On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:06:23 GMT, fred wrote:

In article , Stuart B
writes

I'm on the 2nd floor . There are cold tanks in the loft...one per side
..but they were only used for HW cylinders and I was the last on my
side to get a combi recently so i suggested to the Factor that they
cap the supply to the tank on my side and drain it down as it wouldn't
be getting used . The feed from it is/was in the kitchen anyway so
using it isn't an option even if I wanted to use it .

You are right in thinking that I posted a message about a drop in
pressure after SW did some work recently . The guy did come out but at
the time everything seemed fine .
After I posted this topic I bought a water pressure gauge ( it was
only £10) and I fitted it this afternoon and the pressure was 3 Bar .
It went down to just over 2 Barearly evening but now ( just before
midnight) it has gone to just over 3 Bar . Even when I turn on the
cold in the Basin it still stays above 2 Bar .... I'll se what it is
in the morning although it's usually later in the morning before I use
the shower .

2 bar with the basin open does sounds healthy, is that fully open? How
about the bath? I think you'd only get a bar or so from the loft tank to the
2nd floor.

Just looked at the specs for a (random) triton electric shower and it was
1bar min for 9.5kw and 1.5bar for 10.5kw. It looked quite an expensive
model (T100xr) and it mentioned flow stabilisation:

"The stabiliser valve minimises variations in shower temperature during
mains water pressure changes. If changes in shower temperature are
experienced during normal use, it will most likely be caused by the water
pressure falling near to or below the minimum level. The drop in pressure
may be due to water being drawn off at other points in the house whilst the
shower is in use. If pressure drops appreciably below the minimum, the
heating elements will automatically cut out. "

Don't know if yours might have that, expensive one more likely I imagine,
cheapie less likely.

If it doesn't have one then I can see variations between 3&2bar upsetting
the flow & therefore temp quite a bit.

As a workaround I found some stand alone pressure reducers at BES:
http://www.bes.ltd.uk/products/109.asp , if your shower doesn't have a
stabiliser then this might help but I don't know what their minimum drop is,
which would be critical. Note I haven't used these, 20quid to try.

What I want is to see what it is at the w/end . I don't know how far
the effect on me of others using the cold water spreads . Will it just
be this close or also the next one or the one after that as well. ????
Think the gauge is a good idea.

I said before I wanted to se what happened at the w/end as it was prev
w/ends I had the problem .

Last night ( Fri) I went to bed and the pressure gauage was showing 4
Bar ...all week the elec shower has been working perfectly .

This morning around 0930 hrs it was showing 1 Bar and listening to the
rising main behind the p/board I could hear water running so someone
or something was drawing off cold water . It is now 1045 hrs and still
I can hear water running and the pressure remains at 1 bar and the
elec shower will not heat up ....same as last w/end .

It's unlikley to be anything deliberate after all that time so I'm
trying to suggest to myself what it could be .
Could it be a toilet overflow operating . There is no overflow
ejecting to the outside so it might be a toilet with an internal
overlow but would that make the pressure drop so much .

I'm open to suggestions .

Stuart

On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 10:44:23 +0000, Stuart B
wrote:

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:06:23 GMT, fred wrote:

In article , Stuart B
writes

I'm on the 2nd floor . There are cold tanks in the loft...one per side
..but they were only used for HW cylinders and I was the last on my
side to get a combi recently so i suggested to the Factor that they
cap the supply to the tank on my side and drain it down as it wouldn't
be getting used . The feed from it is/was in the kitchen anyway so
using it isn't an option even if I wanted to use it .

You are right in thinking that I posted a message about a drop in
pressure after SW did some work recently . The guy did come out but at
the time everything seemed fine .
After I posted this topic I bought a water pressure gauge ( it was
only £10) and I fitted it this afternoon and the pressure was 3 Bar .
It went down to just over 2 Barearly evening but now ( just before
midnight) it has gone to just over 3 Bar . Even when I turn on the
cold in the Basin it still stays above 2 Bar .... I'll se what it is
in the morning although it's usually later in the morning before I use
the shower .

2 bar with the basin open does sounds healthy, is that fully open? How
about the bath? I think you'd only get a bar or so from the loft tank to the
2nd floor.

