Bath fills SO slowly....!

[D4dog]

Just installed a beautiful huge whirlppol bath. 22mm connections to side valve taps, then to a combined pop-up waste filler. Cold is supplied from an exisiting tank inthe roof, hot from the new tank installed for the new hotwater system. However, it takes for ever to fill.

any reason why i cannot fit two single impeller pumps, to provide for the bath only, or is this overkill? I was also going to fit the hot one under the bath itself, fed from the same RCd as the whirlpool pump.

Thinking that 1.2 bar would suffice - any ideas?

 

[Agile]

A loft cistern and a bathroom on the floor below should fill a bath at about 10-20 li/min. Raising the cistern 2-3 m will give a big improvement.

You need to measure the hot flow rate at the bath. You might have a design or installation fault or the wrong type of taps for a gravity supply.

You can fit a shower pump to the supply to the bath if you like. You need to examine the spec very carefully to see if it meets your requirements.

A 1.2 Bar pump is only the MAXIMUM pressure it produces! That will fall according to the flow rate taken and depends on the pump power.

Tony

 

[D4dog]

Taps are standard quarter turn bath taps. I have been careful to avoid restrictions in the flow - the recommendation was for flexible 22mm connectors, but the bore was so small I have bent 22mm pipe to fit (and yes, it took me ages.)

The head is about 3m on hot, and 3.5 on cold. Trouble is bath is big - 1800 x 1200 - and seems to take a long time. The question is whether or not fitting a pump (or two) would be worthwhile - or do I just wait a little longer to get the bath filled?

Unfortunately, I cannot raise the cistern - already as high as I can get it!!

cheers

D4

 

[Agile]

Have you watched the cold cistern as the bath fills?

Perhaps its emptying as you fill?

You need as more stored water in the loft as the volume of the bath if you are going to pump.

Thats a lot of water ( and weight! ).

Do you have a spec for the performance of the taps?

Quarter turn taps are not "standard" and are mostly made in itally or china where water is supplied and used at about 3 Bar.

Tony

 

[rssteve]

does it make sense that he has mroe head on the hot than the cold? surely they come from the same tank?

if you was to fit pump the majority of the water would be hot so unless you have a shower attachment could you just pump hot?

 

[D4dog]

Tony - I got some benefit from the previous owner of the house, who fitted two tanks in the roof. Cold supply is two 50 gallon tanks, connected together. Hot is a separate 50 gallon tank (in new extension). Problem is that this is an old house, and the supply into the house is only 15mm - so both cisterns have to fill from the same 15mm supply - which is why I am using tanks for the bath.

Wasnt aware that taps had a "spec" as such - thought a tap was a tap!! I will have to aks the manufacturer. assuming they are designed for higher presure systems, would putting two pumps on, just for the bath, each rated at about 2 bar, cause any other problems (apart from the obvious one of emptying the cisterns!)

D4

 

[rssteve]

no it shouldn't, thats alot of storage you got up there, are the ceiling bowing in?

anyway, you may just be able to change the tap for a low pressure version to improve flow if it is a high pressure set.

 

[namsag]

Taps are not all the same , you have probably bought high pressure taps that are designed to work off mains pressure and when fitted on tank fed system take forever to fill a sink let alone a bath.
Have seen quite a few get over it bit fitting pumps to pipes. but just remember pumps are not quiet

 

[D4dog]

Looks like my taps were designed for high pressure system. I think I can get away with pumping the hot water only, so will try that option. Noise is not a problem - the bath has a full whirpool system which makes quite a lot of noise, and the taps will hopefully not be on that often once in the bath!!

Thanks for all your advice.

d4

 

[JohnD]

why not just change the taps

 

[D4dog]

haven't investigated that yet. The taps are side exit valves - water then goes to the combined filler/waste. They were not cheap, so unless the company would exchange them, it is cheaper to get a pump!! I suppose I could argue that they didn't state they were for high pressure systems...and therefore not fit for purpose on my installation. However, I suspect it is more likely I would have to shell out on new taps - at about £300 a pair!

 

[Dublet]

Fit a pump and your problem will be solved. Doesn't matter what type of tap you fit, if there isn't the head in the first place you will not get any flow. I too had the same problem and I could walk away and read War and Peace whilst my bath filled up. Fitted a pump and now I can't blink or it will overflow. You've got more than sufficient stored capacity but just keep in mind the recovery rate of the tanks. Simple bit of maths will confirm my suspicion.

 

[D4dog]

Oops! Fitted pump to hot supply, works brilliantly - but now hot is higher pressure than cold, even on lowest setting, so forcing hot water back up into loft tank!

Question - I can fit a check valve to cold feed, but is this sufficient to prevent pumped water pressure? Also, what is the difference between single and double check valves - I assume the latter has two diaphragms?

Alternative is to pump both feeds, and adjust mpump speeds so that pressure is equal and water goes in the bl@£$y bath, and not back into either hot OR cold feeds!!

Any ideas?

 

[muggles]

Oops! Fitted pump to hot supply, works brilliantly - but now hot is higher pressure than cold, even on lowest setting, so forcing hot water back up into loft tank!

Question - I can fit a check valve to cold feed, but is this sufficient to prevent pumped water pressure? Also, what is the difference between single and double check valves - I assume the latter has two diaphragms?

Alternative is to pump both feeds, and adjust mpump speeds so that pressure is equal and water goes in the bl@£$y bath, and not back into either hot OR cold feeds!!

Any ideas?

Wow, I was just about to say that might happen... The check valve will stop the water being pumped up, but the pump will almost certainly hold it closed, meaning you'd have to fill hot and cold seperately. Best option would be to pump both sides. You can get twin feed pumps so you have one pump pumping both sides rather than a seperate one. Granted, you've already bought a pump but you could eBay that one...

 

[D4dog]

I have a spare twin impellor, but my concern is that if only one tap is running, the other impeller will be attempting to pump to nowhere. I am sure this will damage the pump - or at the very least shorten its life. Anyone tried this before?