Water Pressure

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#498542 27-Jul-2011 14:47

networkn: The guy I spoke to said they were VERY quiet. Sometimes you can't tell they are operating without touching them

Impressive!!

timmmay

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#498543 27-Jul-2011 14:48

How's the cold water pressure on outside taps? Especially taps near the road.

grant_k

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#498544 27-Jul-2011 14:51

wreck90:
grant_k: For the past 8 years, we have been using a Grundfos which has stainless steel for all the important parts, and never had any trouble with it at all. Highly recommended if you want to go down this route.

How noisy is the pump?

Very, very quiet actually. I have heard other pumps that people install in their basement, and the noise resonates throughout the entire house.

The Grundfos is sitting outside on some concrete pavers, with a plastic crate over the top of it to protect from the worst of the weather. It is so quiet, that you can't hear it from inside the house unless you open the window directly above it. From outside the house, you can hear a faint "wooshing" sound from about 5 metres away.

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Snowflake

#498549 27-Jul-2011 15:19

i had really crappy water pressure & flow rate - took over a minute to fill a 10l bucket from the outdoor tap.

metrowater came and tested and said pressure was good. i got them to turn on the tap and check the flow rate which they did, and determined that it was somewhat low - they ended up replacing my water meter with a new one that was double the size of the old one (at no charge). This gave me significantly better flow - now about 35 seconds to fill that bucket, but still not as good as it could be.

I had already replaced all the piping in the house as part of a renovation, so it couldnt have been the internal piping. There is a pressure limiting valve and i had opened this full but still had slower flow than expected.

The only thing left was to replace the connection between the meter and the house which used an 10mm or 15mm copper pipe. Only once i ripped this out and replaced with a 25mm blueline pipe (see http://www.iplex.co.nz/site/iplex/files/blueline.pdf) did i get the maximum performance - less than 15 seconds to fill that bucket!

I still have the pressure reduced going into the house though - as i dont want to bust the internal taps which cant handle that pressure - but now i have excellent garden watering and car washing potential as the outdoor taps are hooked up *before* the pressure valve.

BTW, i'm in balmoral, and quite possibly fed from the same reservoir or source that you are :)

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ajobbins

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#498834 28-Jul-2011 10:23

I'm having issues at my place in Mairangi Bay. We have really good cold water pressure, but the hot water is a dribble in comparison. I'm getting used to luke warm showers, but surely if the cold pressure is good, the hot should be too?

It's a 4 bdrm (rented) house, with quite a small cylinder, so maybe the owners have turned the pressure down somehow?

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bazzer

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#498857 28-Jul-2011 11:08

Probably a low pressure HWC. Pretty common, I think.

timmmay

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#498864 28-Jul-2011 11:19

ajobbins: I'm having issues at my place in Mairangi Bay. We have really good cold water pressure, but the hot water is a dribble in comparison. I'm getting used to luke warm showers, but surely if the cold pressure is good, the hot should be too?

It's a 4 bdrm (rented) house, with quite a small cylinder, so maybe the owners have turned the pressure down somehow?

It's just a cheap lower pressure cylinder. I'm told it costs a few grand to upgrade to high pressure hot water, which i'll do one day.

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#499073 28-Jul-2011 19:02

ajobbins: I'm having issues at my place in Mairangi Bay. We have really good cold water pressure, but the hot water is a dribble in comparison. I'm getting used to luke warm showers, but surely if the cold pressure is good, the hot should be too?

It's a 4 bdrm (rented) house, with quite a small cylinder, so maybe the owners have turned the pressure down somehow?

It may just be the way it is for that system, but if it really is utterly inadequate there may be something wrong. Could be a badly adjusted pressure valve (flying saucer thing) on the intake for example, or you might need a better shower mixer.

Adjusting the intake pressure on an old system is best done after replacing the intake valve - adjusting a near dead intake valve can and does induce valve failure.

Typical failure mode - increased pressure leading to hot water coming out of the header pipe on the roof (or release valve if fitted).

networkn

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#743023 10-Jan-2013 20:14

I know it's considered bad form to revive very old topics, but it's my topic and I thought I'd update you. I had a couple of kids so life got too busy to follow this up, but it takes around 35 seconds to fill a 10l bucket from the outside tap and when I did that the upstairs shower was affected (My wife informed me rudely!) :)

Is it worth having metro water or someone come out and take a look? The tap that should be in the garage appears to be in the wall and plastered over so I don't know where it is to ensure it's fully on, but would that affect the outdoors water?

Technofreak

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#743052 10-Jan-2013 21:42

We were having similar issues the shower wasn't impressive and when the hot tap was used in the kitchen the shower which is upstairs would go cold, wife not impressed.

Brother in law suggested looking at the pressure reducing valve that feeds the hot water cylinder and the cold feed to the shower. I had already checked out the shower mixer to ensure it was the correct type for low pressure.

