Free Plumbing Info discussion thread

Wookey

Paularobertson wrote: »

I'm hoping someone may be able to answer this query... Our bathroom has a shower attached to the bath taps, if only the hot water is on it works (scalding) as long as you don't lift it above waste height, if the cold tap is on it works fine, if both taps are on the water is always freezing. I presume the hot water's pressure is not good - apparantly the header tank is too low down. The cold mains is also apparently connected directly to the bath. What would have to be done to have a shower with good pressure and where we can change the temperature?

Many thanks,
Paula

Bath shower mixer taps should have both cold and hot water entering them at the same pressure to ensure there is an equal mix of water coming out the shower head. It sounds like your mains water is the culprit here and is not allowing your hot water to enter the hose at all. Installing an electric shower over the bath should cure your problems, this would entail some electric work to ensure the shower is safe and has a large enough feed, the other answer would be to raise your water tank and repiping the bath with a direct cold feed from the tank.

Wookey

ayesha_ahad wrote: »

hoping someone can help. my solo boiler stopped working after a heated towel rail was fitted. i think it's the pump or sludge. does anyone know what the going price is to have a pump replaced

Assuming you mean a central heating pump they are in the region of £30-50, have you checked the pump isn't airlocked? This can cause it to not pump properly if at all, there will be either a small screw on the top of the main body or a largish screw on the central spindle on the front of the pump ( can also sometimes just be a large thumb wheel which can be loosened by hand ).

london_plumber

Saversue wrote: »

Since having a new ball valve fitted in the cold water tank in my loft the hot water suppy is noisy after you turn the taps off. It sounds the same as after you flush the loo and its filling up. The hot water didn't make this noise before. Does anyone know what the problem is or how to fix it. The plumber says it is normal, but it never used to make this noise. It is not an airlock or water knock.

I don't think there is any connection with the cold water tank

tekman

my house was built in 1926 at a time when quite frankly plumbing wasn't really well thought out as far as planning supplies efficiently as today. Naturally the mains supply and quite a lot of the pipe work is lead with a few exceptions since central heating was installed.
The only mains water pressure supply outlet is in our box room bedroom upstairs therefore no mains supply to kitchen (tank fed). As ridiculous as this sounds this is the way it was designed. My father died back in 2007 and the plumbing system started developing faults (typical). Luckily I'm reasonably hands on but by no means an expert (keen DIYer).
Q - I want to tap into the rising main (located behind the kitchen door) and run a cold water supply to the kitchen sink. I assume the shortest run would be most advisable but this would require me to drill through an area where we used to have an old coal boiler and is very close to a gas supply pipe. Therefore I wondered if it was possible to take the run down to floor level and create a trench in the concrete floor, line the trench with wood, fit the pipe run and then vertically up to the sink. Is this sensible or just plain daft?

Secondly, We have an original lions foot roll top bath with the original Edwardian globe bath taps which tend to drip somewhat. Short of replacing them which is expensive as you don't see any modern bath taps with horizontal outlets, is it possible I may be able to service them myself by getting replacement headgear etc? They were serviced many years ago (about 30yrs) and the plumber stated then this was the last time they could be adjusted as they were seriously worn. They have to be done up tightly to prevent dripping. It's not the washers as I've checked these and they appear to be seated correctly. Any help is seriously appreciated

dawnie508

my boiler led is flashing E1 then66 when this happens it turns off the central heating can you tell me what the problem is please. thanks

keystone

dawnie508 wrote: »

my boiler led is flashing E1 then66 when this happens it turns off the central heating can you tell me what the problem is please. thanks

My crystal ball is either broken or stolen. You need to say what make model of boiler it is and the data will be in your user manual anyway.

Cheers

keystone

Looks like the problem has "self-adjusted" then.

Cheers

libhist

When ever I let water out of the sink in my kitchen unit. I get an awful thumping noise coming from the roof space and a creaking noise. It doesn't happen when I run the taps only when I let water out. What could be causing this and what should I do?

tekman

ANDENA wrote: »

my daughter lives in room on top floor but her radiator is only warm half way up do you start bleed from ground floor and work up or top floor and work down, also does the heating need to be turned off or left on to bleed. any advice would be welcome.

Did mine recently cos one of the upper bedroom radiators had identical problem to your daughters. It's only a bit of trapped air in the system. Anyway I bled the control rad first downstairs and proceeded to do all the others downstairs which were all ok. Went upstairs and found that only the one that had the cold spot needed doing after all. Problem solved. Yes ensure the heating is off

tekman

Saversue wrote: »

Since having a new ball valve fitted in the cold water tank in my loft the hot water suppy is noisy after you turn the taps off. It sounds the same as after you flush the loo and its filling up. The hot water didn't make this noise before. Does anyone know what the problem is or how to fix it. The plumber says it is normal, but it never used to make this noise. It is not an airlock or water knock.

Weird maybe the wrong type of ball valve was fitted. What was your old one a low or high pressure type?