Garden hose woes

[iep]

I have an outside tap fitted in my garage. It is fed from the cold water tank in the loft of our cottage (about 3m above ground level) via about 10m of 22mm pipe and then about another 4m of 15mm pipe and then finally through a washing machine isolation valve and onto the tap itself.

Needless to say that, after an additional 10m of garden hose, there is little more than a trickle from the end of the hose pipe.

My longer term plan is to run a proper mains water connection to the bathroom and garage via some 22mm pipe and then install a tap directly to this (rather than via the washing machine valve).

However, until then I was wondering if a pressure washer would help at all? Obviously it would have one hell of a tough job pulling the water through all that pipework but I guess that this is what they are designed to do since they tend to sit on the end of meters of kinked hose pipe.

Cheers,

ip

 

[Bahco]

Forget the pressure washer and lose the washing machine valve too.

I would fit a tap outside my kitchen wall off the mains. Do it once and properly.

 

[Burnerman]

The cheaper pressure washers rely on a substantial mains pressure to give a good blast...some makes don't like gravity feeds at all. Best to check on the spec before you buy one.
Much better to run a length of 15mm copper from the nearest mains water supply if you can, and use full bore valves where you isolate.
John

 

[ianniann]

I don't think there would be an issue pulling a decent flow through that pipework. Pressure washers don't push through that much water actually, they just spurt it out through a small nozzle at high pressure. Although that is a simple off the shelf solution, you might want to consider a different type of pump designed to shift more water at lower pressure. Up to you really. If you want to run a sprinkler on your lawn then a pressure washer isn't really the answer, but if you want to wash the car then it might be the answer.

Your main problem at the moment is the lack of head from only having the tank 3m above the garden. That ought to go away if you connect directly to the mains. Have you checked your mains pressure?

 

[iep]

Ideally yes but not an option with my house. It's a very long thin cottage with the kitchen on one side and the driveway on the other so the route from outside my kitchen to the driveway (where I want to wash the car) is 25m!

So, it's either lift the floor and run a water main through the house or try the pressure washer.

Anyone else given this a shot?

iep

 

[TicklyT]

If the present tap runs from the cold storage tank, one end of that pipe should already be close to the mains water feed to the tank.

Could you tee from the rising main there, and re-use the existing pipe?