The Butcher, The Baker , The Candle Stick Maker..where is the real plumber?

[Doggyvonne]

I hope someone can advise and maybe directly help us. We bought a 12 year old all electric 2nd floor flat. After my son moved in he found the hot water taps only trickle and this has caused some annoyance plus it as indirectly the cause of an expensive flood . As the flow is so slow he leaves it to fill a bowl and sometimes forgets.
We have employed 5 plumbers so far- all supposedly qualified and of all ages and experience from 30- 60. Yes we had new taps, new tank, new sink etc but when the issue was not solved they just shrug shoulders and dont see it as their problem. The last consultation we had a vague suggestion of a pump to improve things but he never got back to us..nobody seems willing to promise to solve the problem.
We are not big time property developers just an old couple with a mortgage trying to help our son. We dont mind paying the money needed up to a point but no plumber seems able to promise a given solution will work. Now I am on here looking for a good man who is a qualified plumber in Harlow/Epping/ Stortford area who is willing to step forward, who has the knowledge, skill and commitment to sort this out for us? Anyone? Please ask questions if I have not explained the problem clearly. Thank you.

 

[lame plumber]

check all the other flats to see if you are sharing one incoming main, seen it before on shoddy conversions, the higher you are the less water there is to go round (pressure drop)

 

[Skelly87]

How is the hot water supplied?? You said tank replaced so im going to assume youve got a gravity fed hot water cylinder system?? I would think maybe air lock if youve replaced taps

 

[tamz]

Assuming the cold water pressure at the sink is ok, best bet would be to remove your existing tanks and get an unvented cylinder fitted.
A pump would be cheaper but not the best solution.

 

[AWheating]

what hot water system do you have?

were the new taps suitable for low pressure systems if your hot water is tank/gravity?

tamz has suggested the ideal best performance solution if it can be fitted.

 

[Doggyvonne]

We've just paid £700 for a new tank 3 months ago- it is in the airing cupboard at same level and just a few yards away from taps. It is a 1 bed flat and only hot taps in kitchen and bath are affected. The modern block is just 3 dwellings and my son lives in the top one. There is no attic. Yes it is gravity fed...is that unvented or not? I dont quite know what that means but my husband just said it is gravity fed.

 

[Doggyvonne]

There are only 3 dwellings which are accessed by the attached entrance but there are other attached units with their own entrances.. I dont know how many properties are served by one channel. A few people have had pressure problems according to the block management team but I dont know if it is specifically hot taps. The cold taps in my sons place have perfectly acceptable flows.

 

[Doggyvonne]

What does unvented mean and what does it depend on to fit it? I am so cross because none of the plumbers we employed told us this and seems they fitted the wrong tank )O:

 

[PlumbBobBob]

could you put up a pic or two so we can see what you can see, it would be a great help. welcome to the forums by the way.

 

[AWheating]

the pressure on the hot water can be measured as the distance from the water level in the tank to the tap outlet. 10m = 1 bar.

so if you have taps about 1.5m below water level you will only have approx 0.15 bar of pressure so the taps on the hot side will need to be designed to be able to allow a good flow rate at a very low pressure. the cold water is likely to be 0.9 bar or higher so will work better on the same tap normally.

remembering flow and pressure are different of course.

 

[Doggyvonne]

Eventually but we dont live there ourselves and not there right now..all you will see is a tank in an airing cupboard

 

[mountainman]

Where are you?
Perhaps one of our members could pop in and advise you properly.

 

[solarplumb]

We've just paid £700 for a new tank 3 months ago- it is in the airing cupboard at same level and just a few yards away from taps. It is a 1 bed flat and only hot taps in kitchen and bath are affected. The modern block is just 3 dwellings and my son lives in the top one. There is no attic. Yes it is gravity fed...is that unvented or not? I dont quite know what that means but my husband just said it is gravity fed.

