We had high water pressure in an old house, it used to smash the pipes, tried all sorts of anti hammer devices, expansion vessels and checking pipes were secured etc. Stuck a pressure reducing valve just after the stop tap and problem solved and still with good flow and pressure.
- Thread starter Am333rcr
- Start date
We had high water pressure in an old house, it used to smash the pipes, tried all sorts of anti hammer devices, expansion vessels and checking pipes were secured etc. Stuck a pressure reducing valve just after the stop tap and problem solved and still with good flow and pressure.
Cobbler
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Your lucky with your water pressure, we had over 300psi in our previous house, we were on the main that supplied Nympsfield. It used to lift the ball valves off the seat, a friend worked for a valve company & said he would get me a pressure reducing valve, until I told him the pressure, we ended up with a steam reducer on it. When Severn Trent replaced the mains with plastic we ended up with a more sensible pressure. When we queried the pressure, ST agreed it was excessive, but wouldn’t do anything about it.
We had a burst 6" main in our front garden a few years back, the supposedly malleable iron pipe turned out to be asbestos cement. Pictures here:
https://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,12013.0.html
They replaced a 4 metre length and turned back on. The ensuing water hammer burst another length of pipe which had to be replaced (more garden dug up) but they put a fire hydrant on the run and left it open as they turned on then gradually closed it. All well we thought, but our water pressure was huge, and I later found 25 mm MDPE pipe joints blown apart on animal troughs half a mile away ! When they investigated the high pressure they found that the regulator in the pumping station (our next door neighbour) had been also damaged by the water hammer and was jammed open!!
By the time they'd finished they had to re-turf 250 square metres and replace 40 laurel bushes in our hedge.
(A side benefit is that I now have a fire hydrant in my front garden
)
https://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,12013.0.html
They replaced a 4 metre length and turned back on. The ensuing water hammer burst another length of pipe which had to be replaced (more garden dug up) but they put a fire hydrant on the run and left it open as they turned on then gradually closed it. All well we thought, but our water pressure was huge, and I later found 25 mm MDPE pipe joints blown apart on animal troughs half a mile away ! When they investigated the high pressure they found that the regulator in the pumping station (our next door neighbour) had been also damaged by the water hammer and was jammed open!!
By the time they'd finished they had to re-turf 250 square metres and replace 40 laurel bushes in our hedge.
(A side benefit is that I now have a fire hydrant in my front garden
)
Last edited:
Cobbler
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Your comment about water hammer reminds me, on my previous post we fitted a steam reducer, turned the water on, bang crash wallop, you’ve never heard water hammer like it, the shock wave shattered the iron water main in the road outside. Out came Severn Trent, lots of head scratching, don’t understand it, that sort of thing. I kept quiet, nothing to do with me! Once the air was out of the system, the steam valve worked for several years
brightspark
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the leccy board had a mole and was drilling outside our house going under the railway and went through the 6 inch watermain 
2 fire engines with pumps going couldn't keep up with it it finaly got turned off but not before causing 23 grands worth of damage flooding my garage and some of the house they got the bill and payed up no problem once I showed them all the pictures of the damage they caused
2 fire engines with pumps going couldn't keep up with it it finaly got turned off but not before causing 23 grands worth of damage flooding my garage and some of the house they got the bill and payed up no problem once I showed them all the pictures of the damage they caused
grim_d
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Or undertightened
Compression fittings can be funny. One on the radiator in my bathroom, I went to disconnect it for decorating, I didn't even get as far as putting the spanner on it and the pipe blew off sans olive!
It wasn't leaking prior either.
Cue me shouting the wife whilst plugging it with my finger.
brightspark
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I bet it was turned off when u did it last one I stopped it was redhot and scalding me I had to let goOr undertightened
Compression fittings can be funny. One on the radiator in my bathroom, I went to disconnect it for decorating, I didn't even get as far as putting the spanner on it and the pipe blew off sans olive!
It wasn't leaking before then.
