Rerouting water pipes

Jeepers_Creepers

Greegie said:

Thanks Jeepers-Creepers. As you said it's the shhhhhh sound the pipe makes. It is just exceptionally loud. I can't get my head around the pipework in the house to be honest. There is a stopcock in the kitchen (a tap on a huge blue pipe), but also one in the bedroom cupboard (a red wheel on a pipe). Part of me wonders if the water pressure isn't too high in the property, I've never heard a water pipe so loud! I will get a local plumber to look at it. Thank you

That's good news - the stopcock in the kitchen is attached to a large blue pipe. That will definitely be the incoming mains, so that stopcock is in the right place!

What the other pipe might be is a mystery at the moment. It's definitely 'cold'? You don't have a tank in the loft - is your boiler a 'combi' type?

I see you mentioned in another reply that there's a good space under the floor? In which case re-routing the pipe will be easily doable (just don't choose a fat plumber...).

Ask them to explain the red-wheeled 'gate valve' too. And, if the incoming pressure is excessive - say much more than 3 bar - this can be sorted with a Pressure Reducing Valve at around £30. Easy to fit next in line from the main kitchen stopcock. In fact, worth making a list of all the plumbing-related questions you'll want answers to :-) 

This is all very straight-forward stuff for a plumber to do.

(Some modern 'fancy' taps can be noisy in use. I fitted a 'waterfall' basin valve in an en-suite originally, and the literal roar from it was something else. Thankfully it broke soon afterwards...)

bris

The red wheel on the pipe in the cupboard is usually from a tank in the loft. If there isn't a tank in the loft it will be cut somewhere to get the tank out and probably connected to the mains to complete the loop

Would it not be easier to re route the wife to a different bedroom.

Greegie

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Greegie said:

Thanks Jeepers-Creepers. As you said it's the shhhhhh sound the pipe makes. It is just exceptionally loud. I can't get my head around the pipework in the house to be honest. There is a stopcock in the kitchen (a tap on a huge blue pipe), but also one in the bedroom cupboard (a red wheel on a pipe). Part of me wonders if the water pressure isn't too high in the property, I've never heard a water pipe so loud! I will get a local plumber to look at it. Thank you

That's good news - the stopcock in the kitchen is attached to a large blue pipe. That will definitely be the incoming mains, so that stopcock is in the right place!

What the other pipe might be is a mystery at the moment. It's definitely 'cold'? You don't have a tank in the loft - is your boiler a 'combi' type?

I see you mentioned in another reply that there's a good space under the floor? In which case re-routing the pipe will be easily doable (just don't choose a fat plumber...).

Ask them to explain the red-wheeled 'gate valve' too. And, if the incoming pressure is excessive - say much more than 3 bar - this can be sorted with a Pressure Reducing Valve at around £30. Easy to fit next in line from the main kitchen stopcock. In fact, worth making a list of all the plumbing-related questions you'll want answers to :-) 

This is all very straight-forward stuff for a plumber to do.

(Some modern 'fancy' taps can be noisy in use. I fitted a 'waterfall' basin valve in an en-suite originally, and the literal roar from it was something else. Thankfully it broke soon afterwards...)

Jeepers Creepers thank you for you advice. I got a plumber out today and he was really good. He explained what all the pipes were. The one with the red wheel is for an old heating pipe. Some of the pipes are obsolete as they were from when the house had a hot water cylinder. This has now been changed to a combi boiler. He is going to quote on rerouting the pipes along with some other essential work. It seems the pipe that makes the loud wooshing sound is because of how the water was diverted when there was a tank. The good thing about rerouting the pipe is that it frees up loads of space in the wardrobe. I agree on these new fancy taps. We had a waterfall tap in our current house when we moved in. It only lasted 2 years. I went with a simpler tap as a replacement. 
Once again, thank you for your concise but clear advice. 

Greegie

bris said:

The red wheel on the pipe in the cupboard is usually from a tank in the loft. If there isn't a tank in the loft it will be cut somewhere to get the tank out and probably connected to the mains to complete the loop

Would it not be easier to re route the wife to a different bedroom.

bris I discovered the red wheel is from the old heating system. It is apparently obsolete now. Rerouting my wife to a different bedroom would have been the logical cost effective option, but because of the layout of the house it is the only room that will accommodate her special bed.  

Jeepers_Creepers

Greegie said:

Jeepers Creepers thank you for you advice. I got a plumber out today and he was really good. He explained what all the pipes were. The one with the red wheel is for an old heating pipe. Some of the pipes are obsolete as they were from when the house had a hot water cylinder. This has now been changed to a combi boiler. He is going to quote on rerouting the pipes along with some other essential work. It seems the pipe that makes the loud wooshing sound is because of how the water was diverted when there was a tank. The good thing about rerouting the pipe is that it frees up loads of space in the wardrobe. I agree on these new fancy taps. We had a waterfall tap in our current house when we moved in. It only lasted 2 years. I went with a simpler tap as a replacement. 
Once again, thank you for your concise but clear advice. 

You are welcome.

You got a good plumber? That's everything sorted then  

Happy New Bungalow to you both.