odd plumbing questions and fan query long post

another_casualty · 9 September 2019 at 10:15AM

Howdy!
I'll try not to be too complicated here.
I had my shower this morning . I heard a loud bang somewhere .
( I could be paranoid here but I live on gd flr flat and thought possibly something upstairs in other flats ) . Anyway , I seem to have water coming out of the side of the bath, through the filler and onto the floor .
It's the part between the sink and bath , but coming from the top surprisingly and not the bottom . I've put some polyfilla over the existing filler and hoping for the best . That's problem 1

Onto problem 2 : for a few weeks the screw underneath my waterfall tap fell out and whenever I turn tap on , more water comes from underneath than the actual tap itself . If I knew the tap had this sort of set up I wouldn't have gone for it and chose s different type .
The new bathroom is just over 2 years old .
I've tried to get the builder in to get a screw for the tap,but unfortunately he seems evasive . I was wondering if it's something to be concerned about , and if the tap issue is related to the bath issue?

I'm going through the 2's and 3's in terms of bad luck here .
I initially contacted the builder as the extractor in my kitchen fell down a few weeks ago . Then the tap issue happened so he said he'd order part and come and sort out . He is busy but I have a feeling he doesn't think it's worthwhile . Could be wrong . He has been very good in the past and even managed to get me a good deal for the flooring on my flat through a guy he knows. Half the price of carpet right .

One more thing , the water in the kitchen takes a long time to get hot
I am on a boiler maintenance contract , which I think is minimal.
The boiler pressure is 2.4 . The chap I spoke to thinks I should increase pressure . The engineer who gave a service in the spring tightened up the screws too tight so I left it .

Anyway hope that you can help .
Thanks

another_casualty · 9 September 2019 at 1:01PM

I think I've found where the first issue has been coming from .Not 100% obviously , but it could be where the water may be coming through the shower door area and trickling down the side / corner of the bath . I put more polyfilla around that area.
As for the screw on the waterfall tap, I may go to Homebase and get a pack of tap screws from there if I can .

The pressure in the kitchen tap ( hot water ) : I've been looking at you tube vids . Looks like I may have to get a spanner / pliers to loosen the hot water valve under the sink. Shame there aren't 2 taps which would have made things easier .
I have a combi boiler so may try to increase pressure from there
Those valves are very tight tho .

JuzaMum · 9 September 2019 at 2:20PM

If I need to seal round a bath/sink/shower I use silicon. It is quite easy to do. If you are not sure how to do it look on YouTube.

Is the builder you are speaking to the house builder?

Try replacing the tap screw and go from there.

2.4 sounds high for boiler pressure but I don't have the same boiler as you. Can you check the manual or look it up on Google? My boiler has a label that tells me what the recommended pressure is.

Is the kitchen sink a long way from the boiler? It can take a while for the hot water to travel to the sink.

Btw I am not an expert but have a home and have to fix things in it!

another_casualty · 9 September 2019 at 3:25PM

Thanks jm .
The boiler is located in the small bedroom under window opposite kitchen . When I spoke to the boiler maintenance co they recommended me increasing the pressure , which doesn't seem right .
The flow on the cold water is fine and instant , but the hot is weak and takes a while to get going . Tomorrow I'll adjust the valve underneath sink . Fingers crossed .

The builder in question is one I found on rated people . Although I'm a leaseholder , we don't have a builder as such but I may contact managing agents and ask them the best way forward with 5he extractor. After all they fitted it in there .

The builder put some filler all around the bath etc as it is a new bathroom that I had fitted by him . I looked at silicon funny enough on you tube today . I'll weigh things up and decide if I need to put any on problem surfaces . The polyfilla May be ok ..for now .

Thanks