Water Pipes

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Hi

Im not sure if anyone can help I recently had to replace some outside water pipes on my nans house, the original pipes were really old and very small black ones. Changing them has helped with the water pressure in the house a little bit (before it was awful) because her house is in the counryside, the main road pipe in the road is also an old style one, is it possible to contact your local waterboard to see if they will chnge it for her to improve the water flow? Does anyone know the rules on this?

Thanks in advance
 
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Does anyone know the rules on this?

You could make contact and ask but the legal minimum they need to supply is quite low anyway. They won't do it just for the sake of it.
 
Have you changed the pipework up to the property boundary? If pressure remains poor, then check the statutory minimum the Water supplier is obliged to provide, if it's above that then as said, unlikely they'll do much. Are the neighbouring properties experiencing the same issue?
 
Thanks for replies, Im just getting used to this site, I havent changed all the pipe to the house due to there being a path in the way, im going to try and go under the kitched and then report back, I will also try to add some pictures. Thanks again.
 
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Sorry for the dealy here is some pictures

I had to replace the stopcock recently due to the last one breaking. This is nearest the hedge facing the edge of the properties boundry (so nearest to the road).
 

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We had to get the connector to fit the samller black pipe u can see at the bottom on this pic this is the conector you can just see on the last pic I put up). We are now facing towards the house. It then goes into the old brass conector, again the black pipe going up we got another conector to fit the new blue pipe which goes just to the outside tap, the other side at the bottom brass conector did continue to be a small black pipe but because ive left it mud has fallen on it, this continues towardsthe house but I havent dug further yet. As it might be difficult because of the concrete steps and path maybe?
 

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The black is an older install than the more modern blue pipe. Both look adequately sized, larger will not normally help the flow. Pressure and flow are two entirely separate values to assess.
 
Yeah the plan is to install a more modern pipe, but we need to get to the house, I will dig a bigger trench and get back to you. Is it OK to be doing this, this time of year, re water freezing etc?

I will try and measure the pressure too. Thanks for input.
 
Yeah the plan is to install a more modern pipe, but we need to get to the house, I will dig a bigger trench and get back to you.

It's an awful lot of work to do, without first diagnosing whether there is or is not an issue with the pipes - unless you like digging? Check the pressure and flow as a first step.
 
OK yes, I did install all the blue pipe which helped a bit. For the flow or pressure I did this system.....(I slso found out by looking inside the property that the main pipe goes into the bathroom that is on the ground floor in the middle of the house, this is why I wanted to dig the whole further as most prpoerties as you will porbably know, have the water going into the kitchen).

"Aim water in to a bucket FULL for 10 seconds. Measure how many litres come out in this time, 'see' how solid the flow is - does it gush?! What happens if someone sticks their thumb over the flowing pipe end - is it powerful? Almost or actually impossible to stop the flow? Times' the number of litres x 6 to get 'litres per minute'."

These are the readings I got for each point.

Kitchen 7.8ltrs

Outside Tap 9ltrs

Bathroom (bath tap) 12.6ltrs ( I tried this several times as couldnt believe it was so much more)

Is this the pressure or the flow?

There is only one stopcock on the whole property near the hedge in the pictures above, I havent tested that yet as unsure if I should take aprt again.
 
Here are the pics of the bigger trench now going to the house. When looking at thehouse, to give you an idea, of the three large windows, the middle one is the bathroom where the pipe goes in. The one to the right is the kitchen. I was hoping the pipe would go along the garden and then go down under the path but it looks like it goes down under the path near the kitchen all the way along to the bathroom.
 

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I dont think piecemeal replacement is going to achieve very much, the whole installation is governed by the bore of the smallest section of pipework. I'd be breaking into the pipework at the boundary, see what pressure and flow figures you get there. If these are not substantially different to those you're getting in the house, then you're wasting your time doing anymore.

Ask the neighbours if you can check their flow/pressure rates, again, if these are not substantially different, then the issue may well lie in the supply to the area, unless its below the statutory minimum, unlikely the Water Company will do much.
 
Your measurements give the flow. The additional info you need are the static pressure (water pressure with no draw on the system) and dynamic pressure (pressure with full draw). Big pressure drop generally indicates a restriction in the pipework.
On that subject, if the water main enters at the bathroom then the bath tap would usually give the best flow....
 

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