Poor upstairs water pressure solution

[darrena]

Hi
We have just moved in to a new house (new to us not a new build) the house is about 12 years old, has a glow worm boiler downstairs a tank in the airing cupboard and a cold water tank in the loft. The water pressure for all the taps up stair is awful and the shower (in each bathroom) which is an in bath one is also very low pressure. The boiler is not a combi.

Any not too expensive solution to improve the overall upstairs pressure, down stairs is much better but no where near as good as our last house thst had a combi

Thanks Darren,

 

[Servotech]

I think you may have a blockage in the cold feed.

Checking that the gate valve in the airing cupboard isn't stuck/restricted would be my first check.

servotech,

 

[darrena]

Thanks for the response, exactly were would this valve be and is it something I would need a plumber to sort or is it a potential DIY job?

If its not this will my only option be a pump? to be honest I thought this kind of pressure was normal upstair in a house without a combi boiler!

 

[HERTS P&D]

Is the bad pressure the same on both hot and cold in the bath?

Andy

 

[HERTS P&D]

You might need one of these fitted:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stuart-Tu...DIY_Materials_Plumbing_MJ&hash=item2a2bed3ba5

Andy

 

[darrena]

Yes its on both the hot and cold taps, its better downstairs but still not as good as the old house with the combi boiler

 

[darrena]

Would one of these pumps be able to supply pressure to all upstairs taps?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Would one of these pumps be able to supply pressure to all upstairs taps?

Yes

 

[darrena]

Actually now I've got home I tested the taps again and the hot taps are all poor and the cold are poor on the shower which is a mixer off the bath taps and the other bath in the family bathroom is poor on all the taps and the mixer shower head, this tap could be a high pressure tap so causing the issue.
So in hindsight its likely to be more of a hot water pressure issue.
Could you still increase the pressure on all upstairs taps to overcome the issue?

 

[HERTS P&D]

You might need one of these fitted:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stuart-Tu...DIY_Materials_Plumbing_MJ&hash=item2a2bed3ba5

Andy

 

[darrena]

thanks, are they expensive to fit generally and do they add much to the electricity bill?

 

[HERTS P&D]

1 days plumbing work plus materials and pennies to your bill.

Andy

 

[darrena]

about £600 then?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Pump/pipework/materials and labour will work out more that £600.

Andy

 

[Servotech]

Thanks for the response, exactly were would this valve be and is it something I would need a plumber to sort or is it a potential DIY job?

If its not this will my only option be a pump? to be honest I thought this kind of pressure was normal upstairs in a house without a combi boiler!

It's the one with the circular red top usually in the middle of the airing cupboard with the pipe leading to the bottom of the cylinder.

Increasing the size of this pipe to 28mm will improve the flow as would lifting the hight of the cold water storage tank in the loft.

All the above I would say are not really DIY jobs.

servotech,

PS You could check the storage tank for a blockage (a stray ballvalve seating in there makes a good job of slowing up the flow)!