Hi all and sorry in advance I confuse some things here - I know almost nothing about plumbing other than what I have read in the last hour or so around this issue...
I have recently moved into a new property (rented flat in a low-rise block) which has unequal pressure on the hot/cold bathroom taps.
The hot water is higher pressure as it is pumped around the building using a relitavey new pump. The cold water is lower pressure as it is gravity fed from a tank on the roof of the building, the flat is on the top floor so the pressure is low.
The bath has a mixer tap with a shower attachment. I measured the flow rate of hot and cold seperately by simply timing it took to fill a bucket (very high-tech!). Through the bath tap the difference in flow rate is ~3:1 (hot:cold). Through the shower attachment the hot water flow rate is still high but the cold water rate reduces so the ratio is ~6:1 or higher (hot:cold).
The result of this is that you can get a good temperate out of the bath tap, but when going through the shower attachment it is either boiling hot or freezing cold with almost no middle ground, and if you do get a good temperature the pressure is low.
I have a couple of questions:
1) Is it normal for one of the flow rates to reduce through the shower attachment more than the other? (Hot water seems to keep a high flow rate, cold becomes lower than through the tap).
2) I have read that some shower mixers are suitable for unequal pressures, is this true for bath taps with shower attachments?
3) How can I tell if the mixer is suitable for unequal pressue?
4) Is there a solution to this problem that I could persuade my landlords to implement? (i.e., replumping of the whole flat is unlikely to be on the cards!)
Best wishes and many thanks in advance!
Ben
I have recently moved into a new property (rented flat in a low-rise block) which has unequal pressure on the hot/cold bathroom taps.
The hot water is higher pressure as it is pumped around the building using a relitavey new pump. The cold water is lower pressure as it is gravity fed from a tank on the roof of the building, the flat is on the top floor so the pressure is low.
The bath has a mixer tap with a shower attachment. I measured the flow rate of hot and cold seperately by simply timing it took to fill a bucket (very high-tech!). Through the bath tap the difference in flow rate is ~3:1 (hot:cold). Through the shower attachment the hot water flow rate is still high but the cold water rate reduces so the ratio is ~6:1 or higher (hot:cold).
The result of this is that you can get a good temperate out of the bath tap, but when going through the shower attachment it is either boiling hot or freezing cold with almost no middle ground, and if you do get a good temperature the pressure is low.
I have a couple of questions:
1) Is it normal for one of the flow rates to reduce through the shower attachment more than the other? (Hot water seems to keep a high flow rate, cold becomes lower than through the tap).
2) I have read that some shower mixers are suitable for unequal pressures, is this true for bath taps with shower attachments?
3) How can I tell if the mixer is suitable for unequal pressue?
4) Is there a solution to this problem that I could persuade my landlords to implement? (i.e., replumping of the whole flat is unlikely to be on the cards!)
Best wishes and many thanks in advance!
Ben
