High and low pressure taps - how to tell them apart?

[reb78]

I have bought a new kitchen for our cottage. Hot water is a low pressure header tank system. Stupidly, the kitchen co many has supplied a high pressure only tap.

Quickest thing to avoid fighting would be to swap with the kitchen tap in the main house. The main house is mains pressure hot and cold (can be up to 6 bar). I think the tap in the main house is a bog standard twiddle on or off valve type tap so should be fine on a low pressure system but is there anyway to tell other than trying it?

 

[gaz1]

nope

when buying a low pressure taps, you have to inform the plumbers merchants that you need a low pressure tap otherwise you will be suplied normal taps

there is no marking on them to say low pressure either so you couldnt even tell if they was on a market stall

 

[reb78]

What's the physical difference between them?

 

[daleyd]

Dont know if there’s a way to tell but sometimes they come with a washer you can swap out for high or low pressure use? My missus mum has a static caravan and they changed the toilet flush, and left the high pressure reducer in. It whined for months and took ages to fill until I took it out and found another nozzle with a larger orifice for low pressure systems.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

What's the physical difference between them?

Reduced flow restriction in the valve.

For modern cartridge type tap it can be a case of swapping the standard cartridge out for a more expensive one with a low pressure suitable valve design.

Using a low pressure tap in a high pressure system results in reduced modulation, making it act more like an on-off switch than a proportional valve.

 

[dave h 2]

The answer, as always is in the spec sheet. As it happens Screwfix does this for you.
one picked at random

 

[Gareth J]

If your house has an adjustable prv, you could adjust it to try to emulate a low pressure situation. Or, if you have somewhere you can read pressure on the system, wind the stop tap down on the incoming supply incrementally, while the kitchen tap is on until the gauge approximates the expected head of water in the cottage and see whether the flow out the tap is acceptable.

Not very definitive but might be something to go on

 

[Agroshield]

...so should be fine on a low pressure system but is there anyway to tell other than trying it?

Rig up a hosepipe to the inlet of it. Drum of water connected to the other end. Count how many steps up the ladder you need to obtain adequate flow. Can be done just by disconnecting the tap hose from its isolator valve.

 

[Mark 2]

Rig up a hosepipe to the inlet of it. Drum of water connected to the other end. Count how many steps up the ladder you need to obtain adequate flow. Can be done just by disconnecting the tap hose from its isolator valve.

This will also need to be filmed in a decent resolution for forum members..
The last tap I bought came with two different washers.

 

[gaz1]

its 0.5 bar for a gravity fed system in a 2 bed house