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- 10 Apr 2019
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Every few weeks at the moment I notice that the cold water flow upstairs is getting slower and slower until it stops.
I have a CWT in the loft, 22mm feed comes out and down into the airing cupboard. There is a tee at about shoulder height with 15mm off the side that feeds into another gate valve and then shower pump.
Just before the tee there is a gate valve which cannot fully close (maybe 10% water can still flow)
The 22mm continues down to floor height then disappears into the bathroom to feed the bath, toilet and sink. Somewhere behind the tiling it reduces to 15mm to feed the sink. Dont know about the other items as it is all buried. The same 22mm feed from airing cupboard also serves the downstairs bathroom which is immediately beneath the upstairs bathroom. Dont know the size as it is all buried.
Periodically when the flow gets slow I have found the easiest solution is to shut the gate valve just before the shower pump,disconnect the cold side of the shower pump (since it is a push fit) and then reopen the gate valve with a bucket nearby.
I get a trickle then a cough and a splutter, then full flow. Reassemble and problem is solved for maybe 3 weeks.
I have also tried the back feeding trick on the bath mixer tap by sealing it with my hand and opening the hot&cold. Ive had mixed results and found the shower pump pipe trick to be more effective.
I don't want to be doing this operation every few weeks especially when those fittings arent really designed to be touched on a regular basis.
Im looking for ideas on what the problem could be.
Other things i know.
Boiler is 30 years old. Newspapers under the floor next to empty flux pots where dated 1980s which dates most of the pipework in the house. Almost everything is copper 15/22mm. Shower pump was replaced by me 12 months ago and this problem surfaced about 3 months ago. I think the previous shower pump had been installed for about 10 years.
CWT is always full so dont think the problem is the float valve. - do need to make a plywood lid to replace the polystyrene thing that is currently on top. Tank looks clean though there is plenty of limescale at the bottom (hard water area in Hertfordshire)
Any ideas would be appreciated on this one. Looks like the 22mm gate valve does need to be replaced as it wont shut, but not sure that explains my problem. Also need to drain the tank to do it...
Thanks
Mark
I have a CWT in the loft, 22mm feed comes out and down into the airing cupboard. There is a tee at about shoulder height with 15mm off the side that feeds into another gate valve and then shower pump.
Just before the tee there is a gate valve which cannot fully close (maybe 10% water can still flow)
The 22mm continues down to floor height then disappears into the bathroom to feed the bath, toilet and sink. Somewhere behind the tiling it reduces to 15mm to feed the sink. Dont know about the other items as it is all buried. The same 22mm feed from airing cupboard also serves the downstairs bathroom which is immediately beneath the upstairs bathroom. Dont know the size as it is all buried.
Periodically when the flow gets slow I have found the easiest solution is to shut the gate valve just before the shower pump,disconnect the cold side of the shower pump (since it is a push fit) and then reopen the gate valve with a bucket nearby.
I get a trickle then a cough and a splutter, then full flow. Reassemble and problem is solved for maybe 3 weeks.
I have also tried the back feeding trick on the bath mixer tap by sealing it with my hand and opening the hot&cold. Ive had mixed results and found the shower pump pipe trick to be more effective.
I don't want to be doing this operation every few weeks especially when those fittings arent really designed to be touched on a regular basis.
Im looking for ideas on what the problem could be.
Other things i know.
Boiler is 30 years old. Newspapers under the floor next to empty flux pots where dated 1980s which dates most of the pipework in the house. Almost everything is copper 15/22mm. Shower pump was replaced by me 12 months ago and this problem surfaced about 3 months ago. I think the previous shower pump had been installed for about 10 years.
CWT is always full so dont think the problem is the float valve. - do need to make a plywood lid to replace the polystyrene thing that is currently on top. Tank looks clean though there is plenty of limescale at the bottom (hard water area in Hertfordshire)
Any ideas would be appreciated on this one. Looks like the 22mm gate valve does need to be replaced as it wont shut, but not sure that explains my problem. Also need to drain the tank to do it...
Thanks
Mark