor can be fitted to the inside a ballofix, reducing the flow, but not the pressur

Op, best to fit a PRV valve, turning the mains stop tap down will only de-crease the flow( and affect your supply to all taps etc) of you water and not the pressure.

Maybe you call it an isolation valve most qualified plumbers would call them service valves.

The problem that is described ,can be corrected by the insertion of a ball-o-fix,(some-times called service valves).The theory being because of the following formulae 25xd2 square root of the pressure,and the ball-o-fix can be used to restrict flow ,it is NOT just an on or off it has variants because it is a slotted ball depending upon how many degrees you turn the screw head(therefore it can be used as a restrictor valve)often used to prevent water hammer on ball valves ,especially torbeck types.

The problem is caused by a combination of flow and pressure ,therefore a PRV might not work and is more expensive.

That is why ball-valves are supplied with flow restrictors which are fitted into the 15 mm cold feed (just a plastic screw type insert ) to prevent water hammer as the water hits the diaphragm(in the valve assembly) in high pressure areas.

Just one final comment pressure and flow are directly related.

uncle_buck_3

You’re far to cleaver to be a plumber!

Have you not thought about a career in Accountancy?

What works on paper doesn’t necessarily work in practice!

kenshaz

uncle_buck wrote:

You’re far to cleaver to be a plumber!

Have you not thought about a career in Accountancy?

What works on paper doesn’t necessarily work in practice!

Practical commonsense,I agree is worth all the exams in the world,no point in waving a degree at a leaking cylinder. and after reading your post,I think you have both.

Mr_Meanie

You might need to consider fitting one of these Water Shock Arrestors (code 93058) to redue the "clunking noise":

http://www.toolstation.com/search.html?searchstr=93058

plumb1_2

kenshaz wrote:

The problem is caused by a combination of flow and pressure ,therefore a PRV might not work and is more expensive.

IMO it will

kenshaz wrote:

That is why ball-valves are supplied with flow restrictors which are fitted into the 15 mm cold feed (just a plastic screw type insert ) to prevent water hammer as the water hits the diaphragm(in the valve assembly) in high pressure areas.

Only a small minority plastic ball valves have them, and no brass valves have them.

MimiJane wrote:

This is the case and so my question is .... is it likely that, should we have a valve fitted, this would solve, not only the problem of the squeaky shower, but also the loud noises from the cold taps? (Don't want to waste money here!).

Not only does she/he have to problem with the shower but also the taps, by fitting isolation/service valves( which should be fitted/good pratice) and trying to use them to reduce the pressure would make the noise worse!

A ballofix type valve is a on/off (sevice or isolation)valve and should not be used to restrict the flow or the pressure!

I am not getting into a discussion about this-end of.