Hi,
We've suffered from appallingly low flow rate from our mains water supply since we moved in 18 years ago. Now we're having some major extensions built I figured it's about time I did something about it.
The property was built in 1971 as a "labourers cottage" behind a farmhouse dating back to the 1700s. The water supply was tee'd off the supply to the farmhouse and we share a common stopcock in the street. The supply to the farmhouse was replaced during a renovation about 21 years ago. The current setup is ~10m of 20mm poly pipe from the stopcock to the tee, then ~50m of 20mm poly pipe from the tee to our property.
With the builders in there's nothing but a tap on the end of the poly pipe. Today I measured the static pressure to be 3.4 bar and the flow rate to be 6.6 l/min. I'd like to see at least 12 l/min.
Ideally I'd run in a new supply using 32mm pipe, but aside from the cost I'd need to dig across our neighbour's land, and we've had a major falling out over the building work as it is.
I've checked that the stopcock is fully open and, when relations were better, I checked there were no other valves in the circuit. The flow rate in the farmhouse is better than ours, but still not stellar.
What's the best way forward? An accumulator? A pump (e.g. Stuart Turner Flow~mate)? A combination of the two? A pump with a large break tank?
If we're running the cold tap in the kitchen we can tell when a tap is turned on in the farmhouse by the drop in flow rate (subjectively about 30%). I'd be concerned about sucking the water out of their pipes with a pump if they open a tap while it's running.
There is a fire hydrant right outside in the street. Some years ago a fellow villager decided to use a standpipe to fill the village pond. The trickle that ensued didn't even inflate the fire hose properly, and we lost our water supply for the duration. Despite numerous letters, Thames Water maintains that their supply meets all regulations.
Ironically, the reservoir is less than a mile away up a hill and is named after the village.
Thanks,
Nomis
We've suffered from appallingly low flow rate from our mains water supply since we moved in 18 years ago. Now we're having some major extensions built I figured it's about time I did something about it.
The property was built in 1971 as a "labourers cottage" behind a farmhouse dating back to the 1700s. The water supply was tee'd off the supply to the farmhouse and we share a common stopcock in the street. The supply to the farmhouse was replaced during a renovation about 21 years ago. The current setup is ~10m of 20mm poly pipe from the stopcock to the tee, then ~50m of 20mm poly pipe from the tee to our property.
With the builders in there's nothing but a tap on the end of the poly pipe. Today I measured the static pressure to be 3.4 bar and the flow rate to be 6.6 l/min. I'd like to see at least 12 l/min.
Ideally I'd run in a new supply using 32mm pipe, but aside from the cost I'd need to dig across our neighbour's land, and we've had a major falling out over the building work as it is.
I've checked that the stopcock is fully open and, when relations were better, I checked there were no other valves in the circuit. The flow rate in the farmhouse is better than ours, but still not stellar.
What's the best way forward? An accumulator? A pump (e.g. Stuart Turner Flow~mate)? A combination of the two? A pump with a large break tank?
If we're running the cold tap in the kitchen we can tell when a tap is turned on in the farmhouse by the drop in flow rate (subjectively about 30%). I'd be concerned about sucking the water out of their pipes with a pump if they open a tap while it's running.
There is a fire hydrant right outside in the street. Some years ago a fellow villager decided to use a standpipe to fill the village pond. The trickle that ensued didn't even inflate the fire hose properly, and we lost our water supply for the duration. Despite numerous letters, Thames Water maintains that their supply meets all regulations.
Ironically, the reservoir is less than a mile away up a hill and is named after the village.
Thanks,
Nomis
