SOS - Just Bought Franke Low Pressure Mixer - No Good!!!

[nashville]

Re. Previous post.

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1391015#1391015

The hot flow at my kitchen mixer was rubbish. Hot flow from tap was 3 litres/min. From the open pipe (ie. tap disconnected) its 9 litres/min.

So I spent £140 on a Franke Helena low pressure tap, which needs a min of 0.1 bar - I have almost 0.2 bar. However, the hot flow is just as pathetic.

The Franke hot flexi is bigger bore than the cold, but has a non-return valve on it. Is this valve killing the flow? The cold flexi also has a non-return valve - why 2 valves?

Please help - I think I've just wasted my money.

 

[muggles]

Yeah the check valve is almost certainly killing the flow, if the tap mixes the water externally, as most kitchen taps do, then you can safely remove both check valves (there's no reason to have a check valve on low-pressure hot anyway). Try taking it out and also changing the flexi to rigid copper and let us know how you get on.

 

[rojaca]

If you hot water is via a vented tank in the loft this will give you back pressure and backsiphonage protection to fluid category three in the water regulations. I can think of no reason why you can't remove the check valve on the hot in this instance. If your cold is mains fed you should retain the check valve on this side though.
I would remove any ballofix type isolation valves you may have on hot, as these have an apeture of only 5mm or so, and replace with a fullway ball or gate valve.

 

[nashville]

Thanks for the advice. Yes, its vented, gravity hot and mains cold. I'll try without the hot check valve.

P. S. MUGGLES - Is that Vulcan still flying? I was working at a bank in the early 90s which was next to Filton runway, in Bristol (part of the BAE/Rolls Royce works). It was a big thing at the time, as we all stopped work to watch the last flight of a Vulcan that landed at Filton. Probably the same one.

 

[Agile]

One has been restored and is potentially flying but this was as a privately funded charity status.

It has been scheduled to fly at many air shows but althouth it usually got to the site the actual demonstration was usually cancelled due to technical or certification issues.

There is one on display a mile away from me.

Magnificant planes but total gas guzzlers designed to deliver a 4 ton nuke bomb at high altitude.

Inovative design at a time when Conchorde was not even thought about. But I still think it was a waste of money flying it again.

Tony

 

[muggles]

Thanks for the advice. Yes, its vented, gravity hot and mains cold. I'll try without the hot check valve.

P. S. MUGGLES - Is that Vulcan still flying? I was working at a bank in the early 90s which was next to Filton runway, in Bristol (part of the BAE/Rolls Royce works). It was a big thing at the time, as we all stopped work to watch the last flight of a Vulcan that landed at Filton. Probably the same one.

Yeah the one that retired was XH558, now back in the air thanks in a very large part to very generous donations from the public, she's struggling to get a decent sponsor and needs a little more money for winter maintenance now. Tony is a sceptic (clearly) it's unfair to say she 'usually' cancels at airshows, there were a few that were cancelled in her first display season due to technical issues which on a plane this old and complex is to be expected, her second season was much more successful with almost all scheduled shows in a much longer display season being flown. Hopefully the Trust can raise the necessary funding before Christmas, otherwise she may well be grounded once again. It's very unfortunate that she got back into the air just as our economy fell over, companies have been reluctant to offer financial backing despite the obvious kudos available by association with her.

 

[Agile]

I would say that I am more of a realist than a sceptic.

The Vulcan was pretty much a single purpose plane and did its job of providing a deterrent.

However, I see little point in spending so much money to renovate a plane that can only do the odd flypast at a massive fuel consumption.

I am still not convinced that its could not be commercially breakeven if a Conchorde was renovated and used to provide limited special services to passengers. Remember the fully booked short flights for £2000 just before they took them out of service?

They spent several million on making the fuel tanks safe and then retired them shortly afterwards.

Now for a classic what about the Empire flying boat?

I suppose there are no more still flying and I agree it would be expensive to renovate one now and then there is the problem that they are water based but lovely to watch in the films:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9CVbDaXWnY

 

[muggles]

The Vulcan also did an excellent job of defending the Falklands, you seem to be forgetting that. Granted they saw little active service but for the Falklands alone one should be preserved. She does much more than the 'odd flypast' with more technical elements being added to the display as the pilots get back into flying her again.

Of course the final flights of Concorde were fully booked, there were hardly a lot of seats to fill and people would have wanted to have the experience before it was lost forever. Similar thing happened at the Silverstone F1 Grand Prix this year, it was thought that it would be the last F1 GP at Silverstone for a long time and there was a record attendance with all the grandstands packed out. Not surprising really.