Low Flow/Pressure

[jase158]

So been this morning, water board report 24l/min at meter, I got 18l/min at stop tap, outlet of water softener, garden tap, and after ISO to taps.

8l/min from all downstairs outlets, 6l/min from upstairs.
2 x taps on at same time reduces down to 3-4 l/min

same pressure on hot and cold
same pressure on hard and soft (except garden tap)

unbalanced hot and cold, so not a filter, multifunction valve or a pressure reducer problem!

so obviously taps, but 1x kitchen tap, 1 x utility tap, 4 showers, 4 basin taps, and 1 bath tap all the same??

All taps on flexis supplied with taps, all showers and bath taps wall mounted!

Any ideas?

Issues are:
not enough flow to each shower,
when in shower, flow drops dramatically if downstairs taps used causing risk of burning,

The balanced cold should be sorted but not likely to cause an issue at the moment!!

 

[dancinplumba]

And what is the pressure ?

 

[dancinplumba]

All you have given us is flow rates

 

[jase158]

2 bar at the garden tap!!

 

[Chalked]

Very poor water main for that size of house. Plus restriction through water softener and various restrictions in high pressure suited taps.
two fixes.
1 replace complete water main to street ( only if standing pressures are good)
2. Install break tank and pump set after the water softener.

 

[jase158]

Water softener not causing a restriction,

the question they have is if taps only produce 8l/ min, why can't they feed 2 x taps at once, surely 18l/min, split into 2 should be able to provide 2 x 8l/min taps!!

and surely it doesn't matter what's coming in as each tap only produces 8l/min maximum so surely 18 l/ min should be plenty to feed 2-3 outlets at the same time shouldn't it?

the only thing I can think is the poor outlets are causing mega issues?
from 18l/min down to 8 is a massive restriction!!!

 

[jase158]

And even more onto that, if the pressure was increased to say 30l/min the outlets would still only produce 8 l /min so why and how would increasing it make a difference?

 

[dancinplumba]

2 bar at the garden tap!!

Is that running ? What at other outlets ?

 

[jase158]

Very poor water main for that size of house. Plus restriction through water softener and various restrictions in high pressure suited taps.
two fixes.
1 replace complete water main to street ( only if standing pressures are good)
2. Install break tank and pump set after the water softener.

Water main has been replaced 25mm all the way back to meter!!

 

[jase158]

Is that running ? What at other outlets ?

Standing pressure!!

 

[dancinplumba]

Standing pressure!!

So what's working ?

 

[jase158]

Working pressure on mains 1.5 bar,
working pressure on outlets, around 0.5 bar by my calculations!!

 

[dancinplumba]

And stop shouting !!!!!!!

 

[dancinplumba]

Undo a tap flexi and measure it there with another outlet running

 

[jase158]

That's what I did, definetly taps causing issues

 

[dancinplumba]

So the tap is losing 1 bar ?

 

[Toxic Ted]

What have you got at the showers and bath?

Any inline strainers on the taps and showers?....you know the rubber washer type.

If the taps are restricting flow then there shouldn't be a reduction when another is opened.

Have the taps got diffusers on the outlet as this is always a crap catcher and often overlooked.

 

[jase158]

What have you got at the showers and bath?

Any inline strainers on the taps and showers?....you know the rubber washer type.

If the taps are restricting flow then there shouldn't be a reduction when another is opened.

Have the taps got diffusers on the outlet as this is always a crap catcher and often overlooked.

6l/min at showers and baths, 0.4 working pressure
No strainers anywhere
Taps all clean, Checked all strainers, Filters etc, no dirt in pipes or taps
Same pressure on taps with filters and taps without.

 

[jase158]

So the tap is losing 1 bar ?

Yeah that's what is worrying, Why is it loosing so much?

 

[BLOD]

Jase, did you bypass the softener and test.
Unless it's a hiflo type softener you can easily lose a bar there !

 

[hshah]

Jase, did you bypass the softener and test.
Unless it's a hiflo type softener you can easily lose a bar there !

I think he did, but if it helps, this is the water softener:
Technical specifications | TwinTec Water Softeners

 

[jase158]

Jase, did you bypass the softener and test.
Unless it's a hiflo type softener you can easily lose a bar there !

Yes and tested before and after water softener and as said before, not loosing any pressure through water softener, hi flow kit fitted on the water softener

 

[hshah]

As Jase mentioned earlier, we have 18l/min just after the stopcock, after the water softener and just before the pipe connects to the taps (after ISO). The fact that the taps have a reduced flow of 8l/min and lower pressure isn't such a big issue because we wouldn't really want more from those taps. However, with 18l/min into the property we should be able to have 2-3 outlets open at the same time, but with 2 taps open the flow drops to about 4l/min out of each tap.

That is our main issue, because whilst someone is showering no one else in the house can use any taps or have the washing machine / dishwasher on.

 

[jase158]

Hshah, where did the taps come from? Did u buy them or did the builder?

 

[Chalked]

Most modern basin taps are restricted to 6 litres, so nothing wrong there.