Christian McArdle wrote:

Assuming you mean the water flow stops, not that it goes cold, I would
strongly presume that:

1. You have a gravity fed hot water system using a cylinder and a cold water
tank in the loft.
2. The bathroom is pumped, but the kitchen bypasses the pump, so has
inadequete pressure/flow
3. The pump is so efficient at blasting you in the shower, the cold water
tank empties and the pump stops.

Yup that was the way I read it as well.

Assuming this is the case, you'll need to ensure the kitchen is put onto the
pumped system (could also be another problem, like pipe blockage). You'll

Remeber that you would still need a tap connected to the rising main for
for drinking and cooking water though...

also need to sort out the cold water tank situation. Possible solutions
(either individually or in combination) assuming to wish to basically keep
the same type of water system:

(a) Bigger/additional cold water tank.
(b) Ensure all valves to refill valve are fully open, including stopcock.
(c) Replace refill valve with wider bore type.

Probably the first one to try, many old ball valves give a feeble
dribble of water into the tank. A friend had a similar problem, if you
ran a bath you could hear the tank refilling for the next 40 mins! We
replaced the existing inlet valve with a modern high flow one, and it
can now refill almost as fast as you can run the bath.

(d) Remove flow reducers from refill valve.
(e) Install multiple refill valves to increase flow.
(f) Replace rising main to refill valve with wider bore
(g) Fit a flow reducer on the shower, so the refill valve can keep up with
the flow.
(h) Move cold water in bathroom from gravity to mains, to allow all stored
water to be used for hot only. (May require different type of pump if
currently twin impellor).

Sounds like the current mains flow rate might be pretty poor. It would
be worth measuring the flowrate (with bucket and stopwatch) at the
kitchen tap.


--
Cheers,

John.

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