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Discuss Water pressure reduced when other appliances are on in the UK Plumbing Forum | Plumbing Advice area at PlumbersForums.net

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Azonic

Hi all - hoping to get some advice here on a plumbing issue in our house.

When we are showering / filling the bath and another appliance draws water (toilet cistern filling after flushing, tap being turned on or washing machine filling etc), the water pressure / flow to the other appliance noticeably drops.

We completely gutted and re-plumbed the property last year. We were previously on a shared mains supply with our neighbour but as part of the project we installed a new standalone mains connection with a 32mm MDPE pipe.

We have a Monarch Midi HE water softener, with 22mm plastic pipework for hard and soft water running through the house and what looks like 15mm plastic pipe tee'ing off to appliances / rooms. There is some copper pipe in places.

The main soft water water pipework runs from the utility room up into the loft (above the 1st floor) where we the boiler is located, next to an unvented water cylinder. Pressure is 2.5-3.0 bar measured at the cylinder; flow rate is over 25 litres per minute measured at an outside hard water tap (relatively near to the utility room where the mains comes in) so I don’t think this is a mains supply issue or an problem with the main stopcock. Issue seems to occur on both the soft and hard water circuits and I think between the two (ie. If you turn on a hard water tap it will impact the soft water shower).

The wife thinks the problem has been present since the start whereas I think it has got worse (or maybe I’ve just started noticing it more).

My instinct is that this isn’t normal for a new install but I would be interested to hear from the experts on here.
 
Well, it could be normal, but depends on the extent of the drop in pressure.

Have you measured the pressure when water is being drawn off and what are the pressure/flow combinations you have observed? And where/how are you taking the measurements?
 
Was the softener already in or did you fit this when you gutted the property? Has the unvented cylinder been serviced? Is the pressure measured at the cylinder the gauge?
 
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Well, it could be normal, but depends on the extent of the drop in pressure.

Have you measured the pressure when water is being drawn off and what are the pressure/flow combinations you have observed? And where/how are you taking the measurements?
Well, it could be normal, but depends on the extent of the drop in pressure.

Have you measured the pressure when water is being drawn off and what are the pressure/flow combinations you have observed? And where/how are you taking the measurements?

Thanks for your reply - I haven't measured anything more sophisticated than simply observing the pressure at the gauge next to the cylinder and measuring the flow rate at one of the outdoor taps.

Not a plumber so not sure how I would do this - am trying to get the plumber who installed it to engage on the issue and do these kinds of tests, but he's been reluctant so far!
 
Was the softener already in or did you fit this when you gutted the property? Has the unvented cylinder been serviced? Is the pressure measured at the cylinder the gauge?

Thanks for your reply - softener is brand new and installed with everything else. Unvented cylinder also new so assume it would need a service yet.

Pressure I quoted of 2.5-3 bar is what I have observed at the gauge next to the cylinder...
 

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