New taps and now hot water trickles out?

SophieAnnie
SophieAnnie Posts: 2 Newbie
in Water bills
Hiya, im hoping someone can help me with this problem

I have just had new taps fitted (mixer taps). The hot water comes from a hot water tank, and the cold from the mains.

The hot water trickles out, i have heard that im going to need a pressure pump?. Can anyone advise me on what to get?. Im feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of this.

Sophie.

Comments

  • HappyMJ
    HappyMJ Posts: 21,115 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    SophieAnnie wrote: »
    Hiya, im hoping someone can help me with this problem

    I have just had new taps fitted (mixer taps). The hot water comes from a hot water tank, and the cold from the mains.

    The hot water trickles out, i have heard that im going to need a pressure pump?. Can anyone advise me on what to get?. Im feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of this.

    Sophie.
    It's just a tap why would that overwhelm you? If they don't work up to your standard then get whoever installed them to come back and fix it or put the standard taps back in.
    :footie:
    :p Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S) :p Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money. :p
  • energysavingexp
    energysavingexp Posts: 432 Forumite
    is the hot tap on the left hand side this is important

    the cold tap has a floating washer and the hot is fixed
  • SophieAnnie
    SophieAnnie Posts: 2 Newbie
    Feeling a little overwhelmed because fitting the taps have been a disaster, and much more work than we first thought (water leaks, had to buy new parts, pipes ect) and now they dont work properly. The o/h has put them in.

    The hot and cold water come from the same tap, the handle on the tap turns left for hot and right for cold. Sorry im not explaining myself very well, i really dont have a clue when it comes to this sort of thing.

    Sophie
  • mart.vader
    mart.vader Posts: 714 Forumite
    edited 17 October 2011 at 1:21PM
    This could be a few things -

    If the hot water has always trickled out, and hasn't just got worse since hubby fitted new tap, then, whatever the problem was before, hasn't been alleviated by fitting new taps, Could be insufficient difference in height between tank and tap.

    If it's only been a problem since new tap fitted, maybe hubby has kinked the feed (the wire-braided flexible pipe) to the hot water tap? or introduced some "carp" into the pipe when fitting? Maybe, there's an air-lock?

    Edit: Maybe hubby forgot to fully reopen all valves?
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Rampant Recycler
    Most new taps(all?) have a smaller bore and very low water flow is a common problem.

    I had a bathroom refitted and had to have a pump fitted to overcome the problem.

    In a refitted kitchen the new mixer tap had to be changed.
  • Canucklehead
    Canucklehead Posts: 6,254 Forumite
    Cardew wrote: »
    Most new taps(all?) have a smaller bore and very low water flow is a common problem.

    I had a bathroom refitted and had to have a pump fitted to overcome the problem.

    In a refitted kitchen the new mixer tap had to be changed.


    Hi,

    To expand on that...

    The tap should have been bought to suit a low pressure gravity system. Even then they don't always work very well.

    If the mixer is anything but a sink ( as in kitchen sink) it will also need check valves to prevent cross flow and these are also restrictive.

    GSR.
    Ask to see CIPHE (Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering)
  • gyromain
    gyromain Posts: 64 Forumite
    I had a problem like this. It was caused by fitting a ball isolating valve in the low pressure hot water pipe.

    Ball isolating valve
    http://www.screwfix.com/p/15mm-isolating-valve-pack-of-10/32802

    I found the solution to replace the ball isolating valve with a full bore valve. Like one of these:-

    http://www.screwfix.com/p/15mm-full-bore-isolating-valve/46860

    http://www.screwfix.com/p/15mm-gate-valve/85316

    http://www.screwfix.com/p/15mm-lever-ball-valve/67744
  • uncovered
    uncovered Posts: 54 Forumite
    i have had the exact same problem after fitting new taps in the kitchen and the en suite. The problem is normally caused by the new fancy taps. If you look at the specs they are not made for low pressure systems and as such if your hot water system is fed by a hot water tank, hence only have the head of how high the tank is, then it will struggle for flow.

    These new taps need a pump fitted to the hot water system. For the kitchen and en suite sinks I can live with the low flow. But when I did the bathroom last year I decided against the fancy mixer taps. They look very very nice and would have loved them but I went straight for thee simple straight forward victorian style mixer/shower unit. I have no problems with that tap and the bath fills up ok.
  • bungle4by4
    bungle4by4 Posts: 747 Forumite
    yep, its low pressure system feeding the taps which require a pump fed.

    basically you have a taps designed for use with a combi boiler. you can get a pump, that switches on automatically and gives you better pressure. they are about 100 - 140 pounds.

    hth
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