Outside tap pressure

[Welderpaul]

I live in a new house, finished less than a year ago.

The outside tap at home is next to useless. Just washed the car and at the end of a 10m hose pipe the water is less than a trickle. Tap turned on full and no kinks etc. Even filling a bucket is painfully slow. The tap is fed almost straight off the rising main and within 1m of where the 25mm PE enters the house.

Is the tap or backplate a type that reduces pressure? I can't find anything about them on google but i would guess it likely that such a thing would be fitted.

Pressure in the house is fine, lots of pressure at all the taps etc. There is what looks like a pressure reducer on the incoming main under the sink. I opened it up a bit but it just made the inside taps screach and pipes bang with too much pressure.

Any ideas? It's doing my head in

 

[wyn]

I'm sure outside taps now have non return valves somewhere in their plumbing.
Maybe the valve is a bit blocked up.

 

[rtbcomp]

Have you tried taking the tap off the wall (with the mains off) and then seeing what the pressure is like when you turn the mains back on?

 

[Engineer1964]

its probably a one way valve to prevent back siphoning from the hose back into the water mains in the house, You can remove these and just install an inline ball valve

It wont prevent back siphoning but at least you'll have a decent supply outside. I did just that when i wanted a supply for my Jetwash

 

[brightspark]

the pressure would be constant in and out. its the flow that could be restricted just turn the tap on full whack without the hose on and u will see if its the hose thats restricting flow

 

[Welderpaul]

the pressure would be constant in and out. its the flow that could be restricted just turn the tap on full whack without the hose on and u will see if its the hose thats restricting flow

Like i say, even filling a bucket under it i.e no hose is still sloooooow

 

[tigler]

You may find that tap is fed by a 3/8" bore push fit plastic pipe, mine is and it seriously reduces flow.

 

[pedrobedro]

Take it to bits and put it back together properly. I had one and the thread that operates the rising gland was not all the way in so it only half opened. It works same as the house taps now.

 

[Welderpaul]

Its fed by 15mm copper. I have the feeling that we had a similar problem at the last house with a non-return tap. I took all the internal plasticy non return bits out and put it back on and it was fine.
Problem is there is nothing to see on the outside and all the connections on the inside are behind the kitchen unit back panels to can't really get to much.

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

I have the same problem here as well,the pressure of inside taps is good(not decent) but the outside tap there is no pressure,the pressure washer grunts(creates a noise) because the water pressure is not enough going into the pressure washer.

Im just waiting to catch the meter reader so's I can ask him to turn the street main up a touch outside me gate,see if thats the problem?

 

[Sean]

was going to say its perhaps one of the DIY kits with a length of garden hose and a self cutting T ......but as others have said anti syphon or one of those ballofixes as shown above that reduces the bore to 8mm-bin it for a full bore 1/2" lever valve or a gate valve to isolate it when the freeze comes.

 

[voipio]

How about putting a pressure gauge on the end of the outside tap to see what the static pressure is. If it's 40psi or more, then it's time to start looking for the restriction to flow. Even if static pressure is as low as 10psi that should still give a reasonable bucket filling rate if there's no flow restriction.

Opening the street main further shouldn't cause much change unless the street main cock hadn't been turned back on properly and was retricting flow. If that was the case, turning two cold taps on in the house, or the flushing of a loo plus a cold tap, would result in a marked change in flow rate from the tap.

It might be possible that the non-return valve in the outside tap has suffered from frost damage. I had just a trickle out of the outside tap after a severe frost, and it turned out to be the non-return valve stuck. It had been forced back so hard into its seat by ice forming between the stopcock valve and the non-return valve that it wouldn't release. It just needed poking in with a small screwdriver from the back end to release it.

 

[madkayaker]

It will have a stupid none return valve in take it off and fit a old style tape and that should help the flow

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

I just had a thought(will have to look at it tomorrow),since yours is a new house does it have in the cupboard switch off valve? this might be the problem?

Certainly will have a look to see if thats my problem as I have one.

 

[Welderpaul]

It will have a stupid none return valve in take it off and fit a old style tape and that should help the flow

Yeah, i think you may be right.

There is a ball-o-fix to isolate it but it is fully turned on.

 

[madkayaker]

The plumbers at college always said there rubbish and cause loads of problems

 

[Sean]

if its a modern house the main may be restricted to 3 bar to save any problems with the combi etc so faffing about in the steet with the toby (which tends to be ON or OFF) may not do anything. The "ballofix" restricts the flow even when fully open its only got about an 8mm bore fit a proper valve if it looks longer than the one pictured previously (and is brass) then its a check valve too.

You can usually pop the hardboard back panel to give access to the service void, slide the panel up so its free at the bottom and either push or pull from the centre of the top. You want to be able to shut the water off to that tap when winter hits.

 

[Welderpaul]

Hmm, i don't think it is a non-return tap.

 

[Sean]

no its just a common "Bib" tap on a wall plate the non return may be in the pipework to the tap

 

[Mikey D]

why not just turn off the mains , unscrew the bibtap and see what the pressure /flow is like then ? If its got an nrv in it its the white plastic bit near the thread on the tap . Lots of ptfe tape on the threads before putting back together .