No water pressure due to storage tank tap water

Ad86

Hi, since we've moved into another house about 6months back we've always had a problem with pretty much zero water pressure.
This wasn't a huge concern, and we put it down to living in a long row of joined town houses.
Anyway, we've recently had a new washing machine which now refuses to wash and flashes a "water supply/pressure fault"

So ive got in touch with the landlord/water board (severn trent) who came out today to investigate, they did a kitchen tap pressure test and the result was 2L a minute. The severn trent engineer said this was terrible and should be more like 10L.
Anyway, he advised me to get in touch with the landlord for him to check the house plumbing.
But ive just had a quick look in the bathroom at the pipework and it turns out that ALL taps/water in the whole house are being fed off the gravity storage tank!! Now ive always been warned about drinking tank water due to whatever you might fight floating in it. So is it safe?

And is there anything i can do about this "problem" ? Ive never known a house kitchen tap being fed off a storage tank, which is obviously why we have zero water pressure(kitchen cold tap is a trickle..) and now cant use the washer.

Any advice?

Myser

Ad86 wrote: »

they did a kitchen tap pressure test and the result was 2L a minute.

The kitchen and maybe the garden taps are the only ones to usually be fed directly from the water supply.

In this instance, Severn Trent Water should have investigated further.

Ad86

Thats been the case in every place ive ever lived in before.
But all taps in the house are definently fed from the storage tank.
Close the valves on the tank outlet and the kitchen tap stops.

They did investigate further tbh, they checked the external stop tap was open etc.
They basically thought the pressure drop in the house was down to a blockage or partly closed stopcock etc.
Everything is fine their end, the issue is the house. Which it is, albeit being caused by how the house is plumbed.

Myser

Fair enough - it is unusual though. I would be a bit suspect about drinking that water un-boiled!?

You may want to suggest when the landlord rectifies the water pressure problem that the kitchen tap is plumbed directly to the main water supply.

Have you tried opening and closing the stop valve from the water tank a few times? It may be 'gunked' up.

Rikki

Two probably very obvious points. Have you checked the house stop tap and the water connection in the street?

Make sure they are turned up in the street and inside adjusted accordingly.

Myser

Rikki wrote: »

Two probably very obvious points. Have you checked the house stop tap and the water connection in the street?

Make sure they are turned up in the street and inside adjusted accordingly.

If you read the OP's previous reply, you will note that these were checked when Severn Trent Water visited.

Ad86

Exactly my thoughts.

Yeah the stop valves on the tank are relatively new and open/close easily.

The only way the pressure problem will get rectified is to pipe it to the mains, or fit some kind of booster pump, but that wont help the water sitting inside a vented tank for 8hours problem.

Ad86

Rikki wrote: »

Two probably very obvious points. Have you checked the house stop tap and the water connection in the street?

Make sure they are turned up in the street and inside adjusted accordingly.

THe internal stop valve is like a 1/4turn handle valve, when you turn that off and then run a tap, then switch it back on you can feel the pressure release into the pipe. There is no mains pressure problem in the supply pipe, its how the taps have been piped up is whats causing the problems.
The washing machine is T'd into the kitchen cold tap too, so you can imagine how little pressure/supply that gets.

Mr_Ted

I believe, but you should check with your water authority as Water By-Laws can vary, that a property must have a minimum of one mains fed potable water outlet, usually the kitchen sink, for obvious reasons!

In respect of the poor supply from the storage tank a low flow can cause a lot of problems, not least bugs breeding due to the lack of flow through the tank if the tank gets to hot that can cause health problems!
I would have thought that the WA should have issued an order or at the least guidance on what needed to be done, and to have checked the incoming water pressure that is their responsibility to ensure it wasnt an issue?

Failing that I would have the ball valve in the tank checked to see if there are any blockages, and to check the incoming supply with the ball valve out, it can happen that a small stone or grit from water mains or work undertaken on them, can find its way to the ball valve outlet and cause a blockage that reduces outlet flow rates!

Whatever the cause may be it is for sure a poor installation and should be rectified ASAP!

Ad86

TBH i think i know more than the water board guy did. He seemed a bit clueless once the usual "stopcock half shut" remedy didnt work.
He never mentioned the tap supply being tank fed, its only from me having a closer look earlier on.
He went as far as thinking the stop tap was located behind the recent tiles fitted onto the bathroom walls!

Funny you should mention about heat around the storage tank, the storage tank actually sits about a foot above the hot water cylinder. The bathroom is downstairs, and the whole boiler/hot tank/storage tank system is downstairs too. Having the storage tank only 5foot off the floor is hardly helping the gravity flow either.

Myser

Is it a bungalow? No upstairs?

It seems that you don't have gravity helping you much then if the main tank is on the same floor as the kitchen!