Water from the tank "goes"

Gavin "shels"

Bit of a weird one here, the shower in our house isn't electric but there's a pump to feed the water up to the tank in the attic. Now the water pressure is usually excellent for the shower, but sometimes it "goes" randomly, it can take 20 min to several hours to come back.

Say I have a shower, the brother goes for a shower 30 mins later and it could be a trickle of water he getsm or it could be I go for a shower now (nobody has used the water in hours). It seems like the systems gets an airlock as the you can here just a slow trickle of water feeding up to the attic then.

Any suggestions? Need a new pump? Anyway of testing?

Joey the lips

Pictures of the set up would be great. Your set up is unusual

Gavin "shels"

Joey the lips wrote: »

Pictures of the set up would be great. Your set up is unusual

Nearly sure that's how it's set up, that's what the parents say. What do you need pictures of?

JohnnieK

Where is the pump located? Why do you need a pump to pump water up to the tank? Surely the mains pressure is not that bad.

d o'c

pumped from attic tank maybe?
and a sticking/poor flow ballcock valve allowing attic tank level to drop.

Gavin "shels"

Cheers for all the replies.

JohnnieK wrote: »

Where is the pump located? Why do you need a pump to pump water up to the tank? Surely the mains pressure is not that bad.

Pump is located outside in the shed. After asking the aul lad it seems it seems the pump is only used for the shower and hot taps. And yes the mains pressure is brutal, Inner City Dublin the mains pipes are shocking.

d o'c wrote: »

pumped from attic tank maybe?
and a sticking/poor flow ballcock valve allowing attic tank level to drop.

Pumped from the tank it seems, got mixed up.

How would you test if it's something to do with the ballcock and is there an easy fix?

Marcanthony

Gavin shels wrote: »

Cheers for all the replies.



Pump is located outside in the shed. After asking the aul lad it seems it seems the pump is only used for the shower and hot taps. And yes the mains pressure is brutal, Inner City Dublin the mains pipes are shocking.



Pumped from the tank it seems, got mixed up.

How would you test if it's something to do with the ballcock and is there an easy fix?

have you got a pump in the shed that fills the tank and the hot and cold water? wheres your hot water cylinder is that in the shed also?

or do you have a tank in the attic that feeds the pump in the shed?

I would take a wild guess and say your tank in the attic feeds the pump in the shed and your pump is pressurisng the domestic supplies. (hot and cold water) . but the tank is been filled by the mains supply and maybe the mains pressure wasnt to good and your tank ran dry and now you have an airlock.

Gavin "shels"

Marcanthony wrote: »

have you got a pump in the shed that fills the tank and the hot and cold water? wheres your hot water cylinder is that in the shed also?

or do you have a tank in the attic that feeds the pump in the shed?

Tank in the attic that feeds the pump in the shed.

Marcanthony

Gavin shels wrote: »

Tank in the attic that feeds the pump in the shed.

Then your tank in the attic feeds the pump in the shed and your pump is pressurisng the domestic supplies. (hot and cold water) . but the tank is been filled by the mains supply and maybe the mains pressure isnt to good and your tank is running dry .Your storage tank maybe under sized for the amount of water needed in your household .

id say you need to increase the capacity of your storage tank in the attic.

cloptrop

God damn inner city houses with their pumps everywhere.
I once put a bathroom in a house near pheonix park. I couldnt get mains pressure to the tank in attic after i had knocked it off changing a bathroom.. I rang yer man to tell him we may need a booster pump for the mains. He directed me to a key to a spare room to a hose. He then told me to take the hose to a hole in the wall in the sitting room and stick the hose on a tap there, then feed it up to a tap in the attic on the mains.

He was adamant this would work eventually at some time during the night when the pressure built up , I left him to it told him to ring me if he wanted a booster pump . Never herd back must have worked , but Im thinking it would have anyway without the hose.

That went a bit off topic didnt it.

Gavin "shels"

Marcanthony wrote: »

Then your tank in the attic feeds the pump in the shed and your pump is pressurisng the domestic supplies. (hot and cold water) . but the tank is been filled by the mains supply and maybe the mains pressure isnt to good and your tank is running dry .Your storage tank maybe under sized for the amount of water needed in your household .

id say you need to increase the capacity of your storage tank in the attic.

