Checking for good water pressure and mains gas supply

onthewayout

Could any plumber do that? If it doesn't need a key to get at, I can ask the agent to let me have it checked. Not sure if there's time to wait for an official visit.

aleksrothis wrote: »

Your local water company should be able to attend and check the pressure at the external stop tap. So long as the pressure there is high enough for the type of boiler/appliances you want any internal issues can be resolved by replacing your own pipes.

onthewayout

What would you get instead? My mum has a shower directly from her combi boiler and it works great, like a power shower with no lecky required!

ILW wrote: »

If it is an issue, don't go for a combi (they aren't much cop for showers anyway)

onthewayout

That was the sort of problem I was thinking of. Did you have any trouble getting a bigger one fitted? How much digging did it take?

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat wrote: »

It may also depend on the size and age of the inlet from the mains. I upgraded my boiler and hot tank recently and needed the pipe size increasing.

vegasbaby100

Hi buy a water pressure gauge for about 15 quid from b&q or screwfix or any local plumbers merchant also get a flow rate cup. you need to messure the flow rate also. You can use a combi on a flow rate from 12l per minute but wont get optimum performance from that.

Set one tap to give youa pressure of 1 bar then messure the flow rate from the other tap. The flow rate will be the maximum that you would likely get from the shower depending on the head you will be looking to get over 10l per minute if you want bigger heads then you will need a higher flow rate.

When picking a boiler look for the maximum flow rate from it as well.

to be honest if it was me on a viewing i would take a flow rate cup and use that as a guide.

MoneyMate

onthewayout wrote: »

What would you get instead? My mum has a shower directly from her combi boiler and it works great, like a power shower with no lecky required!

Totally agree :beer:

ILW

Stored hot water and a shower pump is the way to for a proper shower.

olly300

ILW wrote: »

Stored hot water and a shower pump is the way to for a proper shower.

Why would you put in a water tank in a property that doesn't need one?

ILW

olly300 wrote: »

Why would you put in a water tank in a property that doesn't need one?

Depends if you want a real power shower or not. Seemd a bit of a priority for OP.

onthewayout

I do like having a power shower, but my real priority is never to have the hot water run out when I want to use it. My schedule changes a lot, I often want to take a shower at different times, I often have guests staying over, and I can't see how a storage tank would cope with that unless it was enormous and I ran the heating element 24/7. Hot water on demand from a combi boiler seems a lot more reliable and efficient.

All opinions much appreciated though - thanks!

ILW wrote: »

Depends if you want a real power shower or not. Seemd a bit of a priority for OP.

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

onthewayout wrote: »

That was the sort of problem I was thinking of. Did you have any trouble getting a bigger one fitted? How much digging did it take?

I was fortunate that my front garden is very short, and they were able to go under my steps from inside the house, probably no more than 6 foot. There was a good deal of disuption inside the house as the old lead pipes had to be taken out, and the new ones (though my choice) put under the floorboards but I thought it was a choice worth making. I did this very early on in my ownership along with a full rewire as I knew I would not want to do this once I was settled and had decroated