No hot or cold water to 2nd floor bathroom when water is run in 1st floor en suite!

Driptray

We have recently had our house refurbished and part of that was having an en suite added on the 1st floor and a shower room on the top floor. Problem is that when we run the bath in the en suite the water slows in the shower and after about 30 seconds stops completely. When the taps on the bath in the en suite are turned off again the water splutters back in to the shower room.

The house now has a pressurised non vented system with all cold water from the main.

I know that the hot and cold feeds to these bathrooms run to the en suite, tee off and go up to the shower room in the room above. The hot water cylinder is in the airing cupboard opposite the en suite which is on the floor below the shower room which we assume not to be a problem as it is a pressurised system.

Nobody seems to be able to offer a reason or a solution to this issue. Help!

Thanks

freezspirit

I'm guessing that the water is flowing to the first floor as it has the less resistance. More pressure is needed to allow both the bathrom and shower. I wonder if a pump would help somewhere in the system or if the shower could have its own pipe closer to the water cylinder?

Sorry no expert, I'm having the opposite problem main water into property has too much pressure so looking into pressure reducing valves but thinking about it, it may be worth looking into a bypass valve

keystone

You may not pump a pressurised system as it supplied by the mains and you may not pump mains.

Sounds like poor pipework design to me or, more likely, there is insufficient mains pressure to reach the top floor with first floor drawoffs open.

The first thing any plumber should do when implementing a pressurised system is to ensure that there is adequate mains pressure.

Get your contractor back to sort it - thats what you paid him for.

Cheers

Driptray

Thanks Freezspirit and Keystone for your replies, at this stage all suggestions are very welcome.

The plumber said that there was 4.5 bar of pressure at the main and I have measured it today at just over 4 bar. Not sure if this is enough to cope with this system, he claims it is.

Also he says that the pressure is reduced at the hot water cylinder to a maximum of 3.5 bar in line with regs but he claims that this is still enough pressure to supply everything.

It appears to be the bath in the en suite that is the issue, when this is run it cuts the water to the 2nd floor but when a basin is run or the toilet is flushed it reduces the pressure to the 2nd floor but it still remains useable.

He claims it just is not possible to run the bath on the 1st floor and the shower on the 2nd at the same time and that the system fitted is the best possible for this house.

Not sure.

Canucklehead

Hi,

What's the flow rate though?
What's the pressure with a tap running?
What is the pipe material and size where it enters your property?
Does it go back to the main in the street in this material and size?

GSR.