Just looked at the specs for a (random) triton electric shower and it was
1bar min for 9.5kw and 1.5bar for 10.5kw. It looked quite an expensive
model (T100xr) and it mentioned flow stabilisation:

"The stabiliser valve minimises variations in shower temperature during
mains water pressure changes. If changes in shower temperature are
experienced during normal use, it will most likely be caused by the water
pressure falling near to or below the minimum level. The drop in pressure
may be due to water being drawn off at other points in the house whilst the
shower is in use. If pressure drops appreciably below the minimum, the
heating elements will automatically cut out. "

Don't know if yours might have that, expensive one more likely I imagine,
cheapie less likely.

If it doesn't have one then I can see variations between 3&2bar upsetting
the flow & therefore temp quite a bit.

As a workaround I found some stand alone pressure reducers at BES:
http://www.bes.ltd.uk/products/109.asp , if your shower doesn't have a
stabiliser then this might help but I don't know what their minimum drop is,
which would be critical. Note I haven't used these, 20quid to try.

What I want is to see what it is at the w/end . I don't know how far
the effect on me of others using the cold water spreads . Will it just
be this close or also the next one or the one after that as well. ????
Think the gauge is a good idea.

I said before I wanted to se what happened at the w/end as it was prev
w/ends I had the problem .

Last night ( Fri) I went to bed and the pressure gauage was showing 4
Bar ...all week the elec shower has been working perfectly .

This morning around 0930 hrs it was showing 1 Bar and listening to the
rising main behind the p/board I could hear water running so someone
or something was drawing off cold water . It is now 1045 hrs and still
I can hear water running and the pressure remains at 1 bar and the
elec shower will not heat up ....same as last w/end .

It's unlikley to be anything deliberate after all that time so I'm
trying to suggest to myself what it could be .
Could it be a toilet overflow operating . There is no overflow
ejecting to the outside so it might be a toilet with an internal
overlow but would that make the pressure drop so much .

I'm open to suggestions .

Stuart


Upstairs neighbour said that she was having same problems and she
would 'phone Scotish Water . Told me after that they said they had a
list of complaints as long as your arm and would get someone out on
Monday ...They did say that they were doing work locally and certainly
a nearby street has a trench dug and it looks like SW that are there
...

In article , Stuart B
writes

Upstairs neighbour said that she was having same problems and she
would 'phone Scotish Water . Told me after that they said they had a
list of complaints as long as your arm and would get someone out on
Monday ...They did say that they were doing work locally and certainly
a nearby street has a trench dug and it looks like SW that are there
..
Sorry, don't have too much to offer, except that this does sound like a SW
problem. It would be a good idea to record a diary(*) of the pressure, taps
off & on throughout the day so as to circumvent their inevitable, "look it's
fine" when they turn out and the pressure is at its highest for weeks.

(*) these look scientific and appear to impress the masses, I'm sure you
can start one now that shows the problem going back several weeks ;-)

If you're writing, remember to tell them your shower is only spec'd to
operate over 1bar.

Good luck.
--
fred
Plusnet - I hope you like vanilla

In article ,
fred writes:
If you're writing, remember to tell them your shower is only spec'd to
operate over 1bar.

I recall reading somewhere that water companies are only required
to supply you with 1 bar pressure at pavement level.

A quick google search doesn't find that, but there's a reference
to a minimum delivery of 9l/m at 10m head, and the water mains
(companies not yours) needing to maintain 15m (about 1.5 bar)
pressure minimum. A record of all reports of low pressure must
be kept because of the danger of backflow into the mains if
the pressure drops too low.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 24 Mar 2007 13:35:01 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
fred writes:
If you're writing, remember to tell them your shower is only spec'd to
operate over 1bar.

I recall reading somewhere that water companies are only required
to supply you with 1 bar pressure at pavement level.

A quick google search doesn't find that, but there's a reference
to a minimum delivery of 9l/m at 10m head, and the water mains
(companies not yours) needing to maintain 15m (about 1.5 bar)
pressure minimum. A record of all reports of low pressure must
be kept because of the danger of backflow into the mains if
the pressure drops too low.

In my case it's not just about low pressure today .it's the fact that
it has been 3+ Bar up to now and suddenly it has dropped so clearly
there is a problem and water companies are required ,are they not,to
fix all leaks .
Stuart

In article , Andrew
Gabriel writes
In article ,
fred writes:
If you're writing, remember to tell them your shower is only spec'd to
operate over 1bar.

I recall reading somewhere that water companies are only required
to supply you with 1 bar pressure at pavement level.

Hopefully that's not the case here, Stuart's on the 2nd floor so there won't
be much pressure left with his taps at say 30' off the ground.
--
fred
Plusnet - I hope you like vanilla