Bib tap - strangled supply

[Welderpaul]

New build house, 1 year old. The water pressure in our house is fine to all the internal taps etc, but the tap outside is a different matter. It takes a good 5-10 minutes to fill a bucket with the tap fully open, and to use a hosepipe is a joke.

The tap doesnt look to me like a non return type, but i am not sure about the backplate. Does it have a non return function which might have failed, and therefore reducing the flow, or is it some sort of new fangled jobbie to reduce flow and help me conserve water?

The tap is on the wall behind the sink, so other than the 15mm copper disappearing behind the carcassing i can't see much else. The isolating valve for it under the sink is fully open, as are all the other valves.

There is a pressure regulator just after the main stopcock on the incoming 25mm MDPE. I increased the pressure here which made no difference to the outside tap, and meant that pipes started to bang in the house, and taps whistle...so i put it back to where it was!

Any help much appreciated, it's driving me up the wall

 

[madkayaker]

I think that is just a wall plate https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=t...czszQBeLZgLAN&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=67
Fault NRV would be my first try

 

[pedrobedro]

If it's a bibcock with the anti siphon valve it may have got stuck or the rising gland is not going all the way up the thread inside. The taps are only £3 at our local diy shop, try a different one.

 

[upinsmoke]

bib tap

Hi try a new tap or change the washer in the one you have.check the the isolater valve for it, if there is one. hope this helps

 

[gavuk]

Isolate mains ,remove tap,then turn mains on ...it'l proove if the tap or pipework is causing restriction

 

[p0689109]

Sometimes the inner unit can unscrew itself so that the movement of the external handle is mimimised. It is caused by a retaining circlip becoming defective allowing the inner to unscrew as you open the outer handle, being a lh thread It can be stripped down and rescrewed and repaired with a new retainer.But it would be quicker and easier to replace and add the old unit to your brass pile for beer chitties!
Regards, Michael T

 

[mike os]

some of those backplates have a restrictor fitted internally..... tap off & rip it out

 

[Welderpaul]

some of those backplates have a restrictor fitted internally..... tap off & rip it out

That was my thought tbh. Have you got a link to one that has a restrictor that looks like the one i have?

The tap seems to have full movement to open/close so i don't think the tap has collapsed.

Like you say, tap off and see what happens. Mains pressure should throw a jet out 2-3 metres if its an unrestrcted flow. I can't get to the pipe on the inside of the house where it goes through the back plate because of the kitchen units. It will be an easy fix if it is the tap.

 

[normspanners]

I had exactly the same thing at my sister inlaws, tried everything to improve the flow,the tap was about 70ft away in the kennals at the end of a25mm blue pipe, in the end I diconnected the tap and switched on the water it shot out then virtually stopped, looked down the pipe and there was a clump of what looked like hair jammed at the insert in the pipe fished it out connected it all together and tried again better but still not good for a 25mm pipe.
So disconnected it again did the same this time I fished out the rest of the 1/2 paint brush that a certain little person had 'posted' in the pipe, inside the house before it was connected!
I have also seen bits of brick in them from when they are pushed through the drilled hole in the wall

 

[Welderpaul]

Nice

My second 'idea', seeing as i can't get to anything behind the cupboards, was to cap this one off, dig down to the incoming MDPE and tee into it and fit another one on the side of the house. The back of the house is dug up, and i have the kit to do it, but i have a feeling the incoming main comes under the house not round the back.

New feeds into houses were always a nightmare; the builders leave a bit sticking out of the ground for 6 months while they build it,with all sorts of rubbish getting in it. When you saddle into the main and connect it it quite often shoves whatever is in the pipe somewhere into the plumbing. Possibly what has happened here as this tap is the first branch off the incoming main.

 

[madkayaker]

Meter is the street I take it? Builders are a pain at not covering end of pipes. What's next doors pressure like?

 

[Robotstar5]

What's next doors pressure like?

If it's OK, run your hose off their tap?

 

[normspanners]

If you call to a garage and ask if they have and old handbrake cable from a car, cut the end off and pull out the inner, then push that down the pipe whilst turning it, it then may dislodge any restriction in there, then turn on the water and pull it out and it may bring out the restriction, if there is one.

 

[mike os]

no pic sorry.... the restrictor is about 20-25mm behind the threaded section.... screwdriver in & rip it out job...

and for the record i always tape pipe ends.....

 

[Welderpaul]

Next door probably don't even know they have an outside tap, never mind know what sort of pressure they should expect out of it.

Latterly, once we had connected new supplies to the main, we were told under no circumstances turn the supply on. Quite often when the builder turned on the supply a great wet patch appeared infront of the house, or water started pouring out of the house....nothing to do with us, but somehow we seemed to get the blame

 

[voipio]

This topic was covered last year. A possible cause might be a stuck non-return valve in the tap. The recent sub-zero cold weather has caused the water present in the in the space between tap washer and non-return valve to freeze. The expansion forces the non return valve so hard into it's seat it becomes distorted and stuck. Unscrew the tap from the wall and poke the non-return valve towards the front of the tap until it's free.

This happened to me a couple of years ago. It should be an easy fix.

 

[voipio]

If the non-return valve moves freely and doesn't appear to be the problem, check that the tap washer carrier spindle hasn't been bent by the ice-induced pressure.

 

[J_K]

Can you see where it's tapped into the main?
If it uses one of these things screwed into the MDPE main then that's your problem.

I sell irrigation for plant nurseries and golf courses etc and my supplier introduced these year before last. Had the speil from a rep at a seminar and he got laughed out of the room when he said that it wouldn't reduce flow.
I've replaced a few for friends who have new houses and spec'd an outside tap. Which the plumber obviously forgot and just used this for a retro fit.

 

[upinsmoke]

low pressure on bib tap

I would think that if the other suggestions have been tryed and not worked. Then replace the whole lot taking the supply from the cold supply from the stopcock to the kitchen cold tap.
An outside tap should have a way of turning it off inside the house the event of a burst outside. So fit an isolater valve inside the house