Low water pressure options

[Jfm243]

We have low pressure from the main, 1.5-2 Bar at 25-50 litres/min. By the time it runs through old pipe into house this flow drops to 5 litres/min at kitchen tap(suspect old pipe from main to house is obviously clogged?!)

At the moment we have one shower than runs with a noisy booster pump

We want to add a further shower & change our very old boiler

So, the options I think we have are:

Either, try & increase water pressure. Perhaps change old water pipe so that we are getting good flow rate (25 litres/min+) into house at 1.5-2 Bar. Then change boiler & perhaps use megaflow and do away with need for booster pumps. Is this a viable solution with this water pressure(i.e. using megaflow)? Would want to know that this option would definately work before carrying out the expense of changing old water pipe

Or, option 2 would be to install larger booster pump that could handle 2 showers, but we are trying to avoid this noisy solution if at all possible with the water pressure we have

Is there another way?

Any thoughts much appreciated

 

[lame plumber]

Re: Low water pressure solution - Storrington area, West Sussex

renew the watermain first to ensure this works, which it will, then look at systems to run off it. All that chalk clogs old metal pipes

 

[Jfm243]

Re: Low water pressure solution - Storrington area, West Sussex

Thanks for response

You mention changing water main .... I'm aware this is most likely clogged due drop-off in water flow

However, I'm not sure I want to just go ahead with doing this if, having done it, the only solution is still an extra/larger pump due low water pressure

What 'systems' are you thinking of which would work with 1.5-2 Bar pressure & 25 litres/min?

 

[plumbdoctor]

You can boost the mains pipe with something like a salamander homeboost but you are restricted by the regs to the amount of water it's allowed to pump per min

 

[lame plumber]

duplicate thread on this one, as said before, forget pumps, if there isnt any water what use is a pump, lay a new main first and be surprised at the result

 

[lame plumber]

Re: Low water pressure solution - Storrington area, West Sussex

so you dont get the answer you want and ask the question again, why bother asking!¬!!!

 

[jtsplumbing]

Re: Low water pressure solution - Storrington area, West Sussex

As Lame Plumber pointed out, is it only your house that has low pressure fault ? if so then its going to be the supply from stopcock into house, [lead or Iron] pipe will need replacing B4 you start looking at other items, Could save your self some money by digging trench for new main pipe.

 

[Jfm243]

Re: Low water pressure solution - Storrington area, West Sussex

Ok, thanks. To be clear I only want to go through the expense of replacing pipe to get 1.5 Bar & 25 l/min at the house if I definitely know that the option of megaflow will work with this pressure/flow without the need for pumps

I appreciate that replacing pipe will vastly improve things, but what I want an answer for is the full solution that will definitely work. Can you answer this question?

 

[Jfm243]

Re: Low water pressure solution - Storrington area, West Sussex

PS FAO Lame Plumber. You can't just answer the easy part of the question that suits you & ignore the rest. If you read the full question you'll see I'm looking for full solution. I'm very aware that replacing pipe will vastly improve things(I pointed this out myself), but will it lead to full solution i.e. doing away with pumps? Please can you stick to answering question in full rather than being rude - I'm new to this forum & obviously not a plumber. I thought I'd put down a fairly comprehensive description of the whole problem we need sorting, but if you're not sure of some of the details then please enquire nicely. Thank you

 

[Jfm243]

Thanks plumbdoctor. With the salamander homeboost could I get the water pressure/flow from 1.5 Bar 25l/min up to what is required to run megaflow? Would this be within regs?

Can you think of any other solutions where we could do away with pumps if we use salamander homeboost?

 

[Dotty]

Duplicate threads merged and tidied.

 

[Jfm243]

Re merge. I had posted under 2 forums as I am both looking for solution to the problem, but also looking for someone in the West Sussex area to be able to carry out work

 

[Dotty]

They were duplicate posts asking for solutions, not a plumber. Please repost asking for one and I'll deal with it as soon as I see it.

 

[SimonG]

Thanks plumbdoctor. With the salamander homeboost could I get the water pressure/flow from 1.5 Bar 25l/min up to what is required to run megaflow? Would this be within regs?

Can you think of any other solutions where we could do away with pumps if we use salamander homeboost?

Can only boost mains to 12 litres per minute.

 

[Jfm243]

Thanks croppie, will do.

 

[Mike Jackson]

Re: Low water pressure solution - Storrington area, West Sussex

PS FAO Lame Plumber. You can't just answer the easy part of the question that suits you & ignore the rest. If you read the full question you'll see I'm looking for full solution. I'm very aware that replacing pipe will vastly improve things(I pointed this out myself), but will it lead to full solution i.e. doing away with pumps? Please can you stick to answering question in full rather than being rude - I'm new to this forum & obviously not a plumber. I thought I'd put down a fairly comprehensive description of the whole problem we need sorting, but if you're not sure of some of the details then please enquire nicely. Thank you

You're original post stated that you could get 25-50 l/min at the stoptap. If you get 25 l/min it is insufficient for a megaflow or better unvented cylinder, 50 l/min is sufficient.

I can guarantee to give you the pressures you need by renewing the cold main and fitting a Grundfos Homebooster which will give up to 120 l/min but will be very expensive. A more cost effective way may be to use an accumulator but it is not possible to tell if this will work without a reasonable pressure and flow coming in. Therefore the best solution is to renew the main and then see what is the best way forward.