Domestic water pressure dropped..

[Bryan Williams]

As above, noticed that the waterfall shower isn't trying as hard, seems about half flow.

Kitchen tap closest to stop cock seems reduced flow but I can't decide really if it's that much different.

As we had a new CH boiler a few weeks back I was hoping it had nothing to do with that.

I don't think it is the boiler due to the flow (that I think) is reduced at the kitchen tap,but need some reassurance from you lot before I call them out again, (water leak, gas leak already).

Could the bad weather be affecting this?

My thoughts would be its pumped I imagine, so if the utilities are struggling with weather issues maybe they've had to divert power from pumps to elsewhere?
The pressure gauge on the boiler is showing just under halfway.

Cheers.

 

[daleyd]

is it a combi boiler or standard? On a combi the pressure gauge is nothing to do with mains water pressure, but I’m sure a proper plumber will be along soon to assist better than me!!

 

[Anguz]

chances are its pumped..
there is a website "in your area " ? or something similar, that lists utility faults

 

[voipio]

What kind of boiler is it? Combi or heating loop only? If the latter, the pressure gauge on the boiler is probably showing loop pressure, which will have nothing to do with mains water pressure. PS nearly beat daleyd to it!!

A pressure gauge that fits on an outside tap/washing machine tap is a useful thing to have for this kind of situation.

Asking the neighbours might be helpful.

We've had quite large mains pressure variations over the last year, but it has settled down now to a good 4 Bar at the mains inlet. It was due to a faulty pressure regulator on the water main down the road. Is the shower a thermostatic mixer type? If so, a non-return valve could be stuck partly open. We had that happen with the non-return valves on both hot and cold to the thermostatic shower mixer, causing hot and cold to mix, causing all sorts of problems! Opened the kitchen hot tap until the hot water came through, turned if off and back on again half a minute later, and it ran cold again, before the hot came through. Same with the bathroom sink. The other thing was, the cold feed to the shower, and the hot pipe too, would run very cold in the winter, and always had condensation on the pipework behind the wall, causing a "damp" smell which we couldn't track down.

 

[Anguz]

In Your Area | digdat

Using mapping data, digdat In Your Area helps maintain high levels of customer service and communication by enabling them to keep customers informed of events or potential disruptions.

inyourarea.digdat.co.uk

certainly covers my area... dunno if country wide

 

[daleyd]

Also is just the cold water affected, ie not the shower but just off the cold tap? If so then I’d say its *unlikely* to be the boiler. (Though I’m sure someone will tell me I’m wrong!)

 

[Bryan Williams]

chances are its pumped..
there is a website "in your area " ? or something similar, that lists utility faults

I completed the questionnaire on the utility website, when asked if I had any work done recently, on answering 'yes' it said its probably that, contact the fitters..

 

[Seadog]

The first sentence says the shower is affected

 

[Bryan Williams]

What kind of boiler is it? Combi or heating loop only? If the latter, the pressure gauge on the boiler is probably showing loop pressure, which will have nothing to do with mains water pressure. PS nearly beat daleyd to it!!

A pressure gauge that fits on an outside tap/washing machine tap is a useful thing to have for this kind of situation.

Asking the neighbours might be helpful.

We've had quite large mains pressure variations over the last year, but it has settled down now to a good 4 Bar at the mains inlet. It was due to a faulty pressure regulator on the water main down the road. Is the shower a thermostatic mixer type? If so, a non-return valve could be stuck partly open.

Combi.
Struggling to find a neighbour I talk too..

 

[Bryan Williams]

is it a combi boiler or standard? On a combi the pressure gauge is nothing to do with mains water pressure, but I’m sure a proper plumber will be along soon to assist better than me!!

Combi.

 

[jsf55]

Go out to the main stop cock and see if it's been turned down, always doing it outside mine

 

[AKN]

At the risk of sounding silly the plumber did fully open the main stop cock?

 

[daleyd]

The first sentence says the shower is affected

I know which I why I was asking if it’s just the cold tap.

 

[voipio]

If it's a combi boiler, the strainer on the water inlet might be partly blocked with gunk.

 

[Bryan Williams]

I know which I why I was asking if it’s just the cold tap.

The cold tap seems reduced, the hot water has always been a bit less than the cold.

 

[Bryan Williams]

At the risk of sounding silly the plumber did fully open the main stop cock?

It was all OK till two days ago., new boiler went in last month.

 

[daleyd]

The cold tap seems reduced, the hot water has always been a bit less than the cold.

On a combi system the hot is usually less pressure than the cold - I assume the way the water flows through the boiler causes this, on our older boiler it was more noticeable whereas we have a new (well 5 years ago!!) one that’s bigger and it’s not as much difference. But really if your cold pressure is down (ie straight off cold tap) then as you said you can probably discount the boiler being the problem. As has been said you should definitely check all stop taps as a first step.

 

[voipio]

Open the kitchen cold tap about half flow, then open another cold tap. If the kitchen flow drops a lot, then there might be a blockage in the cold supply in the property.

 

[Blobber]

We have a couple of big seasonal caravan parks in the next village and in the busy months we notice a drop in mains pressure, also around 6-7 in the evenings there is also a notable drop, could just be the effects of the storms if they have had problems with pumping stations or treatment plants

 

[Bryan Williams]

We have a couple of big seasonal caravan parks in the next village and in the busy months we notice a drop in mains pressure, also around 6-7 in the evenings there is also a notable drop, could just be the effects of the storms if they have had problems with pumping stations or treatment plants

This is what I'm thinking, the only thing that's changed really is the weather, already been bad enough in Greater Manchester but with the two recent storms I was wondering how the system works, do they have to concentrate power elsewhere, like emergency flood pumping etc?