After a bit of advice re pressure/flow

[John Langton]

Hi, after a bit of advice/what to expect before I call someone out and start spending money.

Have lived at my property for almost a year now and the water pressure/flow has never been great, I recently bought a water pressure gauge and screwed this on to my garden tap which is literally straight after the stop valve coming into the property. Below are the readings:

· Static pressure, 2 bar
· With Kitchen tap on, also straight after the main incoming valve, 1.2 bar
· With kitchen tap off and bathroom tap on, which is directly above the kitchen, 0 bar
· Flow test from kitchen tap with everything else off, 1 litre in 12 seconds

I made sure the stop valve was fully open prior to doing all this. Have looked in the street for the main isolation point(?) can’t see anything for me and my two neighbours to the right but the two to the left have one each. Neither side neighbours had any problems with their pressure/flows when I asked them.

The house is half way through renovation so nows the time to get the floorboards up etc if that’s the case, would ideally also like the combi boiler moving from the spare room to the loft but only if the water will actually get up there in the first place!

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Get the feeling I’ll be heading to the ‘I’m looking for a plumber’ section though…
Thanks, John

 

[supper plumb]

what about a home boost salamander pump
Is the stopcock fully open fully working i mean is it a lead mains ???

 

[John Langton]

what about a home boost salamander pump
Is the stopcock fully open fully working i mean is it a lead mains ???

Never heard of one of those but will look into, the stopcock is fully open yes, doesnt look in the best condition though so maybe the best place to start in replacing that if i could find the isolation point in the street...

Not sure on the pipe coming through the floor, but it looks like 15mm, will have a closer look tonight when home from work.

Thanks

 

[supper plumb]

have a look in the street for mains some pics will be good

 

[John Langton]

have a look in the street for mains some pics will be good

Just gave severn trent a call to see if they had any records of locations. They hadn't but have made an appointment for someone to come out tomorrow morning, free of charge, to locate it for me. I'm gobsmacked, was expecting a long wait and a charge!

Will update tomorrow

 

[supper plumb]

they will slap you with a hefty bill to fit next

 

[lame plumber]

you may need to upgrade your incoming main if its old lead, if you dig the trench a decent plumber can sort the rest. Personally Id forget booster pumps, somthing else to go wrong, if you get a decent supply in then a combi may work ok. get water co to check pressures on their supply to see what its like, dont forget that you neighbours may well have attic tanks and everyhing is cushty for them because of this. Long term if area pressures are poor would be to revert to tanks in the roof or consider an accumalator if its really poor, get a plumber or 2 to investigate and offer their opinions

 

[John Langton]

you may need to upgrade your incoming main if its old lead, if you dig the trench a decent plumber can sort the rest. Personally Id forget booster pumps, somthing else to go wrong, if you get a decent supply in then a combi may work ok. get water co to check pressures on their supply to see what its like, dont forget that you neighbours may well have attic tanks and everyhing is cushty for them because of this. Long term if area pressures are poor would be to revert to tanks in the roof or consider an accumalator if its really poor, get a plumber or 2 to investigate and offer their opinions

pressure is good at 2 bar, flow not so at 5 litres a minute. ST engineer tested for me.They located street stop tap under tarmac. apparently they will be revisiting to excavate and fit new stopcock. Should then be able to replace my very old, leaky, internal stopcock. Will go from there, not really keen on digging trenches as drive is not very old at all. May have to go to attic tanks as a work around.Main incoming is 15mm copper coming up from the kitchen floor, would that change to lead heading to the street?

 

[julesverne]

you wouldn't have to dig the whole drive up you could re route the pipe so it goes a different way under the house . you may have to only dig a metre or so of driveway maybe go through your garden easier to dig aswell if just dirt and not concrete. and go under the house.

 

[John Langton]

had both stop cocks replaced and still rubbish flow, what else could be causing it, water meter? build up of gunk in the main pipe?

Just want to explore all posibilities before digging up drive or as julesverne suggested re-routing the mains pipe.

Thanks

 

[tom609]

if your neighbours have had new mains supply check their flow rate if they are getting considerably more flow than you then its likely to be your incoming supply though i have had a blocked ferral comming off the main in the street before but only once in35 years

 

[Aquazone]

When you had the external stopcock replaced, did they not tell you the pressure at the meter? If not they probably should have. You have decent pressure, but the flow rate is pants. Probably a problem with the main pipe if both S/C's have been replaced, like tom has said, a blocked ferrule is quite rare.

 

[Joncpi]

The problem is the Water Co is only obliged to give you about 1.0bar as a minimum. So if you have 2.0bar then they will not do anything. Sounds more like the pipe is too small or restricted in some way either dirt, or a kink when laid. There is an alternative to digging a trench through your "not so old" drive. That is to mole a new one in. It is not as expensive as most people think. It can nearly always be done in 1 day. If you get a external WIAPS moling company, which most are, then there is no need for the Water Co to inspect your "trench". Also when you weigh up the cost of reinstatement, the time it takes to dig a trench by hand and backfill, or the cost of a digger. Not to mention if another services such as your gas pipe or electric cable is damaged by digging. Then the possibility of the trench sinking when backfilled unless all excavated materials are removed and the trench backfilled with scalping. The "scar" that will always be there. Do I need to go on? The cost of moling seems cheap.

 

[John Langton]

When you had the external stopcock replaced, did they not tell you the pressure at the meter? If not they probably should have. You have decent pressure, but the flow rate is pants. Probably a problem with the main pipe if both S/C's have been replaced, like tom has said, a blocked ferrule is quite rare.

the pressure is 2.1 bar which they told me when they came out initially, not after replacing the stopcock. the water is the same now as before so i doubt that has changed. To me its looking like my main pipe is damaged/crap. Although are there any other posibilities? could it be the water meter i have restricting flow? i want to make sure i go down every possible avenue before replacing the main.

The problem is the Water Co is only obliged to give you about 1.0bar as a minimum. So if you have 2.0bar then they will not do anything. Sounds more like the pipe is too small or restricted in some way either dirt, or a kink when laid. There is an alternative to digging a trench through your "not so old" drive. That is to mole a new one in. It is not as expensive as most people think. It can nearly always be done in 1 day. If you get a external WIAPS moling company, which most are, then there is no need for the Water Co to inspect your "trench". Also when you weigh up the cost of reinstatement, the time it takes to dig a trench by hand and backfill, or the cost of a digger. Not to mention if another services such as your gas pipe or electric cable is damaged by digging. Then the possibility of the trench sinking when backfilled unless all excavated materials are removed and the trench backfilled with scalping. The "scar" that will always be there. Do I need to go on? The cost of moling seems cheap.

Are they not obliged to provide a minimum flow rate too? i've been looking into these moling companies and the prices dont seem to bad at all considering, it may be the route to go...

Thanks for all your input guys...

 

[Reg Man]

Minimum they are obliged to supply is 1 bar pressure at 9 litres per minute, which don't help no one if you want combis, unvented system or an electric shower. After tracking these threads, its looking like a restriction on the pipe run, could be the Ferrell could be corrosion build up inside the pipe, could be crushed somewhere. That's taking into account that your neighbours don't have any issues.