Kitchen tap with retractable hose - recommendations?

[RrogerD]

I'm wanting a kitchen tap for our Belfast sink. The type that has the retractable hose, so that we can clean into the corners. We are a standard uk household with water tank in the loft and cylinder in the airing cupboard on the first floor. All of the ones we've researched say as being "not suitable for low pressure systems".

Will the pressure in fact be an issue? Or will it be no different to what we currently have, a normal swan-neck?

Can anyone recommend anything? Ideally, not too pricey. I'm thinking max £100 rather than some of these £400 Grohe jobbies.

There seems to be a few on Amazon but tbh I don't trust any of it. Many seem to have reviews from America, referring to 'faucet' etc. Some seem to mention chrome-plastic rather than steel and so bits break off after short usage. And worse-still, Amazon seems to repeatedly just deliver rubbish. Items stated as 'new' but are clearly 'returns'. Ebay isn't much better either.

 

[oldbuffer]

1. The pressure WILL be an issue. In a normal two storey house with loft cold water storage cistern, pressure at the kitchen tap will typically be 0.4 to 0.5 bar. Most taps with retractable hoses require at least 1.0 bar to work properly.
2. I'd avoid cheap retractable taps. The hoses often fail within a year or two.

 

[RayCaister]

https://sink-tap.co.uk/taps/460-fra...ajJq2Yk53RwQ6EcINaosBH274597ZxiYaAj-vEALw_wcB
Anything cheaper will just be plastic chrome.

 

[HERTS P&D]

The pull out type of tap will not work on your system.

Andy

 

[RrogerD]

1. The pressure WILL be an issue. In a normal two storey house with loft cold water storage cistern, pressure at the kitchen tap will typically be 0.4 to 0.5 bar. Most taps with retractable hoses require at least 1.0 bar to work properly.
2. I'd avoid cheap retractable taps. The hoses often fail within a year or two.

So when you that it won't work properly, do you mean 'just a dribble' or will it simply be reduced flow but still something? I can live with reduced flow to some extent. Of course it is only the hot that will be reduced flow, the cold is off the mains.

 

[nitro23456]

So when you that it won't work properly, do you mean 'just a dribble' or will it simply be reduced flow but still something? I can live with reduced flow to some extent. Of course it is only the hot that will be reduced flow, the cold is off the mains.

And therefore it'll be a cold tap at best

I have one on mains pressure combi and it did reduce the flow considerably even on that.

 

[oldbuffer]

1. By the very nature of these taps, the mixing of hot and cold takes place in the body of the tap, not at the spout.
2. If you mix high pressure cold (from mains) with low pressure hot (from tank), the pressure of the cold will force hot back up the pipe. You can alleviate the back flow by fitting a non-return valve (NRV) in the hot. However, these are spring loaded, and that loading will further reduce the available hot water pressure. You can get non-spring NRVs but these need to be fitted so that the internal flap is vertical - not always easy to achieve.
3. You could fit a pressure balancing valve, but the effect of these is to reduce the higher pressure side (cold in your case) to the the same pressure as the low pressure side.
4. If you fitted such a tap, with an NRV, and used the flexible hose, then:
4a. On cold water alone it would be fine.
4b. On hot water alone you would likely get a dribble.
4c. On mixed hot and cold it would be difficult or impossible to achieve a stable temperature.
5. You could try using a booster pump such as those supplied by Shower Power Booster. I've never used or fitted one so cannot comment further.

 

[RrogerD]

1. By the very nature of these taps, the mixing of hot and cold takes place in the body of the tap, not at the spout.
2. If you mix high pressure cold (from mains) with low pressure hot (from tank), the pressure of the cold will force hot back up the pipe. You can alleviate the back flow by fitting a non-return valve (NRV) in the hot. However, these are spring loaded, and that loading will further reduce the available hot water pressure. You can get non-spring NRVs but these need to be fitted so that the internal flap is vertical - not always easy to achieve.
3. You could fit a pressure balancing valve, but the effect of these is to reduce the higher pressure side (cold in your case) to the the same pressure as the low pressure side.
4. If you fitted such a tap, with an NRV, and used the flexible hose, then:
4a. On cold water alone it would be fine.
4b. On hot water alone you would likely get a dribble.
4c. On mixed hot and cold it would be difficult or impossible to achieve a stable temperature.
5. You could try using a booster pump such as those supplied by Shower Power Booster. I've never used or fitted one so cannot comment further.

Thank you very much for the detailed reply. That definitely explains it all to me now. The result being... no go
Many thanks.

 

[Agile]

I do not know why you are so keen on a flexible type.

But if you were that keen it may well be possible to make it work properly with a pump pressure booster on the hot feed to the tap.

Or even a shower pump on the outlet of the hot water cylinder.

 

[Madrab]

Also needs backflow protection if the spout can reach below the overflow level, that will further reduce flow/pressure

 

[kidgreen61]

Hateful things, I detest fitting them.