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Default Hot Water pressure - or lack of it

Hi

I have a fairly standard Gravity-fed vented system in a fairly standard two-storey house. I have just re-done my kitchen and replaced the taps with a funky new monobloc (ceramic valve) mixer.

As a result, the hW pressure through this tap is really low and with the mains pressure feed for the Cold Water, the tap temparature is either freezing cold and very powerful or boiling hot and v slow - there's no "mixing" of hot and cold. I've tried closing the service valve for the CW a little and this works, but it's not great at mixing.
I was thinking of adding a HW pump in the loft from the cylinder, but my mixer shower in the upstairs bathroom already has a pump attached to boost the tank-fed Hot and Cold feeds. I have another shower that is a power shower that also relies on tank-fed low pressure hot and cold feeds.
Access in my new kitchen it very limited, has anyone any suggestions as to how I can boost the pressure for the kitchen tap??
Overall pressure of the hot taps in the bathrooms(s) is not great - but not as important as the kitchen for washing-up etc etc.

Thanks in advance for help and advice

Alex
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alexbartman
Hi

I have a fairly standard Gravity-fed vented system in a fairly standard two-storey house. I have just re-done my kitchen and replaced the taps with a funky new monobloc (ceramic valve) mixer.

As a result, the hW pressure through this tap is really low and with the mains pressure feed for the Cold Water, the tap temparature is either freezing cold and very powerful or boiling hot and v slow - there's no "mixing" of hot and cold. I've tried closing the service valve for the CW a little and this works, but it's not great at mixing.
I was thinking of adding a HW pump in the loft from the cylinder, but my mixer shower in the upstairs bathroom already has a pump attached to boost the tank-fed Hot and Cold feeds. I have another shower that is a power shower that also relies on tank-fed low pressure hot and cold feeds.
Access in my new kitchen it very limited, has anyone any suggestions as to how I can boost the pressure for the kitchen tap??
Overall pressure of the hot taps in the bathrooms(s) is not great - but not as important as the kitchen for washing-up etc etc.

Thanks in advance for help and advice

Alex


can anyone help????!!
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Posted to uk.d-i-y
Roger Mills \(aka Set Square\)
 
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Default Hot Water pressure - or lack of it

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
alexbartman wrote:

alexbartman Wrote:
Hi

I have a fairly standard Gravity-fed vented system in a fairly
standard two-storey house. I have just re-done my kitchen and
replaced the taps with a funky new monobloc (ceramic valve) mixer.

As a result, the hW pressure through this tap is really low and with
the mains pressure feed for the Cold Water, the tap temparature is
either freezing cold and very powerful or boiling hot and v slow -
there's no "mixing" of hot and cold. I've tried closing the service
valve for the CW a little and this works, but it's not great at
mixing.
I was thinking of adding a HW pump in the loft from the cylinder, but
my mixer shower in the upstairs bathroom already has a pump attached
to boost the tank-fed Hot and Cold feeds. I have another shower
that is a power shower that also relies on tank-fed low pressure hot
and cold feeds.
Access in my new kitchen it very limited, has anyone any suggestions
as to how I can boost the pressure for the kitchen tap??
Overall pressure of the hot taps in the bathrooms(s) is not great -
but not as important as the kitchen for washing-up etc etc.

Thanks in advance for help and advice

Alex


can anyone help????!!


The best bet is probably yet another pump, in the pipe which feeds just the
kitchen tap - so you'll need to trace the route, and find the most suitable
place to put it. That's unlikely to be in the attic - unless the hot tank is
in the attic, and there's a dedicated feed to the kitchen tap from it.

Another alternative is to make use of the existing shower pump. In this
case, you would need to re-route the feed to the kitchen hot tap in such a
way that it connects on the shower side of this pump rather than wherever
it's fed from at present. Not sure what happens if you take just a hot feed
from the pump - so that the cold side runs stalled - but it may not be too
disastrous. It would do that anyway if you used the shower on full hot.

If you take this route, you'll need to make sure that any flow switch which
switches on the shower pump does so by sensing the *hot* flow rather than
the cold.
--
Cheers,
Roger
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Please reply to newsgroup.
Reply address IS valid, but is disposable in the event of excessive
spam.


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Posted to uk.d-i-y
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hot Water pressure - or lack of it


alexbartman wrote:
Hi

I have a fairly standard Gravity-fed vented system in a fairly standard
two-storey house. I have just re-done my kitchen and replaced the taps
with a funky new monobloc (ceramic valve) mixer.

As a result, the hW pressure through this tap is really low and with
the mains pressure feed for the Cold Water, the tap temparature is
either freezing cold and very powerful or boiling hot and v slow -
there's no "mixing" of hot and cold. I've tried closing the service
valve for the CW a little and this works, but it's not great at
mixing.
I was thinking of adding a HW pump in the loft from the cylinder, but
my mixer shower in the upstairs bathroom already has a pump attached to
boost the tank-fed Hot and Cold feeds. I have another shower that is a
power shower that also relies on tank-fed low pressure hot and cold
feeds.
Access in my new kitchen it very limited, has anyone any suggestions as
to how I can boost the pressure for the kitchen tap??
Overall pressure of the hot taps in the bathrooms(s) is not great - but
not as important as the kitchen for washing-up etc etc.


