Noisy taps

[teecee90]

Can anyone advise please:

I have recently completed an en-suite and downstairs toilet refurb (DIY). The monoblock mixer taps I have fitted to both hand basins are very noisy. One was sourced from Victoria Plum and is rated maximum 3 bar:

https://victoriaplum.com/product/matrix-basin-mixer-tap40a

The whole system is mains fed with an unvented HW tank. I don't have the equipment to test the mains pressure but think it is quite high so Im guessing the problem is too much pressure. The HW tank feed pipe has a 3.5bar reducing valve fitted.

Other than looking for different taps I assume that the solution is to fit a reducing valve to the main incoming water pipe just after the stop tap.

My questions are:

1) Do you agree this is likely to be the problem and correct solution?
2) Any advice on a good quality reducing valve?
3) Any advice on best practice for fitting the reducing valve (e.g. should I fit an isolator valve after the PRV)?
4) Is fitting a PRV here going to cause any other issues elsewhere in the system (e.g. will it cause any problems with the HW cylinder or expansion vessel etc)

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Masood]

Can anyone advise please:

I have recently completed an en-suite and downstairs toilet refurb (DIY). The monoblock mixer taps I have fitted to both hand basins are very noisy. One was sourced from Victoria Plum and is rated maximum 3 bar:

https://victoriaplum.com/product/matrix-basin-mixer-tap40a

The whole system is mains fed with an unvented HW tank. I don't have the equipment to test the mains pressure but think it is quite high so Im guessing the problem is too much pressure. The HW tank feed pipe has a 3.5bar reducing valve fitted.

Other than looking for different taps I assume that the solution is to fit a reducing valve to the main incoming water pipe just after the stop tap.

My questions are:

1) Do you agree this is likely to be the problem and correct solution?
2) Any advice on a good quality reducing valve?
3) Any advice on best practice for fitting the reducing valve (e.g. should I fit an isolator valve after the PRV)?
4) Is fitting a PRV here going to cause any other issues elsewhere in the system (e.g. will it cause any problems with the HW cylinder or expansion vessel etc)

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Who fitted your unvented cylinder? Did he/she have G3 certification? They should have taken a balanced cold feed off the combination valve to give 3bar pressure on the cold distribution. Also your hot should be 3bar as that is what your taps can cope with. Some pressure reducing valves are adjustable. If yours isn't, you'll need a G3 certified plumber to install one as well as a balanced cold.

 

[Unregistered]

I guess it was fitted when the house was built (about 15 years ago), which was before we moved in so no idea what qualifications they had. If it helps, I've added a few photos.

 

[Masood]

Well, your regulated pressure is higher than the taps design pressure, so you need to either change taps or put in different pressure reducing valve. They haven't taken a balanced cold off it either.

 

[teecee90]

So, my proposed solution won't work?

 

[townfanjon]

Depending on your incoming pressure putting another prv downstream of your stop tap may help.

I am suprised nobody has been on and had a go about the victoria plumb taps , from myself and the guys on here I dont even think we would buy a toilet roll holder from them .

Personaly I would throw the taps, they will be leaking soon anyway.

Just one other thing your isolation valves to the taps are fully open aren't they ?

 

[teecee90]

Thanks for the reply. About Victoria Plumb.... we bought everything for the ensuite refurb from them and I must say that the quality of some of the stuff is awful. For example, the glazing on the WC cistern is very thin in places and the pan is not symmetrical! I certainly won't be using them again but would prefer not to be replacing stuff already. Anyway, the tap in the downstairs toilet I think came from Wickes and is even noisier than the Victoria Plumb one.

Isolation valves are indeed all fully open.

Is there anything I can use to check the incoming pressure?

 

[townfanjon]

You would have to rig up a pressure gauge to something like a outside tap or a washing machine valve , they are quite expensive for a use once job. The problem is its the only way to tell .

 

[teecee90]

Okay, so using a cheap pressure gauge from eBay attached to an outside tap, the pressure reading was 4.9 bar.

 

[townfanjon]

Erm yep its plenty pressure but nothing major , but For what you can buy a PRV for these days I would be tempted to fit one. I fit loads your house can only benefit.

 

[teecee90]

Erm yep its plenty pressure but nothing major , but For what you can buy a PRV for these days I would be tempted to fit one. I fit loads your house can only benefit.

Thanks for the advice. Any recommendations for a decent PRV? I've read that they need to be mounted horizontally and should have isolation valves both sides - is that right? Unfortunately the incoming pipe is a complete vertical run from floor to ceiling.

Cheers

 

[townfanjon]

Nah, they can go vert or hor, as for the iso valves they arent massively important , you obviously have a stop tap below for one anyway.
I have used small honeywell ones, or the ones I have at the moment are brass Callefi's .RWC are good ones .
Dont do the ebay cheapo ones.

 

[teecee90]

Okay, so I have fitted a Honeywell D04FS valve just after the main inlet stopcock and am now very confused..!

Moving the adjustment knob on the PRV doesn't seem to change the pressure very much, I can only get it to vary between a range of 2.5 to 3 bar according to the gauge on the PRV. When the pressure shows 3 bar on the PRV it still reads 4.9 bar using a gauge on the outside tap.

Also the instructions for the honeywell PRV are very confusing. To set the pressure its says to turn the knob all the way to the left until it stops, then open the stop tap and turn the knob to the right until the required pressure is reached. Confusingly, it seems to work the other way around..... turning to the left seems to reduce outlet pressure and turing to the right increases outlet pressure.

So that leads me to 2 questions:

1) Is there a simple way to check which gauge is showing the correct reading (short of buying a third gauge)?
2) Is it normal for PRVs to operate in the manner described (clockwise = increased outlet pressure, anti-clockwise = reduced outlet pressure)

Thanks