Over 3 mins to get hot water in kitchen - is this normal?

[LCV]

Hi,

My family have just moved back in from a house renovation just before the Easter bank holiday. When I turned on the tap in the kitchen to wash up and it takes over 3 mins before the water was hot enough to wash up. I had a large kitchen sink put in and I managed to fill that up with cold water which I had to then drain away to replace it with the hot water. It would have been faster (and used less water) if I had boiled the kettle for the hot water. I now wash my hands with cold water after I have used the toilet because it takes so long and as a family so much water is wasted while we wait for it to be hot enough to bathe and shower.

I feel concerned. Is this normal? Before the renovation I did not have to wait long to get hot water to all my taps.

We had a Vaillant system boiler with a 250L indirect hot water cylinder put in. The previous combi boiler was moved from the kitchen to the Utility room. The kitchen is at the front of the house while the Utility room is at the back of the house on the same floor. The previous house was over 3 floors with 2 bathrooms and a loft conversion has taken it to 4 floors and 3 bathrooms. We were told that we would have to wait up to a minute to get hot water in the loft which we said we were fine with but it is actually a lot longer than that and we certainly did not expect the rest of the house to be affected in this way.

I will go back to the plumber to discuss but wanted to get your views and advice first. I am really hoping the problem is to do with a setting on the boiler.

Thanks!

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Hi Shaun - erm the back of the boiler manual is blank. Is this the paperwork that he is meant to provide me with? perhaps he forgot to do that or I need to ask him to complete it. Is it usually done as a matter of course after a completed install?

yes they need to be filled in i would say hes not gas safe registered and dont think hes g3 registered

next bet would be phone the builder up and ask him direct, you want to see your plumber/ boilers man gas card if he stalls thats a bad sign

 

[LCV]

Ah right. So if I get another plumber in to assess wouldn't it be very difficult for him to investigate?

 

[Best]

You are never going to be exactly sure how to proceed with tackling your problem unless you get the opinion of a plumber who actually gets a look at the work. Post photos of the hot cylinder and its pipework etc.
Or you will have to pay a plumber to inspect as much as they can and give you a report. For that you would have to pay

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Ah right. So if I get another plumber in to assess wouldn't it be very difficult for him to investigate?

or even better phone gas safe up and ask for a free visit to check things over as things arnt sitting right

 

[LCV]

Isn't illegal to make gas connections if you are not gas safe registered. I can't e-mail the builder to ask this at this point because I am still waiting to hear from them about when they are going to come over to discuss my hot water issue.

The builder's company is registered with the reputable trade bodies, FMB and Build Assure, and is highly rated on Mybuilder site. Surely he wasn't use someone that is not gas safe registered, just wouldn't make sense for him to do that. But it is strange that he didn't complete the card at the back so I will ask for it to be done and check him out to be safe. I have two children that I need to protect.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Isn't illegal to make gas connections if you are not gas safe registered. I can't e-mail the builder to ask this at this point because I am still waiting to hear from them about when they are going to come over to discuss my hot water issue.

The builder's company is registered with the reputable trade bodies, FMB and Build Assure, and is highly rated on Mybuilder site. Surely he wasn't use someone that is not gas safe registered, just wouldn't make sense for him to do that. But it is strange that he didn't complete the card at the back so I will ask for it to be done and check him out to be safe. I have two children that I need to protect.

you cant touch anything related to gas unless your gas safe, and the person who installed the cylinder needs to be g3 reg as well

 

[Gray0689]

So the cylinder is on ground floor
Isit the 4th floor that takes 3 mins for hot water to reach

 

[Riley]

I'm still intrigued about this under 5 litres a minute

 

[Gray0689]

Something is deffo not right here Riley I agree

 

[LCV]

The kitchen, loft and ground floor toilet take 3+minutes. The taps in the 1st and 2nd floor bathroom take about 2mins but the time is a lot shorter if for example I've washed up in the kitchen and then popped upstairs to use the toilet in the 1st floor bathroom.

 

[Scott_D]

Have you paid in full?
They might be holding the paperwork until then

 

[LCV]

I feel the same and my plumbing knowledge is zero. Something feels wrong.
The builder must feel the same too because he thought without the ring I would receive hot water in the loft in 20-40seconds and that's in the loft on the 4th floor.

 

[LCV]

I have 5% left to pay. This is paid 3 months later after all snagging is completed.

 

[Gray0689]

If it's a balanced cold then yes I can understand the 4th floor being very slow
But not the kitchen on ground floor as this should in principle be the quickest

 

[LCV]

Even if the boiler and cylinder is at the back of the house and the kitchen and toilet is at the front of the house?

As I mentioned before, when I had the boiler in the kitchen I waited about 40seconds to get hot water in the Utility room so I did expect when I moved the boiler into the Utility room the time would be the same or better because I thought my combi boiler wasn't very good.

 

[LCV]

If it's a balanced cold then yes I can understand the 4th floor being very slow
But not the kitchen on ground floor as this should in principle be the quickest

What is your definition of very slow in terms of time?

 

[rpm]

Even if the boiler and cylinder is at the back of the house and the kitchen and toilet is at the front of the house?

As I mentioned before, when I had the boiler in the kitchen I waited about 40seconds to get hot water in the Utility room so I did expect when I moved the boiler into the Utility room the time would be the same or better because I thought my combi boiler wasn't very good.

See post #95

 

[Gray0689]

What is your definition of very slow in terms of time?

Can't say as lot of factors we can't see pipe sizing route/ length of pipework ect

But to be honest if it's a 2000square foot house over 4 floors cylinder on ground floor
Average ceiling height 2.4m then that's really only a rise of 8m then whatever runs across floors ect
I can't see how it be that long to get to tap on 4th floor never mind longer for ground floor where cylinder is

 

[LCV]

That sounds like the size of my house and my ceilings are 2.4metres high. What sort of time range would you expect to get hot water to the loft based on 15mm pipes without a ring, ballpark as you don't all the factors?

 

[Gray0689]

I'd not be expecting any more than 1min 30 to be honest
Do all the pipes run up a wall from bottom to top floor can you see all the pipes rising

 

[snowhead]

must be one bloody big house to have a sprinkler system fitted you sure you dont mean fire alarms?

I wonder if the Sprinkler pipework gets warm when the kitchen tap is used??

 

[LCV]

I'd not be expecting any more than 1min 30 to be honest
Do all the pipes run up a wall from bottom to top floor can you see all the pipes rising

Hmm, that is a another sign that something is not right.
Sorry I don't know what you mean by can I see all the pipes rising, can you explain a bit more?

 

[LCV]

I wonder if the Sprinkler pipework gets warm when the kitchen tap is used??

The sprinkler system is connected directly to the mains. I know this because the sprinkler company showed me the lever I need to turn in case of false alarms to cut off the water. But I will check to see if this happens - but you do mean the pipework under the sink as I obviously can't check pipes in the ceiling.

 

[Gray0689]

Hmm, that is a another sign that something is not right.
Sorry I don't know what you mean by can I see all the pipes rising, can you explain a bit more?

You will have a hot and cold pipes and heating pipes going from the utility room up to the next floors above can you see them

 

[Howsie]

Pay a professional to have a look at it! You'll be glad you did before the builder/plumber has disappeared.