Need help cos plumbers cant help me

sunnyday1234

Hi everyone

I built a new house last summer and since then i have had water problems. The pressure is fine and the tank is filling ok - i have monitored the tank during showers and baths and im confident that its not going down too low too quick

Here is my issue - a few times a week, almost every second day i notice the cold water start to run a little slower in the mixer tap in main bathroom, when i see this i check the cold water in the en suite pumped shower and its gone. If i dont do anything then this will spread to the upstairs toilets and sinks

How do i fix this ? I turn on the hot water in the mixer tap in main bathroom , cover spout with my palm and turn on cold for about 2 mins. This seems to fix the issue for a while before they come back again

I have also checked for air by letting water out from the valve in picture 1.I have also attached other pictures of the hot press , the main bathroom is at the left of the hot press and the en suite shower is behind it .

I have multple plumbers look at this and they do a few things and say "it wont happen again" only for it to reoccur in a few days

I would really appreciate any help

Dtp1979

sunnyday1234 wrote: »

Hi everyone

I built a new house last summer and since then i have had water problems. The pressure is fine and the tank is filling ok - i have monitored the tank during showers and baths and im confident that its not going down too low too quick

Here is my issue - a few times a week, almost every second day i notice the cold water start to run a little slower in the mixer tap in main bathroom, when i see this i check the cold water in the en suite pumped shower and its gone. If i dont do anything then this will spread to the upstairs toilets and sinks

How do i fix this ? I turn on the hot water in the mixer tap in main bathroom , cover spout with my palm and turn on cold for about 2 mins. This seems to fix the issue for a while before they come back again

I have also checked for air by letting water out from the valve in picture 1.I have also attached other pictures of the hot press , the main bathroom is at the left of the hot press and the en suite shower is behind it .

I have multple plumbers look at this and they do a few things and say "it wont happen again" only for it to reoccur in a few days

I would really appreciate any help

I have to say, for a new build, the plumbing is absolutely dreadful. Work that rough usually means the rest of the install will be as bad.
Have you a mixer valve?
Is there an Essex flange on the cylinder?
What's the pipework like from the attic tank to the hotpress?

K.Flyer

Can you take a picture showing all of the hotpress and the top of the cylinder.

sunnyday1234

Dtp1979 wrote: »

I have to say, for a new build, the plumbing is absolutely dreadful. Work that rough usually means the rest of the install will be as bad.
Have you a mixer valve?
Is there an Essex flange on the cylinder?
What's the pipework like from the attic tank to the hotpress?

apologies i should have been clearer. THe house was built in 2008 but unfinished . I finished it last year and the plumber that did it has now left the business. He called once himself to try and fix it and couldnt, and then he sent another guy recently to fix it and same story with him.

Have you a mixer valve? -- what does this look like ?
Is there an Essex flange on the cylinder? -- what does this look like ?
What's the pipework like from the attic tank to the hotpress? ill take a picture tonight

sunnyday1234

K.Flyer wrote: »

Can you take a picture showing all of the hotpress and the top of the cylinder.

i will take it tonight, thanks

PK27

You're saying its a cold water problem? Does the toilet fill at a reasonable speed in the main bathroom?

Tom44

Power showers, or anything off that pump will gobble up the supply of water causing airlocks, most likely always showing on the cold supply if the connection on the (attic) tank is slightly higher than the supply to the hot cylinder, 1/2" might only be the difference.

You need a bigger storage tank in the attic and cold supply pipe rising constantly from the hotpress to the tank to avoide air locks.

Essex flange off the cylinder is not your problem as that's only for the hot supply, and is a better way to avoide airlocks on the HOT.

sunnyday1234

PK27 wrote: »

You're saying its a cold water problem? Does the toilet fill at a reasonable speed in the main bathroom?

yes its only cold water issue. toilet fills fine as long as the water is flowing. once the issue happens then toilet will slow down and then stop

sunnyday1234

Tom44 wrote: »

Power showers, or anything off that pump will gobble up the supply of water causing airlocks, most likely always showing on the cold supply if the connection on the (attic) tank is slightly higher than the supply to the hot cylinder, 1/2" might only be the difference.

You need a bigger storage tank in the attic and cold supply pipe rising constantly from the hotpress to the tank to avoide air locks.

Essex flange off the cylinder is not your problem as that's only for the hot supply, and is a better way to avoide airlocks on the HOT.

We dont have a power shower off it, just a normal one

so if we avoided the shower using the pump for a few days , that could prove this ? without using the pump then we shouldnt see an air lock ?

Here is a picture of hot tank. im not sure which one is feeding the cold and the hot but the pipe at the right is defo down lower than the one at the left but wouldnt this only be an issue if the tank was running dry ?

sunnyday1234

Hi guys

Here are some more pictures of the hot press and the attic tank and connections. Came home again this evening and cold water was slowing in the main bathroom, by tomorrow it will have stopped unless i do my trick with the mixer tap

sunnyday1234

here are a few more pics

1274 shows the pipe filling the tank way higher than the pipes taking the water

thanks for any help

Dtp1979

sunnyday1234 wrote: »

here are a few more pics

1274 shows the pipe filling the tank way higher than the pipes taking the water

thanks for any help

The last pic shows a white pipe with a bend on it. Where is that going?

Tom44

Max water level is very low in attic tank. Bend ballcock arm till it allowes water level to be 2" below over flow pipe/hole that's high up on side of tank. That will give you a higher volume of water before deciding if you need a bigger tank.
Power shower was the wrong wording, anything off an effin pump will bleeding gooble up a lot of water.

Also, vent pipe (plastic:eek:) pipe bent over top of tank should terminate 2" higher than the over flow hole too. Not dip into the tank so much, but still been able to vent into tank.

sunnyday1234

Dtp1979 wrote: »

The last pic shows a white pipe with a bend on it. Where is that going?

no idea. will take a look :-)

sunnyday1234

Tom44 wrote: »

Max water level is very low in attic tank. Bend ballcock arm till it allowes water level to be 2" below over flow pipe/hole that's high up on side of tank. That will give you a higher volume of water before deciding if you need a bigger tank.
Power shower was the wrong wording, anything off an effin pump will bleeding gooble up a lot of water.

Also, vent pipe (plastic:eek:) pipe bent over top of tank should terminate 2" higher than the over flow hole too. Not dip into the tank so much, but still been able to vent into tank.

ok thanks for that. will do that tonight.

I must say though that there are only two of us in the house, myself and the wife. I have very quick showers and she takes longer ones. When she showered i watched the tank go down and it went down about 1/3 only. The water level was nearly 8 inches above the pipes.

The cold / hot pipes leave the tank and then go horizontal for about 8 feet and then drop down into hot press - is it possible that when the pump is on its looking for a lot of water and its not coming down fast enough and the pump itself introduces air ? The hot water doesnt get airlocked though which might make this a moot point.

How does the electric shower work ? obviously from the same tank but it uses less water than a pumped shower?

We havent used the pump shower since yesterday so the next few days will tell. I still have water this morning anyway