Adjusting water regulator - DIY?

[busydad]

Hi folks,

Been a while since I posted here, but just moved into a new property so have a couple of queries.

I have very poor flow rate in my ensuite shower (reasonable everywhere else). I've noticed a water regulator has been fitted by the stopcock. I have attached a picture.

Basically can I manually adjust this myself or is it a plumber job? (If DIY - daft question but which way do I turn it and generally how sensitive are they?)

The system I have is under pressure - I have a thermal store (Systemate 2000) with a conventional boiler (pressure approx 1.5 bar above the boiler) if that makes any difference at all! I assumed a regulator was fitted because the mains pressure was too high for the system???

Thanks for your help.

 

[oldbuffer]

1. Its a pressure regulator, and it already appears to be set at 5 bar, which is a pretty decent pressure.
2. You can adjust it, but you'd need to get the instructions (Caleffi web site). However I wouldn't want to have any higher pressure so I suggest you leave it alone.
3. Given that you have a reasonable flow rate everywhere other than the shower suggests a restriction either in the shower or in the pipework to the shower.
4. My first port of call would be any filters / non-return valves in the shower.
5. You could try cleaning the filter inside the regulator, but this pre-supposes you can isolate the water before the regulator. You might wish to get a professional in to do this.

 

[busydad]

Thanks for the reply.
Good job I checked as shows I don't really understand the regulator. I noticed the red pointer at 5 bar (but this is just a loose pointer - I can move it by hand). The black pointer is at only 2.5 bar - what does the latter represent in this case? When you run the kitchen sink tap the black pointer drops to around 2 bar.

 

[oldbuffer]

No, I got it wrong. The black hand is the actual pressure, the red is the "normal" target pressure. You could try increasing the pressure. Screwdriver into the top of the regulator, and turn clockwise (if looking down from above) to increase, ant-clockwise to decrease. Don't go beyond 2 bar, then see if it makes a difference. If adjusting the regulator makes no difference to the reading on the dial then either the regulator is faulty or you mains water pressure is 1.5 bar and nothing you can do will increase it.

 

[busydad]

Thanks oldbuffer - i've done that now.
It was actually about 2.5 bar before and adjusted to just over 3 bar and I can already see a difference in the shower. I am reluctant to increase it too much so will see how I go with this.

Thanks for your help.

 

[dpsservices]

still be a good idea to check filters that old buffer mentioned
Regards david