How much pressure do I have in my taps?!
Discussion
I'm getting the bathroom replaced in a couple of weeks and the only stumbling block seems to be what taps we get. The pressure required is fairly clear on all the taps but I have no idea to tell what pressure is in my system.
I've got the standard old fashioned tank in the loft and cylinder in the airing cupboard. Fitter informed me initially that we need to be looking at taps that are 0.1 - 0.5 bar rated. The taps I most like are mixers and say 0.5 bar 'minimum' though and I'm worried they wont work well enough, nothing worse than a dribble of water coming out of the tap!
For info, the old fashioned single taps that are currently there give a pretty strong flow of water, normal size bath fills up in a couple of minutes I'd guess when running hot and cold together.
Any suggestions/reassurance? Or should I just be spending more than double on 0.1/0.2 rated taps that look the same?
I've got the standard old fashioned tank in the loft and cylinder in the airing cupboard. Fitter informed me initially that we need to be looking at taps that are 0.1 - 0.5 bar rated. The taps I most like are mixers and say 0.5 bar 'minimum' though and I'm worried they wont work well enough, nothing worse than a dribble of water coming out of the tap!
For info, the old fashioned single taps that are currently there give a pretty strong flow of water, normal size bath fills up in a couple of minutes I'd guess when running hot and cold together.
Any suggestions/reassurance? Or should I just be spending more than double on 0.1/0.2 rated taps that look the same?
I've looked into this a bit recently (but am not a plumber) and my understanding is that each 1M of head (vertical distance between the tap and the bottom of the feed tank) equates to about 0.1 bar of pressure. So the typical distance in a 2 storey house from tank to upstairs tap would be 2M, i.e. 0.2bar of pressure. Unless you want to significantly raise the height of the cold tank, you'll probably need a pump for modern taps requiring 0.5 bar. The height of the cold tank also governs the hot pressure, so it doesn't matter if the HW cylinder is at the same level as the tap.
Number 7 said:
I've looked into this a bit recently (but am not a plumber) and my understanding is that each 1M of head (vertical distance between the tap and the bottom of the feed tank) equates to about 0.1 bar of pressure. So the typical distance in a 2 storey house from tank to upstairs tap would be 2M, i.e. 0.2bar of pressure. Unless you want to significantly raise the height of the cold tank, you'll probably need a pump for modern taps requiring 0.5 bar. The height of the cold tank also governs the hot pressure, so it doesn't matter if the HW cylinder is at the same level as the tap.
Spot on.Mains fed hot and cold is becoming the way forward these days. I think it's only really an English way of doing it anyway and unheard of around the world. New builds these days tend to be high pressure mains fed systems (as opposed to the gravity setup with tanks in the loft), taps are going the same way, high pressure and anything imported from abroad tend to be high pressure setup as it's the way they play it also.
You'll need taps that work with lower pressures, unless you go mains or pump fed.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You'll want to be looking at unvented hot water cylinders. Megaflow being the well known one but there are many out there. You need a good incoming main and to be able to get a discharge pipe to the outside, so having the cylinder on an external wall helps.Also to have it installed by a registered and qualified (for unvented cylinders) plumber.
My system is gravity fed and I gambled on a 0.4 bar Abode mixer tap in the kitchen. Cold of course is fine, hot is 'OK' but I wouldn't want anything higher rated.
I thought that low pressure taps were generally cheap and fairly basic-looking whilst all the sexy designer stuff was high pressure.
I thought that low pressure taps were generally cheap and fairly basic-looking whilst all the sexy designer stuff was high pressure.
Wow, thanks for all the info and education.
From a quick estimate I guess I have a maximum of 2.5 metres from taps to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft. Therefore I'll make sure I get taps that are 0.2 bar rated if not 0.1.
It's very frustrating though that my choice is so limited. Before I started this I thought a tap was a tap!!
From a quick estimate I guess I have a maximum of 2.5 metres from taps to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft. Therefore I'll make sure I get taps that are 0.2 bar rated if not 0.1.
It's very frustrating though that my choice is so limited. Before I started this I thought a tap was a tap!!
Agent L said:
Wow, thanks for all the info and education.
From a quick estimate I guess I have a maximum of 2.5 metres from taps to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft. Therefore I'll make sure I get taps that are 0.2 bar rated if not 0.1.
It's very frustrating though that my choice is so limited. Before I started this I thought a tap was a tap!!
I discovered today that Axor / Hansgrohe do low pressure versions of some of their taps (0.1 bar to 3 bar operating pressure). May need to speak to a supplier though, as I didn't find it clear from their website.From a quick estimate I guess I have a maximum of 2.5 metres from taps to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft. Therefore I'll make sure I get taps that are 0.2 bar rated if not 0.1.
It's very frustrating though that my choice is so limited. Before I started this I thought a tap was a tap!!
Agent L said:
Wow, thanks for all the info and education.
From a quick estimate I guess I have a maximum of 2.5 metres from taps to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft. Therefore I'll make sure I get taps that are 0.2 bar rated if not 0.1.
It's very frustrating though that my choice is so limited. Before I started this I thought a tap was a tap!!
I am in the exac same position as you. Trying to find a mixer that will work with my 0.2 bar pressure in the bathroom. Not only that, but. Need a 3 hole mixer !!From a quick estimate I guess I have a maximum of 2.5 metres from taps to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft. Therefore I'll make sure I get taps that are 0.2 bar rated if not 0.1.
It's very frustrating though that my choice is so limited. Before I started this I thought a tap was a tap!!
Aviz said:
Agent L said:
Wow, thanks for all the info and education.
From a quick estimate I guess I have a maximum of 2.5 metres from taps to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft. Therefore I'll make sure I get taps that are 0.2 bar rated if not 0.1.
It's very frustrating though that my choice is so limited. Before I started this I thought a tap was a tap!!
I am in the exac same position as you. Trying to find a mixer that will work with my 0.2 bar pressure in the bathroom. Not only that, but. Need a 3 hole mixer !!From a quick estimate I guess I have a maximum of 2.5 metres from taps to the bottom of the cold tank in the loft. Therefore I'll make sure I get taps that are 0.2 bar rated if not 0.1.
It's very frustrating though that my choice is so limited. Before I started this I thought a tap was a tap!!
Be careful when using mixer taps with a high pressure cold and low pressure hot feed.
There is always a risk of the high pressure water back feeding into the low pressure supply. Its unlikely to happen with a standard tap, but any tap with with a diverter to send water to different outlets will run the risk.
Got called out one night to a house with water pouring out of the storage cisterns in the loft, turned out they had a new bath with some fancy tap come shower set up. They had left both taps open and turned it off by the diverter lever, which allowed mains cold to back feed into the gravity hot which started filling the tanks faster than overflow could manage!
There is always a risk of the high pressure water back feeding into the low pressure supply. Its unlikely to happen with a standard tap, but any tap with with a diverter to send water to different outlets will run the risk.
Got called out one night to a house with water pouring out of the storage cisterns in the loft, turned out they had a new bath with some fancy tap come shower set up. They had left both taps open and turned it off by the diverter lever, which allowed mains cold to back feed into the gravity hot which started filling the tanks faster than overflow could manage!
Gingerbread Man said:
3 hole mixers tend to use small diameter pipe, so it won;t be the best performer. I've come across a Bristan 3 hole mixer tap in a customers house. Gravity system, bungalow. So not much head at all! It worked, but it wasn't anything to write home about.
Thanks. I'm struggling to get something for my current sink. I've just bought the house, and am trying to jus get the bathroom working cheap ish, until we do a proper full bathroom in a year or so. See my thread here for the problem !
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