Definitely not a capacity problem, tank is only 4/5 years old and is a big sized one (can't remember the exact gallons).

Thing is I could try running a shower now and it mightn't work, even though very little water has been used in over 6 hours, then I could go to go for a shower say in 30 mins and it will be back working fully and I could get a 2 hour shower out of it, it seems like an airlock keeps buliding somewhere or something similar. The trick which helps to get the water back is flush the toliet downstairs and turn the tap on at the same time.

Marcanthony

cloptrop wrote: »

God damn inner city houses with their pumps everywhere.
I once put a bathroom in a house near pheonix park. I couldnt get mains pressure to the tank in attic after i had knocked it off changing a bathroom.. I rang yer man to tell him we may need a booster pump for the mains. He directed me to a key to a spare room to a hose. He then told me to take the hose to a hole in the wall in the sitting room and stick the hose on a tap there, then feed it up to a tap in the attic on the mains.

He was adamant this would work eventually at some time during the night when the pressure built up , I left him to it told him to ring me if he wanted a booster pump . Never herd back must have worked , but Im thinking it would have anyway without the hose.

That went a bit off topic didnt it.

Ive seen similar done by home owners around the same area.

Marcanthony

Gavin shels wrote: »

Definitely not a capacity problem, tank is only 4/5 years old and is a big sized one (can't remember the exact gallons).

Thing is I could try running a shower now and it mightn't work, even though very little water has been used in over 6 hours, then I could go to go for a shower say in 30 mins and it will be back working fully and I could get a 2 hour shower out of it, it seems like an airlock keeps buliding somewhere or something similar. The trick which helps to get the water back is flush the toliet downstairs and turn the tap on at the same time.

Id say your pump is sucking in air.This is usually because the tank is been filled slower than the pump or maybe due to the way the pipework is fitted feeding the pump.Is the pump a negative head pump?

Gavin "shels"

Marcanthony wrote: »

Id say your pump is sucking in air.This is usually because the tank is been filled slower than the pump or maybe due to the way the pipework is fitted feeding the pump.Is the pump a negative head pump?

Now there's some logic. How would we solve that or even test it?

Not sure if it's a negative head, how would I tell? I'll check tomorrow after college, way too cold to go out the back in this weather.

Marcanthony

Gavin shels wrote: »

Now there's some logic. How would we solve that or even test it?

Not sure if it's a negative head, how would I tell? I'll check tomorrow after college, way too cold to go out the back in this weather.

well if your tank is situated lower than one of the appliances its feeding.it should be negative head and will suck in the water and dispense it.smaller chance of it airlocking.

You may have a positive head pump and the pipework is creating airlocks from the tank and airlocking your pump.

so if this is the case you will need to pipe the suppy to the pump in a way its not creating an airlock or you could fit an automatic air vent to release the air.

Gavin "shels"

Marcanthony wrote: »

well if your tank is situated lower than one of the appliances its feeding.it should be negative head and will suck in the water and dispense it.smaller chance of it airlocking.

You may have a positive head shower and the pipework is creating airlocks from the tank and airlocking your pump.

so if this is the case you will need to pipe the suppy to the pump in a way its not creating an airlock or you could fit an automatic air vent to release the air.

Cheers, the fact it's been working without problem for several years it must be a Negative head. Could it be anything to do with the water pressure? Our water pressure has been severly reduced since the frost last January.

Are the air vents easy enough to install and whatnot?

Marcanthony

Gavin shels wrote: »

Cheers, the fact it's been working without problem for several years it must be a Negative head. Could it be anything to do with the water pressure? Our water pressure has been severly reduced since the frost last January.

Are the air vents easy enough to install and whatnot?

You really need to get someone to view it. So they can see how its piped ect. Id say you have a positive head pump and the pipe work thats feeding the pump is probably under sized or creating air locks.

Unless you can post photos of the pump, its pipe work back to the tank and the tank .

Gavin "shels"

Cheers for your help, I've told the mother so I'll leave it to her.