Stopcocks, water pressure and boilers

[catkins79]

Hi. Apologies if this is a really stupid question...

I posted earlier in the week about some problems with our shower. The hot water pressure pulses and is a bit low... we have a Salamander pump on the shower, and the hot water is from a new W-Bosch boiler (fitted in Feb), that draws from a cold water tank in the attic into a hot water cylinder.

We also just had a water meter fitted by the stopcock.

We've descaled the showerhead, which hasn't really helped. I'm now wondering if water pressure could be involved with the issues.

Should our stopcock be at the maximum 'on' position? Could the issues with the HW/shower etc. be down to mains water pressure/the stopcock/the water meter?

Thanks in advance!

 

[St0rmer66]

Not if it's pumped from a tank. The only way you'd have a problem with the main there is if it couldn't keep up and the whole tank got drained by the pump (they are usually plenty big enough to stop this happening in most cases).

 

[catkins79]

Thank you for your help!

 

[JBPHS]

Check filters and check valves inside the shower valve.

James.

 

[GoodDIYjob]

Yes, used to have a salamander pump in a flat and fixed a fair few problems myself over 5 or 6 years.

There should be inlet strainers in the pump intake flexi couplings. Although, strongly suggest get replacement rubber washers at the same time to do job, as they compress during installation and then when you re-assemble a drip leak often remains without new washers.

Also. Another cause of variable low flow I came across was from shower hose. If you have a shower on a hose I suggest replacing as a first step. At least two times the hose became constricted and caused variable flow even though damage wasn't visible externally especially with the wire wound hoses which you can't see beneath.

 

[GoodDIYjob]

Thinking about it the strainers are the washers on the intake and the outlets had rubber washers. Salamander were quite helpful with part supply when I contacted then on 2 or 3 occasions.