Where does my water come from if not mains?

[BobbyJoe]

Hi everyone

I was under the assumption that my flat was mains fed throughout but the water company said "We supply cold water to your cold kitchen tap".
So my question is where does the water come from to supply water to the hot water taps in the bathroom and hot water tap in the kitchen?
I have a gas combi boiler (no need to wait for hot water, as soon as I turn the tap the boiler fires up and hot water access is easy) and there is no storage tank in my flat, or cylinder.

The reasons I ask are regarding getting the right taps for the bathroom basin and also if I require check valves on the tap pipe works.
The kitchen hot water tap has a check valve but the bathtub and basin only have isolation valves on each pipe which connect to the tap pipes.

Can anyone offer any advice or information thank you.

 

[Chuck]

Can anyone offer any advice or information thank you.

You should have a stop-cock somewhere in your flat. Try turning it off. The kitchen tap should stop working. If the bathroom taps continue to work as normal there must be water tanks somewhere, probably on the roof of the block.

The water company are not likely to know how your flat is plumbed internally. Broadly speaking, they loose interest pretty quickly beyond the point that their water has passed through a meter and someone has paid them for it.

 

[BobbyJoe]

Thank you so much I started to investigate and this is what I found:

1. Under the kitchen sink stopcock when closed the kitchen cold water stops working but the hot doesn't.
2. Main cold water feed red gate valve in a cupboard, when turned off the cold water in the bathroom stopped working but the hot water still worked.

There is an attic which tenants/owners can not access, I am guessing there must be a water tank in there or something which supplies the hot water as where else would I be getting it from?

If that is the case then is it worth my while to have check valves /NRV's put on the tap pipes in kitchen and bathroom? As I want the hot water coming into my flat to be safe, no cross contamination or chance of backflow as there are 6 flats in the block.

Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated as always.

 

[Ric2013]

There is no disadvantage in putting in check valves that are not strictly needed. Other than the cost, and the fact that they could severely limit or even stop flow.

If the pressure is very low, check valves can be a nuisance as the pressure can be insufficient to open them.

 

[NorthernLad]

Surely if the OP has a combi then this means the water comes from the mains only?
The water company may have said 'We supply to your cold kitchen tap', but the unspoken words were 'and there will be branches off the pipe which will feed the bathroom cold tap (i.e. the pipe controlled by the Red Gate Valve) and also your combi boiler'

The hot, in both kitchen and bathroom comes from the cold flowing through, and being heated by the combi boiler.
(The type of taps would therefore need to be suitable for mains pressure water)
Or am I missing something?

 

[WC1]

I thought you said you would "get a professional in", Bobby?

 

[BobbyJoe]

I thought you said you would "get a professional in", Bobby?

I have contacted a few plumbers but they have not got back to me, so in the main time as the premise of this forum is, I am gathering as much information as possible so to understand and gain knowledge in how things work and have already learned a lot from this website thank you.