Noisy water cistern

Nick Lawson

I had this problem and mentioned it to the plumber.He said the noise was coming from the pressure of the water running through the pipe (3.5 bar approx.) plus the water cascading from the ball valve into the tank.He said a pressure reducing valve to reduce the pressure to 2 bar would have to be fitted on the tank supply line and a new ball valve on the tank itself with a pipe attached to it extending below the water level. I mentioned the risk of back siphonage and he acknowledged that this was a theoretical risk but in practice would not cause a problem.

I was charged €100 for a 'good quality' pressure reducing valve and new ball valve, materials and labour inclusive. Afterwards it was still noisy and found that water was escaping from where the pipe attached to the ball valve. From my own research I discovered the Fluidmaster whisper float valve 747 http://www.fluidmaster.com/intl.html, which seemed to be the solution to the ball valve problem anyway.

I got the plumber back (he had never heard of this type of valve being used on a loft cistern before) to replace the ball valve and pipe with the above mentioned float valve and it filled noislessly from within the loft. However, I noticed it was still noisy from within the house and it seemed to be coming from the supply pipe itself. I then adjusted the pressure reducing valve down to 1.5 bar which made it even noisier. I then completely opend up the valve so the pressure was back to 3.5 bar and that cured the noise problem! It seems that by restricting the water pressure was actually increasing the noise level when it was meant to have the opposite effect.

I did suggest fitting the pressure reducing valve at ground floor level (where the pipe exits the concrete floor) but the plumber said it needed to be in the airing cupboard as it has to be above the HW cylinder and CH valve/pipes. Out of curiosity, I have the following questions:

Was €100 a fair price for this work?
The pressure reducing valve is a Officine Rigamonti - is this a good quality brand?
Did it really need a pressure reducing valve? If so are these meant to be noisy and should it have been fitted in the airing cupboard rather than at ground floor level?
Has anyone any experience/knowledge of the fluidmaster valve?

Many thanks for any replies.

ircoha

Nick Lawson wrote:

I had this problem and mentioned it to the plumber.He said the noise was coming from the pressure of the water running through the pipe (3.5 bar approx.) plus the water cascading from the ball valve into the tank.He said a pressure reducing valve to reduce the pressure to 2 bar would have to be fitted on the tank supply line and a new ball valve on the tank itself with a pipe attached to it extending below the water level. I mentioned the risk of back siphonage and he acknowledged that this was a theoretical risk but in practice would not cause a problem.

I was charged €100 for a 'good quality' pressure reducing valve and new ball valve, materials and labour inclusive. Afterwards it was still noisy and found that water was escaping from where the pipe attached to the ball valve. From my own research I discovered the Fluidmaster whisper float valve 747 http://www.fluidmaster.com/intl.html, which seemed to be the solution to the ball valve problem anyway.

I got the plumber back (he had never heard of this type of valve being used on a loft cistern before) to replace the ball valve and pipe with the above mentioned float valve and it filled noislessly from within the loft. However, I noticed it was still noisy from within the house and it seemed to be coming from the supply pipe itself. I then adjusted the pressure reducing valve down to 1.5 bar which made it even noisier. I then completely opend up the valve so the pressure was back to 3.5 bar and that cured the noise problem! It seems that by restricting the water pressure was actually increasing the noise level when it was meant to have the opposite effect.

I did suggest fitting the pressure reducing valve at ground floor level (where the pipe exits the concrete floor) but the plumber said it needed to be in the airing cupboard as it has to be above the HW cylinder and CH valve/pipes. Out of curiosity, I have the following questions:

Was €100 a fair price for this work?
The pressure reducing valve is a Officine Rigamonti - is this a good quality brand?
Did it really need a pressure reducing valve? If so are these meant to be noisy and should it have been fitted in the airing cupboard rather than at ground floor level?
Has anyone any experience/knowledge of the fluidmaster valve?

Many thanks for any replies.

First off, using cistern in title is misleading as it normally refers to the wc.

Was €100 a fair price for this work?
The pressure reducing valve is a Officine Rigamonti - is this a good quality brand?
Did it really need a pressure reducing valve? If so are these meant to be noisy and should it have been fitted in the airing cupboard rather than at ground floor level?

Getting a plumber twice for 100 quid is a bargain
Officine Rigamonti is good gear.

Fitting in the cupboard made it easy for him and avoided reducing the pressure in the kitchen tap and also for the CH top=up system [assuming a closed system.]