Lower hot water pressure in en suite

[Stevie1963]

Hi all. I'm after some advise regarding a newly fitted en suite. We recently bought a house with an unfinished extension. During the renovation I have fitted an en suite bathroom but have trouble with the hot water pressure. I found the easiest way to get water to the basin was to run the pipes up, inside the garage from the down stairs loo. While water pressure is fine in the downstairs loo it is pretty poor in the en suite. I have checked the pipes and fittings and there doesn't seem to be any restrictions in the pipework. The hot water is supplied from a tank in the airing cupboard fed from a cold water tank in the loft. incidentally the water pressure in the taps in the main bathroom upstairs is fine, I initially thought it might be due to the pipes running down stairs then being diverted back up but the law of physics dictates as long as the water head height is above the tap then the pressure should be the same in both the upstairs taps as they are roughly the same height !
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Whitespirit66]

If it's a ceramic cartridge mixer tap, these are often poor with gravity feed supplies. You may want to change it for one suitable for low pressure supplies.

You tap will probably have a minimum working pressure specified in bar. If you know the difference in height between the basin and cold loft tank in metres, you can work out if you have suffient pressure. Each metre of height difference/head = 0.1bar.

Long pipe runs, bends, upwards turns, etc all reduce flow/pressure on gravity systems. It will be reduced further by modern, thin tap tails for mono mixers and even isolation valves under tap will take their toll. For a start, I wouldn't fit iso valves in this situation on hot supply and would look to use largest bore tap tails.

 

[Blagard]

<snipped> Long pipe runs, bends, upwards turns, etc all reduce flow/pressure on gravity systems. It will be reduced further by modern, thin tap tails for mono mixers and even isolation valves under tap will take their toll. For a start, I wouldn't fit iso valves in this situation on hot supply and would look to use largest bore tap tails.

Agree with all except isolation valves - I use full bore ones to avoid pressure loss. Definitely better to have them than not!

 

[Stevie1963]

Thanks for your advice Guys. I will be investigating over the weekend so will report back my findings

 

[chantelle]

Don`t know what laws of physics you have read,try the laws of gravity. It would have made more sense to feed your ensuite from the top half of your house rather than the bottom are you saying that you are feeding your upper floor ensuite from the downstairs loo/ Hot and cold??

 

[Blagard]

Don`t know what laws of physics you have read,try the laws of gravity. It would have made more sense to feed your ensuite from the top half of your house rather than the bottom are you saying that you are feeding your upper floor ensuite from the downstairs loo/ Hot and cold??

Please educate us all on the difference gravity has on pipe outlet A compared to pipe outlet B in the not to scale sketch below All pipes are fully charged with water and all 15mm pipe fed from a tank of water with a water level 3m above both outlets, but with pipe to B extending 3m lower before going back up. All water is the same temperature

Untitled

• Blagard
• 25 Jan 2014
• 1

 

[ringi]

Don`t know what laws of physics you have read,try the laws of gravity. It would have made more sense to feed your ensuite from the top half of your house rather than the bottom are you saying that you are feeding your upper floor ensuite from the downstairs loo/ Hot and cold??

Please educate us all on the difference gravity has on pipe outlet A compared to pipe outlet B in the not to scale sketch below All pipes are fully charged with water and all 15mm pipe fed from a tank of water with a water level 3m above both outlets, but with pipe to B extending 3m lower before going back up. All water is the same temperature

Untitled

• Blagard
• 25 Jan 2014
• 1

B has two more bends and a lot more pipe length. You have very little gravity to push the water along the pipe, and if you make it harder for the water to get along the pipe, then it will flow slower.

A single 90 degree bend is so bad that skill plumbers will go to great lengths to bend the pipe into a smooth curve, rather then you a standard 90 degree fitting on a gravity system.

 

[Blagard]

ringi - it was aimed at chantelle because of all the daft and unhelpful posts he has recently made. More akin to Trolling.

The gravity answer is there is absolutely no difference.

You are correct that the longer pipe and changes of direction will affect the supplies and if you read the thread you will find this has been highlighted.

Good to see a positive posting all the same.

 

[Stevie1963]

Law of physics/law of gravity, that's just being pedantic as others knew what I meant.
Yes I am attempting to feed the upstairs en suite from the downstairs loo due to it being easier to access the pipework this way rather than trying to tap into the upstairs water supplies due to the lay out of the house.
I have now fixed it anyway just by replacing the tap with a low pressure one so thanks to those who offered helpful and constructive advice. It is very much appreciated and helped me resolve my issue.

 

[chantelle]

I have now fixed it anyway just by replacing the tap with a low pressure one

Thank you.

 

[chantelle]

The gravity answer is there is absolutely no difference.

Huge difference, thick boy...how about an apology?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Really? How about an explanation? Or are you all mouth?

 

[chantelle]

Really? How about an explanation?

If you don`t know,it`s not my job to educate you,how about you explain how his upstairs pressures won`t be affected, then I will explain why you are wrong.

 

[Gas2Air]

Really? How about an explanation?

If you don`t know,it`s not my job to educate you,how about you explain how his upstairs pressures won`t be affected, then I will explain why you are wrong.

What are you waffling on about?

 

[chantelle]

Simples Muppets,pressure at his en suite will be lower than his pressure at his downstairs outlets because his gravity fed supplies have to climb back up to reach his taps in en suite, thus lowering pressure. I know this from experience,not doing drawings on bits of paper .