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UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Cliff perkins on December 20, 2013, 05:47:03 pm

Title: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 20, 2013, 05:47:03 pm
hi
i just got my keys to my new house today and went around for a quick butchers before i re decorate it all.
while i was around there i thought i would look at my water pressure by hooking it up to my van,well the water pressure is 20psi so its half of what i was getting and to be honest its really pants.
my question is has anybody else put a water booster in the home to boost the lot and what pump did they use to connect to the mains.
any help really appreciated as i can't live there with a 20psi inlet it take a week to fill my tank up at that rate.
regards
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: dannymack on December 20, 2013, 06:09:23 pm
Depends what system you have if its a 300 GPD or max 450GPD then get the Aquatech 8800 booster pump, if you've got the 4040 them you gonna need a bigger booster pump the Clarke BPT600 1" that will do the job, wouldn't worry to
Much a booster will soon get ya tank filled up alot quicker and prolong the life of the pre filters and resin life should last a lil longer 👳👳👳🌲🌲🌲
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 20, 2013, 06:12:05 pm
hi danny
i was looking for something that i can plumb into my house directly into the mains.that can do the whole house and also run to the outside tap that i will connect up my reverse osmosis to.
i have a 4040 set up with 2 x 20 inch pre filters
regards
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Simon Mess on December 20, 2013, 06:17:38 pm
I lived in a rented house recently which, when we moved in, had terrible water pressure. I got onto the landlord, they got on to the council, and after a lot of faffing about, it was eventually rectified. I think it was one of the connections between the house and street that was the culprit. Even after it was 'fixed' it wasnt that great, and i know there was a booster pump for the shower. My r/o has 2 built in pumps though, so not a problem :)
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: STEVE-UK on December 20, 2013, 06:24:03 pm
Is everyone aware that you cannot connect these large booster pumps directly to the mains, A break tank is required

see link -http://www.pumpexpress.co.uk/pump_ex_whole_house_boosting.htm (http://www.pumpexpress.co.uk/pump_ex_whole_house_boosting.htm)
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: STEVE-UK on December 20, 2013, 06:26:40 pm
Im pretty sure the pump in this link is the highest spec'd pump that can be connected directly to the mains
http://www.salamanderpumps.co.uk/pumps/home-boosthttp://
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 20, 2013, 07:04:21 pm
hi steve
any direct links with a price would be a great help mate  ;)
regards
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Frankybadboy on December 20, 2013, 08:19:13 pm
cliff try opening up the stop tap in the road first ;)
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: robert mitchell on December 20, 2013, 08:26:28 pm
And check the stop cock in the house is fully open .

There is a pump designed to plumb into your main incoming water pipe to boost whole house , can't remember pressure though .
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: robert mitchell on December 20, 2013, 08:28:17 pm
I have the same pressure at home and just use a booster pump for the ro ,simplest option I think.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: James Bulton on December 21, 2013, 10:02:40 am
There is a limit to a pump`s suction as they can flatten the copper pipes, I recall something on the 12 liters per minute., But check it out or it could be a problem. 
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Rayleigh Window Cleaning Services on December 21, 2013, 11:00:32 am
Due to a large area of the countries water pipes being over a hundred years old and leaking like a sieve, the water companies have reduced the pressure of our house supplies, which in turn reduces leaks and helps them.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: robert mitchell on December 21, 2013, 01:40:32 pm
There is a limit to a pump`s suction as they can flatten the copper pipes, I recall something on the 12 liters per minute., But check it out or it could be a problem. 

Where do you get that from ?

If you sealed on end of the pipe and had a very powerful pump on the end maybe .

My shower pump runs at 40 litres per minute .

My booster pump is 80 psi and around 60 Lpm and is attached to 15 mm copper pipe then Normal hose pipe .

The cheap hose doesn't even collapse .
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 22, 2013, 08:01:34 am
cliff try opening up the stop tap in the road first ;)

I will have a look franky but i asked a neighbour if they had bad pressure and they said they did aswell.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 22, 2013, 08:09:01 am
Thanks have checked the stop cock in house as i turned that on and off as fitting new bathroom suite at the moment.
Havnt checked the road stop cock but will check that.
Ive gotta put some isolator valves in today as didnt have any before into bathroom area.
Then will rip suite out and turn water back on. (Check rd cock)

Any old plumbers out there know off a booster with link to use.(quiet 1)

