Low Cold Water Pressure

JACK BE NIMBLE · 15-07-2020 10:48am #1

Hi,
Since the hose pipe ban was introduced - We have been experiencing issues with low cold water pressure, the water is very slow coming out of kitchen tap, only drips out of the outside tap, and sometimes the toilets are slow to fill (other times weirdly - the toilets fill normally). Maybe it's unrelated to the hose pipe ban which IW have since said has been lifted, I've checked, and there's no current work ongoing that would affect our supply. In the house I've checked to make sure that the mains stopcock is fully open and checked the attic to see if anything had fallen and blocked pipes, but seemed ok. Is there anything else i can try?
Thanks

JACK BE NIMBLE · 15-07-2020 11:09am

I forgot to add - I also checked with our neighbours, the neighbours on one side said their pressure is fine, the neighbours on the other are away so can't check.

I'm assuming this means the issue is internal based on this, hence asking if there's anything else I can check?
Thanks

maestroamado · 15-07-2020 11:17am

Were you always on mains water?
I think the toilets water coming from the tank as this is the normal way.
Some older houses have everything coming from the attic tank.
Go in the attic and hold down ballcock, if water flowing freely the problem internal.
The correct way is sink and outside tank mains everything else comes from tank.

JACK BE NIMBLE · 15-07-2020 11:54am

maestroamado wrote: »

Were you always on mains water?
I think the toilets water coming from the tank as this is the normal way.
Some older houses have everything coming from the attic tank.
Go in the attic and hold down ballcock, if water flowing freely the problem internal.
The correct way is sink and outside tank mains everything else comes from tank.

Thanks for the reply, yup always on mains water. The house isn't that old, maybe 14 years.
I'll try pressing down the ballcock in the attic and see what happens, if it does flow freely what might be the issue internally?

coylemj · 15-07-2020 12:42pm

It sounds like the mains pressure has dropped so the tank in the attic is slow to fill. Which would explain the variation in the time it takes the toilets to fill. Check with Irish Water if there's an issue in your area.

To identify the mains as the problem, see if you can cut off the mains supply at the front of the house. If that immediately cuts off the cold tap in the kitchen, it's correctly plumbed and your problem is the mains pressure.

maestroamado · 15-07-2020 12:54pm

If you are getting on to Irish water say there is more than one house effected.
There was a problem recently in a place i know of and they said they do not respond to individual houses that it internal.
As it happened there was 8 apartments and they sorted it.

Just establish if the tank is filling normally and we see what it might be....

JACK BE NIMBLE · 15-07-2020 12:54pm

coylemj wrote: »

It sounds like the mains pressure has dropped so the tank in the attic is slow to fill. Which would explain the variation in the time it takes the toilets to fill. Check with Irish Water if there's an issue in your area.

To identify the mains as the problem, see if you can cut off the mains supply at the front of the house. If that immediately cuts off the cold tap in the kitchen, it's correctly plumbed and your problem is the mains pressure.

Thanks, will try that

JACK BE NIMBLE · 15-07-2020 1:38pm

maestroamado wrote: »

If you are getting on to Irish water say there is more than one house effected.
There was a problem recently in a place i know of and they said they do not respond to individual houses that it internal.
As it happened there was 8 apartments and they sorted it.

Just establish if the tank is filling normally and we see what it might be....

I went to the attic and pressed down on the ballcock, yes the water flow increases albeit with a gurgling noise?

JACK BE NIMBLE · 15-07-2020 1:39pm

JACK BE NIMBLE wrote: »

I went to the attic and pressed down on the ballcock, yes the water flow increases albeit with a gurgling noise?

Tank appears to be full and filling normally, any clue what next?

JACK BE NIMBLE · 15-07-2020 1:57pm

JACK BE NIMBLE wrote: »

Tank appears to be full and filling normally, any clue what next?

Hmmm, I moved some heavy boxes out of the attic and traced where the pipes where coming from, there was a heavy box leaning on a pipe but didn't think it was restricting it that much, but when i went down stairs and turned on the kitchen tap the pressure increased dramatically, also tried the garden hose and its much improved. Could it have been as simple as that?

JACK BE NIMBLE · 15-07-2020 3:42pm

JACK BE NIMBLE wrote: »

Hmmm, I moved some heavy boxes out of the attic and traced where the pipes where coming from, there was a heavy box leaning on a pipe but didn't think it was restricting it that much, but when i went down stairs and turned on the kitchen tap the pressure increased dramatically, also tried the garden hose and its much improved. Could it have been as simple as that?

Seems i spoke too soon, the pressure has again dropped and now barely any water coming from kitchen tap, could pushing down the ballcock have caused the temporary upsurge?

MrMusician18 · 15-07-2020 3:50pm

JACK BE NIMBLE wrote: »

Seems i spoke too soon, the pressure has again dropped and now barely any water coming from kitchen tap, could pushing down the ballcock have caused the temporary upsurge?

If you have a water meter, check and see if it's spinning with everything off.

Your loss of pressure could be due to a customer side leak in the supply pipe

coylemj · 15-07-2020 7:08pm

OP, you need some structure to your problem solving, you’re going about it the wrong way.

You need to first eliminate the mains pressure as the possible cause. Turn off the stopcock at the front of the house and check the kitchen tap. If there is no flow,it means the tap is connected direct to the mains. Which is the way it’s supposed to be. And if that’s the case and the pressure is variable and sometimes a trickle, you need to contact Irish Water. Either way, turn the stopcock back on.

If the kitchen tap has a flow even with the stopcock turned off, it means it’s fed from the attic tank. The problem could still be with the mains feed but in the morning, the tank should be full so the toilet cisterns should fill quickly and there should be a good flow at the kitchen sink. If not, there may be a blockage in the feed from the tank or someone could have partially closed the tap in the hot press which controls the cold feed from the tank.

JACK BE NIMBLE · 16-07-2020 8:12pm

coylemj wrote: »

OP, you need some structure to your problem solving, you’re going about it the wrong way.

You need to first eliminate the mains pressure as the possible cause. Turn off the stopcock at the front of the house and check the kitchen tap. If there is no flow,it means the tap is connected direct to the mains. Which is the way it’s supposed to be. And if that’s the case and the pressure is variable and sometimes a trickle, you need to contact Irish Water. Either way, turn the stopcock back on.

If the kitchen tap has a flow even with the stopcock turned off, it means it’s fed from the attic tank. The problem could still be with the mains feed but in the morning, the tank should be full so the toilet cisterns should fill quickly and there should be a good flow at the kitchen sink. If not, there may be a blockage in the feed from the tank or someone could have partially closed the tap in the hot press which controls the cold feed from the tank.

Thanks, and thanks to all who offered advice. It turned out to be the water softener!!!! Of all things, i disconnected it and the pressure returned to normal. Now off to Google for a new softener. Thanks again

maestroamado · 17-07-2020 9:05am

MrMusician18 wrote: »

If you have a water meter, check and see if it's spinning with everything off.

Your loss of pressure could be due to a customer side leak in the supply pipe

It is almost certainly accociated with the pipe you mention, just replace as it likely permanent damage.

maestroamado · 17-07-2020 9:09am

maestroamado wrote: »

It is almost certainly accociated with the pipe you mention, just replace as it likely permanent damage.

The ballcock has no bearing on the pressure just closes when tank full.

Low Cold Water Pressure

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