Cue me shouting the wife whilst plugging it with my finger.
fixerupper
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I worked with a plumber who did work for a big supermarket chain he got a call out for cold water leak in the ceiling of a shop ... it turned out that a whole run of 22m copper had been fluxed and never soldered...it had been fitted a few years before ....
angellonewolf
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how did that ever last more than 5 seconds the joints must have been that tight they got hammered on the pipe
mtt.tr
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Last year redoing a house we found two pipes not soldered on the central heating. Just flux once knocked mid disassembly they just fell apart
angellonewolf
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never would have thought it could happen as flux is water soluble ? if i only known i just had to flux stuff and stick it together would have save masses of time
Shox Dr
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We could not find a leak on a CHS. Been back multiple times. No hint of a leak anywhere. Until I stuck my head in the hotwater cupboard. I felt a faint wisp of damp on my face. Turned out wire wool had been used to clean the fittings. A strand had caught in the joint rotted out and left a tiny hole the hot water was Tracking along and vaporising out of.
I’ve also had a CH pump with the inlet side nut loose, that had been running trouble free for yrs
I’ve also had a CH pump with the inlet side nut loose, that had been running trouble free for yrs
mtt.tr
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never would have thought it could happen as flux is water soluble ? if i only known i just had to flux stuff and stick it together would have save masses of time
I can only imagine its the corrosion that's holds it together.
I wouldn't believe if i hadn't seen it.
Probably not a water main pressure system, but a tank fed one so minimal pressure. I found an un-soldered joint on the central heating system of a house in new Beckenham when I was sorting issues having bought it - that joint wasn't leaking but was on the third floor and header tank was only a matter of 24 inches higher.
Mind you, the plumber who 'did' that house mixed up the hot water cylinder connections re indirect coil and flow and return so the hot tap water was the boiler primary !!!! I found out when changing a bath tap washer, drained down and the radiator gurgled
Mind you, the plumber who 'did' that house mixed up the hot water cylinder connections re indirect coil and flow and return so the hot tap water was the boiler primary !!!! I found out when changing a bath tap washer, drained down and the radiator gurgled
Shox Dr
Chief Engineer to Carlos Fandango
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Probably not a water main pressure system, but a tank fed one so minimal pressure. I found an un-soldered joint on the central heating system of a house in new Beckenham when I was sorting issues having bought it - that joint wasn't leaking but was on the third floor and header tank was only a matter of 24 inches higher.
Mind you, the plumber who 'did' that house mixed up the hot water cylinder connections re indirect coil and flow and return so the hot tap water was the boiler primary !!!! I found out when changing a bath tap washer, drained down and the radiator gurgled
Probably not a water main pressure system, but a tank fed one so minimal pressure. I found an un-soldered joint on the central heating system of a house in new Beckenham when I was sorting issues having bought it - that joint wasn't leaking but was on the third floor and header tank was only a matter of 24 inches higher.
Mind you, the plumber who 'did' that house mixed up the hot water cylinder connections re indirect coil and flow and return so the hot tap water was the boiler primary !!!! I found out when changing a bath tap washer, drained down and the radiator gurgled
I fitted a bathroom for a mate, directly over his kitchen. All plumbed in, water turned on, toilet starts to fill....with hot water.
Someone had swapped over the hot and cold feed in the wall
Cobbler
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We stopped overnight on a campsite in mid France, went to empty the toilet cassette. Went to wash it out & the wash tap in the chemical disposal point had boiling hot water. That was a first, never seen it before or since.I fitted a bathroom for a mate, directly over his kitchen. All plumbed in, water turned on, toilet starts to fill....with hot water.
fixerupper
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Yeah , apparently it's quite common ..someone fluxes 'em as they work there way around and someone else comes behind soldering up ...so some get missed on a friday afternoon ... the suspended ceilings all get fitted , it might be weeks later that the water gets turned on and the flux has gone hard ..no leaks ...jobs signed off ...
angellonewolf
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I fitted a bathroom for a mate, directly over his kitchen. All plumbed in, water turned on, toilet starts to fill....with hot water.
my mum waiting for sister otherhalf to pop over and sort her washing mechine must have been put in years ago as it connected to the hot pipe
she thought the mech was faulty as no matter what temp you put it on the clothes came out warm some times hot
Shox Dr
Chief Engineer to Carlos Fandango
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My nan had an instant HWB fitted, she put the washing machine on a went to bed, got up in the morning to find the hot water hose had blown off, it had never been crimped. Main pressure and hot water...pop.
It was a sight to see all the wall paper in the kitchen and living room was in folds on the floor, looked like someone was ready to go along and hang it.