Regards
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: spongebob on December 22, 2013, 08:50:05 am
That salamander boost is the only one on the market right now. Connects to your incoming main and connects to a power source. As has been said you cannot connect any old pump. The boost pump is legal to use. I have fitted a few now and they work well. You should get 12 ish litres if not already and 1 bar pressure. They have been made to overcome combi boilers being fitted where there isn't enough flow or pressure to make them operate.
You have 20psi though. 1 bar is 15psi. Can you measure your flow rate. Fill a known container such as a bucket or 25 litre container and time it. If you have good flow rate then you would be able to use a good booster pump for the van supply. If it is poor then a pump would end up sucking air.
Also use full bore isolating valves either slotted or lever for the bathroom job. If you use normal cheap ones with water problems like that it will be even worse.
Andy
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 22, 2013, 09:40:22 am
Cheers will measure water flow asap and post it up.
Thanks for isolator tip.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 23, 2013, 06:29:40 pm
Hi
I timed it today from kitchen sink and it was 2 minutes 20 to fill a 10 litre bucket
I timed the outside tap and that was 50 seconds to quicker.
I also found out that the bloke before had used one of then self piercing kits that you clamp onto a pipe to feed the outside tap.
Would my pressure go up much if take that off and fit proper john guest fittings.

Tried stop cock indoors fully. Unwound.
Couldnt find the stop cock outside and the 1 i did find and turn didnt do anything lol.

Call to the water board needed i think.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Inspire Cleaning on December 23, 2013, 07:11:38 pm
Hi,

My water pressure at home was 40psi and the Ionic vans wouldn't even fill up at this pressure. Our Pure Freedom twin RO vans would fill up, albeit quite slowly.

We fitted one of these and the pressure is now 120psi.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cbm240e-1in-multi-stage-230v-booster-pum

Works great & not expensive.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: tlwcs on December 23, 2013, 07:17:09 pm
cliff try opening up the stop tap in the road first ;)
+1
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 23, 2013, 07:39:20 pm
Ive tried to look for the stop cock in road found 2 1 wasnt mine and the other 1 i couldnt turn.
So will contact water board as i dont even know which water meter is mine lol.
Im taking the stop cocks with the water meters are now done with a plastic key thing as i found 1 off them on a meter.

Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 23, 2013, 07:40:38 pm
Hi,

My water pressure at home was 40psi and the Ionic vans wouldn't even fill up at this pressure. Our Pure Freedom twin RO vans would fill up, albeit quite slowly.

We fitted one of these and the pressure is now 120psi.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cbm240e-1in-multi-stage-230v-booster-pum
Did you fit this directly after the mains inlet in the house or did you fit it to the outside tap ?

Works great & not expensive.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: spongebob on December 23, 2013, 08:30:39 pm
Cliff
I think you are saying the outside tap is 50 seconds SO quicker.
This would equate to 12 litres per minute which is still pants and combined with the really low pressure you are going to struggle. I think the water board are obliged to give you 1bar and 10lpm. They should survey for free and advise. The kitchen tap sounds like its stuffed if it took that long.
Andy
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Flash.. on December 23, 2013, 08:47:10 pm
Hi
I timed it today from kitchen sink and it was 2 minutes 20 to fill a 10 litre bucket
I timed the outside tap and that was 50 seconds to quicker.
I also found out that the bloke before had used one of then self piercing kits that you clamp onto a pipe to feed the outside tap.
Would my pressure go up much if take that off and fit proper john guest fittings.

Tried stop cock indoors fully. Unwound.
Couldnt find the stop cock outside and the 1 i did find and turn didnt do anything lol.

Call to the water board needed i think.


Those self piercing kits reduce pressure a lot, take it off put a push fit tee in with a ordinary garden tap and you will see a BIG difference, the screwfix catalogue explains the self piercing kit is no good for use with a pressure washer etc
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: DG Cleaning on December 23, 2013, 08:58:31 pm
The self piercing kits cannot reduce pressure that will stay constant.
What they will do is reduce flow.because the opening will be smaller.
I'd resolve that first and see how you go, no use fitting a boost pump without enough flow.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 23, 2013, 09:09:35 pm
Thanks for help
I know its a bit of topic with house taps but if it helps any1 else in future its gotta be good.

Im going to take the self piercer tap of tomoz and fix that and also change the kitchen tap see if that improves and also ring the water board and get them out asap.

Fun and games i hope i get it sorted soon. ;D
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: spongebob on December 23, 2013, 09:29:18 pm
Cliff
The self piercing tap will flow all the water your inlet pressure and flow are giving you. It will be fine with improved mains supply. Swapping it out wont make a big difference but won't make it any worse either.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Flash.. on December 23, 2013, 10:18:40 pm
Cliff
The self piercing tap will flow all the water your inlet pressure and flow are giving you. It will be fine with improved mains supply. Swapping it out wont make a big difference but won't make it any worse either.