The simplest is to fit a Grundfos Booster pump on the hot water line.
This is like a normal CH pump with 1/2" connections and can be fitted
under the sink or at the cylinder. You have a few showers and high
pressure mixing. All you will be doing is Heath Robinson the water
system as you add things to it. It may be the time to stand back
rethink and save space into the deal, which you seem to value. If your
water mains are up to it, I would consider a high flow rate combi or
heat bank. a new condensing combi boiler will also drop the gas bills
as well.



Thanks in advance for help and advice

Alex


--
alexbartman


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Posted to uk.d-i-y
Dave Plowman (News)
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hot Water pressure - or lack of it

In article .com,
wrote:
The simplest is to fit a Grundfos Booster pump on the hot water line.
This is like a normal CH pump with 1/2" connections and can be fitted
under the sink or at the cylinder.


I recently - like the OP - changed my ancient kitchen mixer to one of
those flash 1/4 turn types. It had the old 'standard' 1/2 inputs so I
assumed it was fine for a low pressure hot water system. And I was wrong.
The previous mixer had ordinary taps and the hot water flow was near the
same as the cold - my mains water pressure isn't high. The new one has cut
it to an annoyingly low flow.

So - are there any modern mixers which work well on low pressure or do I
get a pump?

I'm not sure I want to pump the entire system as my shower works perfectly
as do all other hot taps. So do they make a 15mm version I could just fit
in the kitchen - or use reducers?

--
*Why is it that to stop Windows 95, you have to click on "Start"?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.


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Posted to uk.d-i-y
Doctor Drivel
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hot Water pressure - or lack of it


"Dave Plowman (News)" through a haze of senile
flatulence wrote in message ...
In article .com,
wrote:
The simplest is to fit a Grundfos Booster pump on the hot water line.
This is like a normal CH pump with 1/2" connections and can be fitted
under the sink or at the cylinder.


I recently - like the OP - changed my ancient kitchen mixer to one of
those flash 1/4 turn types. It had the old 'standard' 1/2 inputs so I
assumed it was fine for a low pressure hot water system. And I was wrong.
The previous mixer had ordinary taps and the hot water flow was near the
same as the cold - my mains water pressure isn't high. The new one has cut
it to an annoyingly low flow.

So - are there any modern mixers which work well on low pressure or do I
get a pump?

I'm not sure I want to pump the entire system as my shower works perfectly
as do all other hot taps. So do they make a 15mm version I could just fit
in the kitchen - or use reducers?


You need to rip out the tanks and cylinder and fit a high flowrate combi
ASAP.

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Posted to uk.d-i-y
Doctor Drivel
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hot Water pressure - or lack of it


"alexbartman" wrote in message
...

Doctor Drivel Wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" through a haze of senile
flatulence wrote in message ...
In article
,
wrote:
The simplest is to fit a Grundfos Booster pump on the hot water line.
This is like a normal CH pump with 1/2" connections and can be fitted
under the sink or at the cylinder.

I recently - like the OP - changed my ancient kitchen mixer to one of
those flash 1/4 turn types. It had the old 'standard' 1/2 inputs so I
assumed it was fine for a low pressure hot water system. And I was
wrong.
The previous mixer had ordinary taps and the hot water flow was near
the
same as the cold - my mains water pressure isn't high. The new one has
cut
it to an annoyingly low flow.

So - are there any modern mixers which work well on low pressure or do
I
get a pump?

I'm not sure I want to pump the entire system as my shower works
perfectly
as do all other hot taps. So do they make a 15mm version I could just
fit
in the kitchen - or use reducers?

You need to rip out the tanks and cylinder and fit a high flowrate
combi
ASAP.


It is almost time to replace my ancient boiler - but it will be a very
great shame to have to ruin my lovely bathroom(s) to remove pumps
etc.......dont suppose there is any way round it though. My previous
experiences of a COmbi in my last houe was not great the pressure in
the mixer shower was far from great - despite having mains pressure in
the bathroom......


Either poor mains pressure or poor mixer. Combis selling point is the
brilliant showers.

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Posted to uk.d-i-y
Andy Hall
 
Posts: n/a
Default Hot Water pressure - or lack of it

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 10:21:11 +0000, alexbartman
wrote:


Hi

I have a fairly standard Gravity-fed vented system in a fairly standard
two-storey house. I have just re-done my kitchen and replaced the taps
with a funky new monobloc (ceramic valve) mixer.

As a result, the hW pressure through this tap is really low and with
the mains pressure feed for the Cold Water, the tap temparature is
either freezing cold and very powerful or boiling hot and v slow -
there's no "mixing" of hot and cold. I've tried closing the service
valve for the CW a little and this works, but it's not great at
mixing.
I was thinking of adding a HW pump in the loft from the cylinder, but
my mixer shower in the upstairs bathroom already has a pump attached to
boost the tank-fed Hot and Cold feeds. I have another shower that is a
power shower that also relies on tank-fed low pressure hot and cold
feeds.
Access in my new kitchen it very limited, has anyone any suggestions as
to how I can boost the pressure for the kitchen tap??
Overall pressure of the hot taps in the bathrooms(s) is not great - but
not as important as the kitchen for washing-up etc etc.

Thanks in advance for help and advice

Alex



Three alternatives spring to mind:

- Hot water pump as you suggest

- Under sink electric water heater run from mains.

- Change to mains hot water system (.e.g. combi boiler or heatbank.)





--

..andy

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