Low Water Pressure

KevR

Anyone else in Galway have low water pressure for the last few days?

We've had it in our house, as have our neighbours (Westside). The water through the mains downstairs is fine but there's not enough pressure for it to get up to the tank in the attic. It's a pretty big nuisance as our shower is upstairs and comes from the attic tank. We've had to bring up buckets of water to the tank before having showers . It probably doesn't help that we're living on top of a hill (although we were glad of it when there were floods haha). Have never had low water pressure before though.

Someone said the low pressure is because people are leaving taps running to stop their water systems freezing in the cold weather.
Turn off your taps and put on the heating!!!

JohnCleary

Yes, people are leaving taps running, and the fact that you're on top of a hill means you're the first to be affected (damn gravity!)

BTW, turning on your heat won't make a blind bit of difference to your pipes freezing as it's the pipes outside that freeze, not the ones within the house itself.

Bummer dude, not a lot you can do about it though

civis_liberalis

JohnCleary wrote: »

Yes, people are leaving taps running, and the fact that you're on top of a hill means you're the first to be affected (damn gravity!)

Yep, eejits around me afraid of losing their water supply have all done the same, ensuring that they now have no water. Council is turning it off, pumps can't take it. :rolleyes:

JohnCleary wrote: »

BTW, turning on your heat won't make a blind bit of difference to your pipes freezing as it's the pipes outside that freeze, not the ones within the house itself.

I tried to explain this to a friend of mine, but he maintained that he thought it was only logical that it would make some difference.

I told my brother, who happens to be a plumber. He was drinking tea at the time and well, he thought it was quite funny, so funny in fact that tea came out of his nose...

redpanda26

Im on the east side of Galway. we have no water at all now. the little bit we had is gone and its a pain just trying to get the toilet flushed. Its a nightmare. I only came back to Galway yesterday after the christmas and looked up the city and county council website but they had no useful info about the water supply to the city only the surrounding areas. Its ridiculous.:mad:

Fey!

We've had low pressure in our shower in Highfield for the last week; cleaning the filter in the shower has helped the problem a lot (this involves turning off the power and water to the shower and removing the outer case - remove the filter and clean it lightly with an old toothbrush in a bowl of water). 2 minutes well spent.

KevR

We have never left water running and the pipes outside our house have never froze. Does it happen often? I don't understand why so many are leaving water running.

A friend's neighbour was away for a few days over Christmas and didn't have any heating in the house while they were gone. Pipes in the attic froze/burst and they came back to a flooded house!
Lesson: Leave heating on a timer if away during very cold weather and/or turn off the water supply at the mains.

civis_liberalis

We were referring to the pipes that run underground between the house and the mains. If they freeze, you will eventually run out of water when your tank empties out, if your pipes haven't thawed sufficiently by then.

If a house is occupied, I think it would be extremely unlikely that any internal house plumbing would freeze up, but if the house is vacant and the weather is cold enough it does happen on occasion.

bethm

No water today. Had none Christmas Day but it came back next day. Am hoping it back tomorrow as cant use whats in the tank just using containers of water to flush. Not a bit of info from Galway Corporation would have thought they would have posted something on their site but not even a mention of water freezing or water turned off. Am living just up from the prom. All the internal plumbing is fine.

biko

Thread in county. Some have been without water since Christmas.

vulcan57

I have no water coming into the house here in the westside since lunch time. Presume the external pipes have frozen as they did about 11years ago. The problem this time is that the cold snap is expected to last for the rest of the week and through the weekend. The neighbors seem to be ok though.

Derek_N

Notice from City Council on this Issue

Galway City Council

The severity and the prolonged nature of the weather in recent weeks has resulted in an increased daily demand for water in the order of 16%, which arises primarily from domestic taps being run overnight to avoid freezing of pipes. A consequence of the increased demand is a reduction in reservoir levels with a consequent reduction in water pressure in certain areas of the City.

The main areas affected by low water pressure are to the west of the City. It has been possible to service some of the area from the Coolough reservoir in order to mitigate the problem. However, it has not solved the problem and the Council is appealing to householders not to run the taps overnight as it will result in a restriction of supply to all households.

A viable alternative is to leave a light on in the attic. This will assist in ensuring that attic pipes and tanks don’t freeze and will facilitate the conservation of water supplies generally.