It cant flow at the same rate as a 15mm copper pipe from memory the flexible hose it comes with is only about 5 or 6mm
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: spongebob on December 23, 2013, 11:00:44 pm
Flash
The pipe is nearly as big an internal pipe diameter as the copper. It's the small cutting tube that has a small bore as you say. That tap as it is would flow up to 30 litres per min with enough pressure behind it, say 3bar. The tap itself will restrict as much as the self cutting tap.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Inspire Cleaning on December 24, 2013, 09:06:22 am
"""Did you fit this directly after the mains inlet in the house or did you fit it to the outside tap ?"""

Hello Cliff,

Our pump is in the garage and we just placed the pump between the pipe after the water meter and the outside tap. The pump turns itself on when you fill up the vans automatically. When the vans are full it turns itself off automatically.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: spongebob on December 24, 2013, 03:56:07 pm
"""Did you fit this directly after the mains inlet in the house or did you fit it to the outside tap ?"""

Hello Cliff,

Our pump is in the garage and we just placed the pump between the pipe after the water meter and the outside tap. The pump turns itself on when you fill up the vans automatically. When the vans are full it turns itself off automatically.

If you do this with any type of pump other than the salamander boost or any other similar new product the water board will have your nuts off for it.
You are not allowed to connect any old boost pump to the mains without using a stored water break tank filled by a ball valve or similar for non return/ cross contamination purposes.

The best way to get around it would be to use a double check valve outside tap a d connect it to that with a flexible hose and connector. This way it would be viewed as similar to a pressure washer although it would still struggle to work without enough water flow in your case Cliff.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 24, 2013, 04:21:27 pm
Hi all
To put you all up to speed  i replaced the self tapper tap and replaced the whole lot with better fitments.all john guest and full bore isolator and fitted another tap outside.

I timed how long to fill a bucket that went down from 50 seconds to 30 seconds timed over 10 litres.

Connected it up to my 4040 ro and the psi was 20 with 1.4 bar so exactly the same as before but the flow is better.

Replaced the kitchen tap and that went from 2 mins 20 down to 50 secs again 10 litre times.

I recorded how long it would take to make 10 litres of pure water through my ro. And that was 12 minutes so at that pace would take 5 hours to make 250 litres.
It used to take me 2 hours at my last house.
All that said and done am i just better off putting the booster pump onto the outside tap and put it inside some sort of housing to protect the electrics etc.
And would it be ok using the clarke 1 mentioned.

I just think if ive got 20psi and im running it for 5 hours to get 250l im going to waste a hell of alot of water to make that if the pressure is so poor .(or am i wrong )

Regards
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 24, 2013, 04:25:43 pm
"""Did you fit this directly after the mains inlet in the house or did you fit it to the outside tap ?"""

Hello Cliff,

Our pump is in the garage and we just placed the pump between the pipe after the water meter and the outside tap. The pump turns itself on when you fill up the vans automatically. When the vans are full it turns itself off automatically.
If you put it between the water meter and your garden tap is the pump still working when you turn on your kitchen sink and bathroom sink for example ?
Regards
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Frankybadboy on December 25, 2013, 09:48:25 am
spongebob are you a plumber by chance  ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: spongebob on December 26, 2013, 10:13:42 pm
spongebob are you a plumber by chance  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Only on my days off. Lol.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Inspire Cleaning on December 26, 2013, 11:36:50 pm
"""Did you fit this directly after the mains inlet in the house or did you fit it to the outside tap ?"""

Hello Cliff,

Our pump is in the garage and we just placed the pump between the pipe after the water meter and the outside tap. The pump turns itself on when you fill up the vans automatically. When the vans are full it turns itself off automatically.
If you put it between the water meter and your garden tap is the pump still working when you turn on your kitchen sink and bathroom sink for example ?
Regards

Hi,
No the pump only comes on when the outside tap is turned on.
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Cliff perkins on December 28, 2013, 11:59:32 pm
thanx still got my eye out for a decent cheap enough booster pump that will do the job ;D
Title: Re: poor home water pressure
Post by: Marc Whitbread on December 29, 2013, 04:09:39 pm
I bought a booster pump that requires no down time i believe its a streamline one from wintecs cost about £250 but well worth it
http://www.wintecs.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=10401&osCsid=1q7gap713uno54sjnmb1pkju46