Lack of hot water pressure

[nevmac]

Hi,

I have a major issue with my hot water pressure.
The 2 showers cannot get enough hot water and struggle. The taps in the en-suite and bathroom reduce output when i run them.
However, if I lower the shower head in the bathroom the feed seems to improve, and the tap in the en-suite reduces to a trickle quicker than the one in the bathroom, which doesnt reduce as far.

Down stairs the kitchen hot water is not the greatest, but usable.
The downstairs toilet is the best out of the lot and is almost fine.

You do get air come through sometimes when you run the hot, it may splutter a bit.

I have a hotwater tank in the airing cupboard upstairs which is fed by a cold water tank in the loft. I have a new boiler installed in the kitchen.

If anyone can suggest something that would be great.

BTW I am not a plumber by trade, just a DIY plumber so simple explinations would be great.

Thanks.

 

[kay-jay]

some more info pls.

has the problem just developed, has it been gradually gettin worse, have you had some work done ie new bathroom in an extension or new taps etc, was it ok before this work if any?

the pressure is directly related to the head which is the height of the system. velocity is related to length of pipe runs and elbows and tees etc, this is why one bathroom's flow is better than the other.(it will be sited closer to the feed cistern or have less elbows and restrictions)

if it was fine before and you have had an extension/ added a bathroom etc then you may need to look at boosting the supply

KJ

 

[nevmac]

Hi,

The bathroom is closer (slightly) than the new extension which houses the en-suite.
The pipes for the en-suite go to a pump and then up again into the attic, where as the pipes for the bathroom drop into the floor.

When we upgraded the bathroom before we had the extension done we put a power shower in which worked ok, but has slowly got worse until now where it is unusable.

There does seem to be additional pipework coming to &/or from the hot water tank.

What would you suggest?

Thanks

 

[jay s]

from wot you have said in your post the system is badly designed and will never work properly. was all the pipework upsized incylinder cupboard. did the cold water tank need upsizing are the pumps fighting each other. is air being drawn into system and knackerd pumps causing air locks. personally i would of suggested an unvented cylinder when extention was done, or at least a whole house pump instead of the 2 you have. i could be wrong i havnt seen installation but a good local plumber to you would advice you

 

[nevmac]

I dont think the pumps are fighting each other as the new pump just serves the new shower in the en-suite.
I believe air is being drawn in as the showers splutter as if it is drawing air from the hot water pipe.
We havent changed the hot water tank size, what would this offer us if we did? The lack of flow is almost instant when drawing hot, but the cold runs fine.

I want to find out a way to test and figure out where the problem lies.

Thanks.

 

[jay s]

wot size is the cold from your water tank to cylinder it wants to be greater than the hot supply coming out of top of cylinder if its not the pump could be pumping more water than the tank can supply which would draw in air from the open vent hence the spluttering. also how are the hots supplied is there a surrey or essex flange fitted if not that can draw in air. try connecting the cold washing machine hose to hot pipe and blast cold water up the hot pipe this will blast out the air lock and then try your hot taps in bathroom and downstairs hot taps to see if any improvement

 

[nevmac]

Does the cold feed into the bottom of the cylinder in the airing cupboard?
The hot is supplied from the top of the cylinder and there is no flange fitted. This was because the tank is around 20 years old and the plumber was unsure if he could undo the top. So where the pipe comes out of the top it does a 90 degree and then from there it does a square u shape which is ment to do a similar thing to the flange.

what is your thoughts?