I work in council properties and as you can imagen most are flats. You have a gravity fed system, as you have no attic I am guessing is a combined hot water cyliner either a fortic or sea gull system. I am affraid both are no good as they rely on head (distance in height between the tank and the output ie the tap). For example if the tank is 1m above the tap you will only get 0.1 bar of pressure which is rubbish, if your tank is 10m above the tap you willl get 1.0 bar of pressure which is good. if there is no way of getting the head, your best bet is to install a combi (mains fed) boiler. Sometime you get scale bluid up in the cylinder but as you've had a new tank this is not possible. Before you have a combi fitted you could check the hot water out on the new cylinder is not blocked with scale. Combi would sort this!

 

[Doggyvonne]

We dont live in the same area as the flat. My son lives in Harlow New Town Centre. Normally I could say go round but atm he is signing on and chasing jobs..)o: He has just lost his job with Comet. I have asked him to send a photo of his tank from his phone in case that is helpful.

 

[mountainman]

I'm not far from Harlow and could pop over early evening one night next week.

 

[Doggyvonne]

I am not sure what makes a combi boiler a combi boiler- we have one our selves but the flat has no gas. We dont have a tank at all. combis dont have tanks do they?

 

[Skelly87]

Has this always been a problem or recently developed?? The design of the system might not be the problem if it once worked ok

 

[Doggyvonne]

Thanks for the offer to take a look- lots have done so , done their bit and still left us with a problem. Would you be prepared to only do work if you can guarantee you can solve the problem. We are running out of money )o:

 

[Doggyvonne]

No idea Skelly we were not the first people to buy it

 

[AWheating]

I work in council properties and as you can imagen most are flats. You have a gravity fed system, as you have no attic I am guessing is a combined hot water cyliner either a fortic or sea gull system. I am affraid both are no good as they rely on head (distance in height between the tank and the output ie the tap). For example if the tank is 1m above the tap you will only get 0.1 bar of pressure which is rubbish, if your tank is 10m above the tap you willl get 1.0 bar of pressure which is good. if there is no way of getting the head, your best bet is to install a combi (mains fed) boiler. Sometime you get scale bluid up in the cylinder but as you've had a new tank this is not possible. Before you have a combi fitted you could check the hot water out on the new cylinder is not blocked with scale. Combi would sort this!

as theres no gas an electric unvented or thermal store would probably be more suitable than an electric combi especially if ecom seven is fitted?

 

[mountainman]

Thanks for the offer to take a look- lots have done so , done their bit and still left us with a problem. Would you be prepared to only do work if you can guarantee you can solve the problem. We are running out of money )o:

Of course, I don't charge for failure!

 

[Skelly87]

No idea Skelly we were not the first people to buy it

Well ask your son if he had this problem when he first moved in. If he says no, then something has changed for this problem to of happened. If he says yes then an alteration to the ststem may be needed. A change of system is likely to be expensive for you though

 

[mountainman]

You need to delete some of your personal messages before I can answer your last one. D

 

[Doggyvonne]

You need to delete some of your personal messages before I can answer your last one. D

Thank you see you tomorrow in Harlow 10.30 am please ask my son for the parking permit to avoid getting a ticket

 

[mountainman]

Will do.

 

[Doggyvonne]

Will do.

in passing we have a water main burst in our road and they are trying to fix it jut now. Can we use our combi boiler heating atm safely with all water cut off?

 

[mountainman]

Yes you can.

 

[stevetheplumber]

i went to a flat today and above the cylinder is a header tank unsuprisingly they run it dry and air lock the system

 

[Doggyvonne]

Thanks to Mountainman for visiting us in Harlow today to look at our plumbing problem
Nice to meet you and hope to hear from you soon..when you send the quote please include your full address as we have to keep strict records of who does what to satisfy insurance and to ensure we can follow up a job (should it needs further attention) we will need your full business or domestic address on file. As you say nothing can happen right away but hope you have a good Christmas and we see you in New Year. If you decide the job is not appealing or not worth your trouble please be honest. We will understand. Thanks Mr & Mrs

 

[stevetheplumber]

well what was the problem MM?