I would welcome any views on a problem we have made for ourselves in building a new kitchen. I will say upfront that our knowledge of plumbing really only extends to being able to join pipes, taps etc together and (clearly) not in understanding how the whole system works.
The kitchen takes a hot water feed from an existing pipe in the attic which used to simply feed a washbasin in a shower room. At the new junction we are already about 12 foot away from the hot water tank and about 2 foot higher. The pipe to the kitchen then travels about 6 foot, takes a 90 degree turn, travels another 8 foot before passing down a cavity wall, a couple of foot along the floor and up to the sink. When we first connected it up it worked OK, but with low pressure which we had expected given the run. (The tank will be moved as part of a longer term project but not for a couple of years).
After a while the tap ran dry and we assumed that air had gotten in somewhere. We thought the reason was the tap in the shower room as there is slight rise in the pipework between the joint in the loft and the kitchen. Undoing the flexible part of the pipe under the sink and getting rid of the air lock by pointing this down helped.
As a longer term solution we thought we would fit a vent in the pipe between the joint and the kitchen sink, figuring that turning the tap on in the shower room was causing an air lock in the pipework between the joint and the kitchen. We carefully measured the length of pipe needed to ensure the top was above the header tank (situated in a second attic) and put in a tee with the vent sticking up. Nothing happened at first and the problem remained the same. Then I noticed that where we had put the vent was fractionally lower that another part of the pipework and raised it to ensure the vent was at the highest point. Water started to cascade out of the top of the vent! Thinking we had miscalculated the length required we added another 8 inches and tried again with the same results
The top of the vent is definately higher than the header tank and yet water still flows out.
I am simply puzzled as to what we have done wrong and would be grateful for any explaination. Also would this cure the problem if it worked and if not what would?
Here's hoping someone can put me out of my misery.
Ian
The kitchen takes a hot water feed from an existing pipe in the attic which used to simply feed a washbasin in a shower room. At the new junction we are already about 12 foot away from the hot water tank and about 2 foot higher. The pipe to the kitchen then travels about 6 foot, takes a 90 degree turn, travels another 8 foot before passing down a cavity wall, a couple of foot along the floor and up to the sink. When we first connected it up it worked OK, but with low pressure which we had expected given the run. (The tank will be moved as part of a longer term project but not for a couple of years).
After a while the tap ran dry and we assumed that air had gotten in somewhere. We thought the reason was the tap in the shower room as there is slight rise in the pipework between the joint in the loft and the kitchen. Undoing the flexible part of the pipe under the sink and getting rid of the air lock by pointing this down helped.
As a longer term solution we thought we would fit a vent in the pipe between the joint and the kitchen sink, figuring that turning the tap on in the shower room was causing an air lock in the pipework between the joint and the kitchen. We carefully measured the length of pipe needed to ensure the top was above the header tank (situated in a second attic) and put in a tee with the vent sticking up. Nothing happened at first and the problem remained the same. Then I noticed that where we had put the vent was fractionally lower that another part of the pipework and raised it to ensure the vent was at the highest point. Water started to cascade out of the top of the vent! Thinking we had miscalculated the length required we added another 8 inches and tried again with the same results
The top of the vent is definately higher than the header tank and yet water still flows out.
I am simply puzzled as to what we have done wrong and would be grateful for any explaination. Also would this cure the problem if it worked and if not what would?
Here's hoping someone can put me out of my misery.
Ian
