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Trying to understand water pressure in Ireland...

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  • 04-01-2024 1:40am
    #1
    alinois
    Registered Users Posts: 36 ✭


    Hi everyone,

    I lived in houses in other countries and none of them have water tanks in the attic or need any pumps to get proper pressure on every tap of the house (multi-floor houses included).

    Why do we need these huge water tanks in Ireland? Can't we just get the water we need and pressure directly from the mains?

    Thanks!



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    #2
    RetroEncabulator
    Registered Users Posts: 1,298 ✭✭✭RetroEncabulator


    It basically comes down to Victorian water mains having been undersized - they were suitable for probably a kitchen tap and not much else. So, to avoid overwhelming the mains at peak times, rather than upgrading the mains, both the UK and Ireland added buffer tanks, which cope with peak morning demands etc.

    It's a rather cumbersome hack really. New Zealand used to have them too at some point, but got rid of them. It's basically an old British standard.



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    #3
    alinois
    Registered Users Posts: 36 ✭alinois


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121568803#Comment_121568803

    A lot of houses in the UK have combi boilers, which handle both the cold water pressure and the warming of hot water. Wouldn't these make more sense than having a hot water boiler somewhere and a cold water tank in the attic?

    I wondering what can be done to avoid having two huge tank-looking machines in the house and get proper pressure in all taps?



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    #4
    RetroEncabulator
    Registered Users Posts: 1,298 ✭✭✭RetroEncabulator


    Depends on the incoming pressure.

    I know for example, I've a relative in Dublin who has a combi-boiler installed on the mains and it works absolutely flawlessly.

    In the UK you can only install them where the mains are adequate though. For some reason, as per usual, aspects of Irish building regs covering stuff like this appear to be stuck in about 1954. Our plumbing standards are utterly bonkers, including using weird non-metric pipes.



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    #5
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users Posts: 26,056 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    I think the basic issue is that Ireland was an early adopter of indoor plumbing and, as a result, we have some of the most antiquated infrastructure. While domestic plumbing installations can easily be upgraded over time in a piecemeal manner, upgrading the mains installation is a huge project which (a) would cost a fortune, (b) would have to be done pretty much all at once, and (c) would be massively disruptive while it was being done. So there are a few fundamental features of the public water supply system that are sub-standard by modern standards, but that it is not really economic to change, and those are the parameters within which we have to work.



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