Turns out we had the incorrect reducing valve fitted. Should have been a 7.2 metre one, but instead a 3.7 metre one was fitted. 3.7 is for single story and 7.2 for two story. You do need to have a cylinder that can take 7.2 metre and you do also need a 7.2 metre pressure relief valve as well. We already had a 7.2 metre cylinder and relief valve. Cannot figure why we only had the 3.7 metrre reducing valve. The metres relate to head of pressure

Now that we have a 7,2 metre reducing valve we also have good shower pressure. The valves are preset at the factory but do need adjusting depending on the individual installation and the height of the reducing valve relative to the outlet of the cylinder.

I'd take a look at what head of pressure your reducing valve is, it should be written on it somewhere. This is probably under the house. Looks like this. http://www.methven.com/nz/specialist-brand/nefa/pressure-reducing-feed-valve/

Do you have a standpipe above the roof for the cylinder overflow or do you have a relief valve just above the cylinder? If you have a stand pipe you'll need to make that longer (higher) if you increased the head.

If you have a pressure reducing valve you may need to change that too. Looks like this
http://pinkplumbingshop.co.nz/nefa-valves/807-nefa-pressure-relief-valve-76.html It had the head figure written in it.

You'll need to check what head the cylinder is good for too

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networkn

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#743056 10-Jan-2013 21:47

Technofreak: We were having similar issues the shower wasn't impressive and when the hot tap was used in the kitchen the shower which is upstairs would go cold, wife not impressed.

Brother in law suggested looking at the pressure reducing valve that feeds the hot water cylinder and the cold feed to the shower. I had already checked out the shower mixer to ensure it was the correct type for low pressure.

Turns out we had the incorrect reducing valve fitted. Should have been a 7.2 metre one, but instead a 3.7 metre one was fitted. 3.7 is for single story and 7.2 for two story. You do need to have a cylinder that can take 7.2 metre and you do also need a 7.2 metre pressure relief valve as well. We already had a 7.2 metre cylinder and relief valve. Cannot figure why we only had the 3.7 metrre reducing valve. The metres relate to head of pressure

Now that we have a 7,2 metre reducing valve we also have good shower pressure. The valves are preset at the factory but do need adjusting depending on the individual installation and the height of the reducing valve relative to the outlet of the cylinder.

I'd take a look at what head of pressure your reducing valve is, it should be written on it somewhere. This is probably under the house. Looks like this. http://www.methven.com/nz/specialist-brand/nefa/pressure-reducing-feed-valve/

Do you have a standpipe above the roof for the cylinder overflow or do you have a relief valve just above the cylinder? If you have a stand pipe you'll need to make that longer (higher) if you increased the head.

If you have a pressure reducing valve you may need to change that too. Looks like this
http://pinkplumbingshop.co.nz/nefa-valves/807-nefa-pressure-relief-valve-76.html It had the head figure written in it.

You'll need to check what head the cylinder is good for too

I don't have a cylinder, I gas mains heating.

Technofreak

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#743064 10-Jan-2013 22:05

Ok, that makes a difference as to what your problems are.

Is the tap in the wall your toby i,e the tap for turning off the water to the house? If so then it should/could affect the flow to the outside tap if it's not fully on.

If your whole water system is mains pressure then you either have poor water feed to the property or there is a restriction in your feed to the house or in the house somewhere.

How does the water flow at your neighbours outside tap compare to yours? This could give you an idea as to whether or not it is the water flow to your property that is the problem or whether you have a problem elsewhere.

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#743069 10-Jan-2013 22:14

Technofreak: Ok, that makes a difference as to what your problems are.

Is the tap in the wall your toby i,e the tap for turning off the water to the house? If so then it should/could affect the flow to the outside tap if it's not fully on.

If your whole water system is mains pressure then you either have poor water feed to the property or there is a restriction in your feed to the house or in the house somewhere.

How does the water flow at your neighbours outside tap compare to yours? This could give you an idea as to whether or not it is the water flow to your property that is the problem or whether you have a problem elsewhere.

I presume that the one in the wall is how we turn water off to the house, but I am not certain. Am I going to have to poke holes in the wall to find it or would there be a tool I could beg borrow or steal that would help me find it. I am not really friendly with the neighbours at the front so I can't really use that as a measure.

How long would it normally take to fill a 10L bucket?

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Snowflake

#743358 11-Jan-2013 15:30

networkn:

How long would it normally take to fill a 10L bucket?

from a tap between the main valve and the pressure reducing valve- around 13 seconds
from a tap that is past the pressure reducing valve (same side as plumbing) - around 22 seconds

not sure if there is a 'normal' measure as it would depend on location etc. i'm near dominion rd/balmoral rd.

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#750209 24-Jan-2013 13:57

Hi There!

Well I am determined to get this fixed. Other than the cutting holes all along the wall in the garage is there any other way to determine WHERE in the wall this particular tap is supposed to be.

Also the developer has replied to my last email to him with the following:

There is a 3 way valve fitted near where the line enters the house - from
memory just near where the tap is beside the garage. I can't remember but
there will probably be a plate screwed to the inside of the garage wall to
access it. It may be that the filter on this valve is blocked. Yes a new
line was put in - to both houses actually. It was a bigger than normal
line at 25mm OD and not the 20mm line most developers would use! (I always
like more water flow/pressure myself!)

I can't see any plate or any place where perhaps a plate was painted over.

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