Either hot or cold, not both

[russellellwood]

I have just moved and having a few problems with hot water. I have a combi boiler and when the cold tap is turned on the flow from the hot tap is minimal. The same happens to the hot if the washing machine is on(only cold feed) or toilet is filling. So would it be possible to have a storage tank in the loft feed by mains pressure, a cold feed coming from the tank through a pump into the boiler and rest of cold water system. Or are there any other ways round this problem.

Thanks in advance

Russell

 

[Bahco]

Thats how combis are so just use the hot water when there is no other demand for cold water.

Is it really a bug bear for you ?

 

[russellellwood]

Yeah it is a bug bear for me. With having two kids at bath time the dishwasher is on, go to run them a bath and it takes and age. When i get up for work I have to run a bath, as i dont have a shower, flush the WC bath stops filling, turn the cold tap on to clean my teeth bath stops filling.

Russ[/quote]

 

[Bahco]

You could feed your bathroom colds off a tank in the loft but not the kitchen sink.

Having a direct cylinder fitted would solve your hot water problem but may cost your pocket quite heavily.

 

[russellellwood]

So feed the mains water to the kitchen sink, boiler and water tank, take all the other cold supplies from the tank?

 

[Bahco]

Yes.

Might be easier to have a electric shower fitted save running a bath though.

 

[liverpoolboy]

a bath/shower mixer would be easier and cheaper !!

 

[seco services]

can't see it on them flow rates he's got.

 

[liverpoolboy]

not unless he has a cold tank fitted in the loft to supply the cold! good point though - the combi should surely never have been installed with flow rates like that!! he can't even flush the loo without the hot water stopping/slowing!! very bad!

 

[AMEdinburgh]

From a DIYer not a plumber.

We've got two combis in our old house and can have decent hot and cold flow from both simultaneously. We run a shower mixer over the bath in one bathroom and a separate shower in the other and all function well even if someone flushes the loo or the washing machine takes a draw. Combi driven showers are almost modest power shower quality and way better than electric. Our combi are 35kw vs 9kw for an electric so more or less 4 x the flow.

Have you checked whether you could increase the flow of cold water to your property.

Might be worth asking neighbours what their flow and pressure is like. If they have good pressure and flow your incoming supply might be squashed or furred up if it's very old or your stop cock or toby in the street might not be open fully. We had out old lead main from the toby in the street changed a few years ago and although it wasn't poor before we noticed a significant improvement

There may even be valves in your pipework which might not be fully open left over from an earlier system.

Worth a good look before thinking of spending lots of cash

 

[Bahco]

Have you checked whether you could increase the flow of cold water to your property.

Thats what you should be looking into before you start dipping into your pocket. I have the same set up as you and find it perfectly adequate for our needs and its not hard to ensure only one outlet is on at a time.

 

[buck51]

Do you neighbours have the same problem if not check the stop tap is fully open

 

[simond]

If all the above good advice doesn't solve your water shortage, an accumulator would be worth investigating.