Poor flow from two hot taps and the hot on the aqualisa thermostatic shower

[chezabha]

Hi. Ive got an issue with the pressure on two hot taps and the thermostatic shower. The water just trickles out of the taps. The downstairs taps are fine and so is the hot tap in the upstairs master sink. I really dont know where to start looking. I have removed the shower head and the flex pipe which screws onto the outlet and the pressure is still the same. I have removed the plastic airflow things from the bottom of the taps and its no different.
I'm wondering if its a problem with the taps and shower as it's not affecting all the taps. The pressure is so low I can place my finger under the tap and the flow will stop. Once I release my finger the flow starts after a slight delay but at the same pressure.
Has anyone got any ideas on what I should do next. Please ask if anymore info is required.

The house is 10 years old, hot water tank is on the landing and cold water tank is in the loft

Cheers for now

 

[stoker122]

Did this just start happening chezabha?

 

[chezabha]

Did this just start happening chezabha?

Hi. No, its been getting progressively worse over a period of time, but it's got to the point where I can't tell the wife "thats how its always been"!! So thought I would take a look

 

[Dannyparty92]

Perhaps something blocking the hot outlet on the storage cistern in the loft. If you can go and take a look in your storage cistern and check if the hot outlets are blocked.

 

[chezabha]

Perhaps something blocking the hot outlet on the storage cistern in the loft. If you can go and take a look in your storage cistern and check if the hot outlets are blocked.

Thanks for the tip. I've checked the cistern in the loft. It all seems to be ok and nothing appears blocked. Water appears to be flowing in and out ok

 

[thompsonbrown]

try blasting the cold main in the kitchen up the hot tap, 2 second job if its a kitchen mixer tap

 

[chezabha]

Its a mono tap in the kitchen. I did just connect a pipe to one of the problem taps and blow air back up it. It forced air out of another hot tap to the degree that it forced off the plastic bit on the bottom of the tap but still no better.

 

[thompsonbrown]

close all the taps up stairs first and try again

 

[thompsonbrown]

if this doesn't work you have to start looking at other causes is there scale build up on the cylinder outlet. Is the cylinder cold feed gate valve open are the taps upstairs for low pressure most new bathroom taps are 0.2- 0.5bar min pressure

 

[Dannyparty92]

Hmmmmm I don't know then. Iv not come across this personaly but iv been told by a plumber far more experienced than myself that he went to a job and had the same problem on all the hot outlets. It turned out to be component inside the hot water cylinder became loose and worked its way up the cylinder to the outlet.

 

[thompsonbrown]

just so i can get to grips with your situation rather than guessing could you tell me

1.when were the taps and the shower fitted and have they ever worked.correctly
2 has any work been carried out in the loft lately
3 are you in a hard water area
4 is the gate valve for the cylinder open
these points should help pin it down a bit

 

[chezabha]

just so i can get to grips with your situation rather than guessing could you tell me

1.when were the taps and the shower fitted and have they ever worked.correctly
2 has any work been carried out in the loft lately
3 are you in a hard water area
4 is the gate valve for the cylinder open
these points should help pin it down a bit

They were fitted when the house was built circa 10 years ago. They worked perfectly for many of those years but its got worse over time
No work has been carried out in the loft (ever)
Soft water area. No limescale ever builds up, crystal clear kettle for years!
There are 3 valves in the cylinder cupboard. It looks like two come from the tank and there is one on the CH line. On the two from the tank one is at the bottom and the other is about a 1/3rd of the way up. Both are fully open
Appreciate the help

 

[thompsonbrown]

if everything has been working and slowly got worse over time then it has to point to either a blockage from the cylinder to the upstairs bathroom or a airlock might be worth checking the valves feeding the shower are fully open also remove the shower head, point the shower hose to the shower drain and turn on shower valve does this improve the flow also which aqualiza shower is it.

 

[stoker122]

Could be the taps aren't opening properly and the Aqualisa cartridge is failing.
I would take the middle out of one of the taps, hold a cloth over the top and have an assistant turn the water back on.
This will show what the flow is like through the tap body and pipework.
Don't try this unless the cylinder GV is working correctly and turns freely.

 

[chezabha]

Its an Aqualisa thermostatic. flush to the wall, big chrome round plate with a white knob! I have detached the pipe and the water pours downwards to the tray from the wall but the flow is not improved. The valves that are in the loft are fully open

 

[chezabha]

Ok. The GV seems to open and close ok so I will give this a try. It does seem possible as one of the upstairs taps works perfectly. I'll post my progress when I can. Cheers

 

[thompsonbrown]

well it does sound like stoker 122 pointed out. its probably the thermostatic cartridge you could try rinsing it under the downstairs tap but more than likely the seals will have gone and will need replaced if its a aqualiza opto shower you should still be-able to to get 1 quite easy

 

[chezabha]

well it does sound like stoker 122 pointed out. its probably the thermostatic cartridge you could try rinsing it under the downstairs tap but more than likely the seals will have gone and will need replaced if its a aqualiza opto shower you should still be-able to to get 1 quite easy

Ok. Cheers. I tried one more thing there and dismantled the tap with the water turned off. Once dismantled I turned back on fully and the water just trickles out the top of the hole in the tap. I've rodded it to see it there is a blockage there but to no avail. It seems that the flow issue maybe be further up the pipe or at the cylinder as suggested. Theres certainly no marked difference when I remove the tap unit

 

[thompsonbrown]

ok at least your a bit closer to finding out the problem. hope it works out for you soon

 

[chezabha]

Hi all. Just as an update. I cleared up for the evening and made dinner. Just about to do the dishes and the Kitchen tap has now reduced itself down to a mere trickle too. That's just gone from full flow toady to unusable! There must be something on that cylinder thats causing it. But why would I still have one strong tap. So in an effort to fix things i've made them worse! I may need to conceed defeat on this one folks

 

[stoker122]

It could be air locks as posted earlier, try pushing the main up from the kitchen Mixer.

 

[Dannyparty92]

Perhaps the feed from the cistern goes horizontal before dropping down to the cylinder and perhaps the horizontal pipe work falls TO the cistern so there's an airlock before it elbows/bends down to feed the cylinder.

 

[Whn1]

Id say scale in the bottom of the cyl blocking the cold feed.

 

[chezabha]

It could be air locks as posted earlier, try pushing the main up from the kitchen Mixer.

There are def airlocks as the cold refused to work upstairs until I flushed the toliet downstairs, there was lots of air rushing about then the cold came back. How would I push the main back up from the kitchen. Its a mono tap so I don't think I could do that?

 

[stoker122]

There are def airlocks as the cold refused to work upstairs until I flushed the toliet downstairs, there was lots of air rushing about then the cold came back. How would I push the main back up from the kitchen. Its a mono tap so I don't think I could do that?

Take out the spout from the kitchen mixer put your hand over the hole, open the hot then slowly the cold. The mains will push up and hopefully clear any air. If you have some one with you get them to open the hot taps while you are pushing the mains up.

 

[chezabha]

Hi. Well managed to blow the mains back up the mixer with a strong hand over the tap and it returned the kitchen hot flow to great pressure. I'll attempt something similar on the taps up the stairs next weekend when I'm free. Thanks to all your help and advice thus far. I will let you know how I get on. Cheers all

 

[stoker122]

If you do the same thing with the kitchen tap and have someone open the hot taps to the bathroom it should clear those airlocks as well