Poor hot water pressure!!

[icandothat]

Hi Plumbing world,
I currently have a bog standard gravity fed hot water system, header tank in the loft,copper cylinder in a cupboard beneath. My problem is a very poor flow of hot water in the upstairs bathroom. The header tank is approx 2m above the height of the taps giving me 0.2mb pressure (if I understand the calculation properly). I am looking to raise the height of the header tank in the loft. I can raise it by approx 1m and keep it almost directly above the cylinder or if I move the header tank 2-3m in the loft to the apex of the roof I can gain an extra 1m in height. What I'm trying to establish is whether It's better to be higher or closer? Will the extra height be cancelled out by the extra 2-3m pipe run?
Many thanks for any help

 

[dontknowitall]

Most of the time as long as the cistern is on the floor above the hot water cylinder this isn't much of an issue.

It could be the pipes are scaled, the hot water cylinder is scaled, there's a blockage in one of the pipes or in the cistern outlet, muck has collected in the taps or another similar problem. Raising the cistern won't cure any of these.

If the pipe supplying the hot water cylinder is reduced to 15mm this will have an affect or if there are too many "corners" on the hot water pipe this too will reduce pressure and restrict flow.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

also you have to be very careful if you raise the height of your cold tank because it will be very heavy and top heavy. you will need a very sturdy support for it well braced.

 

[icandothat]

also you have to be very careful if you raise the height of your cold tank because it will be very heavy and top heavy. you will need a very sturdy support for it well braced.

Thanks Steve, I appreciate the warning.

 

[icandothat]

Thanks for the info. To "flesh out" the issue a bit more, the pressure was fine until we fitted new mono bloc taps in place of the original individual taps. These (we thought) were suitable for low pressure systems, but it seems we still need a minimum of 0.4mb. I was hoping to raise the tank level to try to increase the pressure to somewhere in that region and see if it improves. It's the cheaper option to start with. I know replacing the taps will probably become unavoidable but if this works well enough we might be able to avoid that.