Water flow

Archergirl

The water flow in our house is very poor especially the hot downstairs, was thinking about a booster pump but we have an electric shower and wondering if that would overwhelm it.

Albermarle

Do you have a cold water tank in the roof, or is the system directly fed from the mains? If it is the latter you are not allowed to have a booster pump.

In any case yes, the electric shower would probably struggle to heat the water if the flow was increased significantly. 

moneytorques

Albermarle said:

Do you have a cold water tank in the roof, or is the system directly fed from the mains? If it is the latter you are not allowed to have a booster pump.

In any case yes, the electric shower would probably struggle to heat the water if the flow was increased significantly. 

Not strictly true, you can install a Pump on the Mains as long as the Flow Rate doesnt exceed 12 litres per minute and there are products on the market at this flow rate.

Has the OP confirmed the current Flow rate?

grumpy_codger

Albermarle said:

Do you have a cold water tank in the roof, or is the system directly fed from the mains? 

Most likely this is the case as in the kitchen tap the notice between the (mains) cold water and (the tank) hot water will be most noticeable.

It's worth saying that some taps aren't designef for low-pressure water supply - the OP needs to check the specifications of theirs.

Brewer21

OP, have you had a word with neighbours to ask if they have low pressure too?
Sometimes it's a case of low pressure in the area or it could be a problem elsewhere.
We had a dodgy mains stop tap (in the house) and when we had a water meter installed some years ago the fitter freed off the stop tap, our pressure increased noticeably.
Last year also the water board fitted additional meters in the street to detect leaks in the area, again we noticed a slight drop in pressure. We got the engineer out to test the pressure which in their tests proved ok and up to standard. We used to have it gushing the tap for years but since the additional meter has been fitted it's a good pressure but not as it was a few years ago.

Albermarle

Brewer21 said:

OP, have you had a word with neighbours to ask if they have low pressure too?
Sometimes it's a case of low pressure in the area or it could be a problem elsewhere.
We had a dodgy mains stop tap (in the house) and when we had a water meter installed some years ago the fitter freed off the stop tap, our pressure increased noticeably.
Last year also the water board fitted additional meters in the street to detect leaks in the area, again we noticed a slight drop in pressure. We got the engineer out to test the pressure which in their tests proved ok and up to standard. We used to have it gushing the tap for years but since the additional meter has been fitted it's a good pressure but not as it was a few years ago.

I think some suppliers have dropped their pressure in recent years, to save water/money.

Section62

Brewer21 said:

...
Last year also the water board fitted additional meters in the street to detect leaks in the area, again we noticed a slight drop in pressure. We got the engineer out to test the pressure which in their tests proved ok and up to standard. We used to have it gushing the tap for years but since the additional meter has been fitted it's a good pressure but not as it was a few years ago.

I had low pressure at my kitchen tap after getting a water meter - they did the tests and said the flow met the legal minimums and that was it.  Some years later they had to do more work on the meter, one of the area managers was called out to check something, and whilst there he agreed that the dribble of water from the kitchen tap was strange given the fountain coming from the temporary 'flush' pipe in the street.

Turns out it is a known problem that turning the supply off while fitting a meter can cause issues with the householder's stopvalve in certain circumstances.  Either from dirt/debris getting into the pipe, or the loss of pressure/backflow causing the valve washer to get dislodged.

So much of an issue they have a couple of crews dedicated to touring the company's area to fix the problems that day's meter installations have caused - lovely people, knew exactly what they were doing, replaced the internal stopvalve in 15 mins with no fuss whatsoever, kitchen tap started gushing like a fountain again just like it did before the meter was originally fitted.

Unfortunately it is just down to luck whether the person who comes out to 'test' the supply is happy that the legal minimums are met, or agrees something is not right when the neighbour's supply gushes and yours just dribbles.

Archergirl

Brewer12 I will ask neighbours, good idea but it is worse now with the new tap  

grumpy_codger Yes it is a low pressure tap.

 Albermarle Yes the water tank is in the loft.

WIAWSNB

Archergirl said:

Brewer12 I will ask neighbours, good idea but it is worse now with the new tap. No point asking your neighbours about anything yet. 

Yes it is a low pressure tap. Which exact tap - could you link to it? And where is this 'hot' tap? Are other hot taps affected too?

The water flow in our house is very poor especially the hot downstairs, was thinking about a booster pump but we have an electric shower and wondering if that would overwhelm it. By 'electric shower', I presume you mean an 'instant' electric shower? In which case, it'll have nothing to do with your loft tanks, and won't be affected by a pump you might fit to addrewss the poor HW flow.

Yes the water tank is in the loft.

You are drip-feeding us important info at a lesser rate than your new hot tap.

Ok, you have a CWS in the loft, yes? (Google is your friend). If so, then you'll also have a 'vented hot water cylinder' in a cupboard somewhere? (Google is still yer whatsit).

If so, then you can increase your water flow by doing things like raising the height of your CWS if you can, or addressing any poor plumbing - poorly-laid pipe runs, etc, or ensuring you do have genuinely low-pressure taps fitted.

How many storeys does you home have? And which taps have the low-flow problem?

grumpy_codger

Isolating valve for the kitchen tap hot water supply is worth checking.