Poor FLOW. Is upgrading to 22mm worth it? (Ed.)

[Elsa TLC]

Ta. It's not 20mm it's 26.9mm OD. The ID of the pipe is either 19.5 mm or 17.5mm (I need to take the connection off to see). The ID of 22mm copper is about 18mm, so matches quite closely no?

If your correct with your sizes, then yes give it a go.

 

[Deleted member 267285]

Maybe get rid of the additional stopcock? Why is it on an outside wall? How far away is the kitchen tap from there?

 

[tommy8884]

Maybe get rid of the additional stopcock? Why is it on an outside wall? How far away is the kitchen tap from there?

I agree. I've asked Severn trent to come out and move the meter to the boundary. At that point I'll take out all those elbows and stops, put it back the other side of the wall in the boxing in and have a surestop. It's not outside it's in the garage. Was moved when we had the kitchen done so the meter wasn't boxed in.

Kitchen tap is about 3 meters away.

So my remaining question is, is it worth going to 22mm and if so how on earth do I connect to the 26.9mm black incoming main down to 22mm

 

[Deleted member 267285]

Taking it from the black to 22mm copper - either a reducing coupling, or use the existing if it has an internal reducer, get rid of that and use a 22mm olive. Might be a waste of time until you have sorted the other out. Upsizing to 22mm will increase flow rate, not pressure as the mods have pointed out.

 

[Wayners]

I do wonder of pipes

Could they have upped the mains pressure?

No.
The pressure is set.

Upping the pipe diameter from 15mm to 25mm ( approx) made a massive difference my neighbour was telling me.
Huge cost though to get it done.

Was something like £700 to repair copper pipe but when they tested more leaks were found.
£2500 to mole a new poly pipe to house. Only takes a few hours but I guess you need to use certified company that can charge what they want.

 

[tommy8884]

Ok so bought a pressure tester. I get 2 bar at the outside tap which is off the kitchen sink. I get 3 bar at the furthest tap (different branch from the incoming main to the rest of the house). So I've got something restricting the flow to the kitchen tap. No a big issue tbh. I'm more wanting good flow to the rest so 10lpm to the kitchen at least stop that stealing flow from elsewhere. So I still plan to up the pipework to the bathroom and boiler branches to 22mm. The 15lpm I'm getting on 15mm is right for 3 bar, so I should get over 30lpm on 22mm at 3 bar. Clearly I won't get that at the shower as the boiler is on 15mm, but it means that if a tap is used or toilet flushed elsewhere, flow should still be good to the boiler etc.