A considerable number of premises (residential and business) have been empty over the Christmas period and we are asking all landlords to check their premises for leaks, bursts etc. Premises should be checked again after the thaw sets in.

According to Ciarán Hayes, Director of Services for Water, “Reduced demand for water at night allows the reservoirs to be replenished and the levels to rise.” He explains that due to the unusually high night time demand in recent days, the reservoir levels are not replenishing and are staying at a very low and critical level. “If this continues” he says, “the Council may have no option but to restrict water in order to preserve supplies.” Mr Hayes is appealing for conservation of water in the interest of all consumers.

It is important that the above message is communicated. While it is being communicated through the local media and on the Council’s website, I am also arranging for notification to issue to Resident Associations throughout the city.

With a combined effort, I hope to avoid water outages during this period of severe weather or at the very least, limit the number of outages to the absolute minimum.

vulcan57

Excuse my ignorance, but could someone explain to me how the reservoirs can be low after all the horrendous flooding we had just a short time ago?

JohnCleary

vulcan57 wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, but could someone explain to me how the reservoirs can be low after all the horrendous flooding we had just a short time ago?

They're not, but the pumps that pump the water from the reservior to your house are being over-loaded and burning out, hence no pressure

KevR

City Council wrote:

A viable alternative is to leave a light on in the attic. This will assist in ensuring that attic pipes and tanks don’t freeze and will facilitate the conservation of water supplies generally.

Our water tank in the attic is directly above our airing cupbord (hot water tank). We have no insulation between the airing cupboard and the water tank in the attic so our attic tank and the pipes in the attic can't ever freeze.

From talking to a couple of people who have no water, they immediately jumped to the conclusion that their pipes had frozen. But it turns out, in both cases, that their supply was actually turned off by the council. These people were likely to leave taps running (to prevent the pipes "re-freezing") as soon as the council switched the supply back on. Luckily they know better now!

Pipes a couple of feet under the ground are highly unlikely to freeze over (so I'm told). If the pipes are insulated then it's a lot less likely again (pretty much impossible).

_Whimsical_

This is probably a stupid question but I was wondering if your central heating system and radiators still work while your water is cut off ?

Our water pressure has been extremely poor lately. I really feel for anyone who has had it cut off altogether though. Must be a total pain.

JohnCleary

chilly wrote: »

This is probably a stupid question but I was wondering if your central heating system and radiators still work while your water is cut off ?

Our water pressure has been extremely poor lately. I really feel for anyone who has had it cut off altogether though. Must be a total pain.

As far as I know, your central heating is an enclosed system

Sponge Bob

not entirely enclosed.

It is safe to continue using it unless you hear knocks or bangs from the pipes which are caused by air in an emptying system. If that happens you need to get some water into the system via the expansion tank in the attic ...the small little tank not the large one .

_Whimsical_

Thanks for that. Good to know it'd be safe to use. We have someone pretty sick here right now so the heat is absolutely essential.

JohnCleary

Yeah sorry when I meant 'enclosed' I meant that it's not connected to your mains, not that it's a totally sealed unit

toadfly

chilly wrote: »

This is probably a stupid question but I was wondering if your central heating system and radiators still work while your water is cut off ?

Our water pressure has been extremely poor lately. I really feel for anyone who has had it cut off altogether though. Must be a total pain.

our water is off and the heat is dodgy, when the water pressures goes to zero it wont work, its a bit hit & miss. I wouldnt mind heat being off as much as the water, at least we can wrap up in blankets but the no water thing is getting VERY annoying.

Would Oranmore be city or county council? I am guessing county?!

Sponge Bob

Dunno about Oranmore, it is City for sewage and Moycullen OTOH is city for water but has its own sewage

galah

how does leaving a light on in the attic stop pipes from freezing? (advice on council website)? This does not make sense...

Also, people leaving taps running? WTF? Time we get charged for water, this is ridiculous!

We've just got back from Germany, temperatures, consistently below zero, some nights up to -20, loads of snow, ice - and everything runs pretty much as normal. Why can't Ireland cope? It's not like it's never cold here...???

It really amazes me...

