I have noticed recently the flow rate from my cold water tap seems to have dropped. No idea why. In investigating it I've found that the flow rate at one end of my house compared to the other is markedly different.
My house is a variously extended 1960s house which used to have a cold water tank in the loft but everything is mains now. The kitchen is in a completely different place to what it used to be, so I'm sure the route taken from the mains incomer to my kitchen tap will hardly be ideal.
I have an outside tap at both ends of the house, one right at the incomer and another right at the end of the extension.
Time to fill a one litre jug from the two outside taps is:
By the incomer: 2.7 seconds (22 l/min)
At the end of the extension: 7.2 seconds (8 l/min)
This results in the kitchen tap taking 9.5 seconds (6 l/min) to fill one litre (by the time you add the fancy tap etc).
Does anybody know what could cause this? How can the flow rate drop so much over existing pipe? Could dead legs cause it?
It is 15mm pipe everywhere. The hot runs much faster, but this is 22mm pipe right up to the tap feed, so I assume that's why it's better. The route is probably better too.
Would running a new 15mm feed from by the incomer to the kitchen fix it? Can I run this feed in parallel with the existing feed to effectively increase the pipe diameter?
Thanks for any pointers!
My house is a variously extended 1960s house which used to have a cold water tank in the loft but everything is mains now. The kitchen is in a completely different place to what it used to be, so I'm sure the route taken from the mains incomer to my kitchen tap will hardly be ideal.
I have an outside tap at both ends of the house, one right at the incomer and another right at the end of the extension.
Time to fill a one litre jug from the two outside taps is:
By the incomer: 2.7 seconds (22 l/min)
At the end of the extension: 7.2 seconds (8 l/min)
This results in the kitchen tap taking 9.5 seconds (6 l/min) to fill one litre (by the time you add the fancy tap etc).
Does anybody know what could cause this? How can the flow rate drop so much over existing pipe? Could dead legs cause it?
It is 15mm pipe everywhere. The hot runs much faster, but this is 22mm pipe right up to the tap feed, so I assume that's why it's better. The route is probably better too.
Would running a new 15mm feed from by the incomer to the kitchen fix it? Can I run this feed in parallel with the existing feed to effectively increase the pipe diameter?
Thanks for any pointers!
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