Simple things, such as winter tires, would make a difference. Or "public sand boxes", where people can use the sand to grit the footpaths (again, in Germany, people are responsible for the footpath outside their house - if someone falls cause it's not gritted, you're liable. So at the start of winter, you get a bit of sand, and are prepared...).

I could go on...

Chris_533976

Apparently a whole estate in Knocknacarra has had no water since Christmas Eve. Isnt that a bit ridiculous now?

nifheorais

Parts of Shantalla has had problems since early December! Very low pressure with water pressure worsening over xmas period.Houses on O'Flaherty ran out of water (exception - a dribble from kitchen tap) on xmas eve and are still without as I write! No toilets, no showers, no laundry facilities and for some no heating -upstairs or downstairs!:mad:

KevR

We don't have our full water pressure back yet but it's not as low as it was a day or two ago. Hopefully others will start getting their water back/pressure up soon.

galah

no water in St. Mary's Road, either...
Not even a dribble. Nothing. Second day running.

Could be due to frozen pipes, who knows.

timely

no water today in bothar an choiste headford road either

Das Kitty

Just noticed there's no water here either (top of Clybaun road)

Fecking hell!

redpanda26

We're in Renmore, we still have no water at all. Haven't had any since just after christmas. one house on our estate has some water and thats it.

timely

ours is frozen pipes, and we're told to put up with it for next few days cos nothing can be done

nifheorais

Do you think the Galway City Council is giving us enough information re.shortages? Are they returning your calls? Have you heard anything about your CITY area in the media?
If the council could even list out city areas affected we might feel that we are not being ignored.

KevR

nifheorais, we spoke to the City Council went our water pressure first went really low. They told us that there wasn't a huge amount they could do when demand was so much higher than usual (people leaving taps running). Fair enough in my opinion.

The Galway Independent and Galway News both mentioned that there were water supply problems in our general area.

Hopefully householders are not ignoring the pleas from the City Council to turn off taps and conserve water.

ArraMusha

Galway council are not doing enough to communicate the water problem because they have communication issues!

I'm in Moycullen no pressure since x-mas. Got onto a councillor to get some information put up on the county council website. They put up a general statement and haven't updated it. They're supposedly connecting oughterard to the Tonabrucky reservoir...all I know is my large tank is empty for past 2 weeks.

To help clarify the plumbing question above...it is OK in the majority of cases to have your central heating on despite having no water mains. The heating is on a seperate closed system than the water which is in the cylinder(hot press) and the same water which comes to the taps.

the one check to make sure is to go into you attic and see if the small tank has water in it. See image.

Das Kitty

KevR wrote: »

nifheorais, we spoke to the City Council went our water pressure first went really low. They told us that there wasn't a huge amount they could do when demand was so much higher than usual (people leaving taps running). Fair enough in my opinion.

Fair enough for low pressure, but not for no water at all. I don't know why they can't list the areas affected and state what the particular problem in that area is (frozen pipes / low reservoir).

hynesie

Our pipes outside (Laurel Park) appear to have frozen yesterday, our neighbors seem fine.
Real pain in the arse ... I miss the rain :P

Storm 10

I phoned the City Council a few minutes ago and the girl told me they have burst water pipes in Newcastle so water will not be back for a while yet.

Predalien

Might be a good idea to stock up on bottled water

http://www.galwaynews.ie/10576-water-cuts-possible-due-big-freeze

nifheorais

yipee ! We are nearly back to where we were in early December! Have yet to try the washing machine.The only things not 100% I think, is the toilet cisterns.Maybe clips/valves need replacing.Have to investigate further.Thank you Galway City Council workers for fixing the pipe at O'Flaherty rd, Shantalla:D

galah

does anyone have an overview over where the water is gone due to frozen pipes, and where due to no supply because of bigger issues (mains burst etc)?

It's getting a touch tedious without water, I must say.

_Whimsical_

nifheorais wrote: »

yipee ! Thank you Galway City Council workers for fixing the pipe at O'Flaherty rd, Shantalla:D

Hold on...
Is this the same leak they were aware of in late November that's mentioned in the City Tribune article?They left a whole road without any water over Christmas and left the water supply to the west side of the city in jeperody rather than just fix it when the problem arrose?I know they couldn't have forseen the weather conditions that have seriously exacerbated the situation but that strikes me as very lax.