Plumbing

deere66

deere66

Well-known member
Questions for the builders/house doer uppers on here. Last summer the water pressure/flow in the house seemed to drop a bit. I put it down to summer usage elsewhere but it didn't get any better, it's getting worse. It seems alright out in the old dairy and parlour, it's just the house. I've rigged up a gauge and I'm getting 90psi, if the gauge is right, both inside and out, just very poor flow especially upstairs.

Q1. Am I right to suspect the stop tap? Either furred up with limescale or some other blockage. It's never turned very far, I'm reluctant to force it open any more.

Q2 It appears to be old 1/2" alky coming in, 22mm outside dia, will a standard 22mm compression stopcock fit or does it have to be an alky fitting. I'm fully expecting to cut the olive off, it'd be too easy for the nut to be the same size as modern stuff
 
Have you any offcuts of black alky to try fittings on?
That one by the cattle loading dock?
You will need an olive and probably an insert of class C or D whichever it may be.

Plastic taps that take a 20mm internal blue pipe have push in adapters to convert to same size as blue external diam. The kit comes with a different sized plastic grippy olive. 20240424_183456.jpg20240424_183500.jpg

These blue inserts are marked 1/2" class C, just visible bottom right.
 
It's probably 1/2" D class, thick wall to get to 22mm o/d. The type with a copper top-hat insert and an olive. No off-cuts, cattle drinkers were all 3/4" as they came off a header tank.
 
Does flow rate differ between indoors and outdoors? My thinking is pressure will be equal either side of a partial blockage, but flow rates will differ, So If flow rate at the nearest tap either side of the suspect dodgy valve are different then partial blockage is most likely.

90 psi is very good pressure.
 
opininionated said:
Does flow rate differ between indoors and outdoors? My thinking is pressure will be equal either side of a partial blockage, but flow rates will differ, So If flow rate at the nearest tap either side of the suspect dodgy valve are different then partial blockage is most likely.

90 psi is very good pressure.
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Flow outside is very good, 3 buckets/minute but it's 3/4" iron and alky all the way. House Ts off in the 1/2" alky through a stopcock which has never been touched for nearly 50 years and then into the house and the above pictured stopcock under the sink. I seem to remember it only opens 1/4 turn so it's probably time it was changed.
 
deere66 said:
Flow outside is very good, 3 buckets/minute but it's 3/4" iron and alky all the way. House Ts off in the 1/2" alky through a stopcock which has never been touched for nearly 50 years and then into the house and the above pictured stopcock under the sink. I seem to remember it only opens 1/4 turn so it's probably time it was changed.
Click to expand...
The iron is the problem ,you need to replace ,bit of a twat but it has come to the end of its life cycle ,the iron will be furred up to a very small diameter to let water thru ,as @Nearly said still got oressure and no flow.these days we put prv in the house to take the pressure down to 3 bar (45psi)
 
Mr Skinny said:
The iron is the problem ,you need to replace ,bit of a twat but it has come to the end of its life cycle ,the iron will be furred up to a very small diameter to let water thru ,as @Nearly said still got oressure and no flow.these days we put prv in the house to take the pressure down to 3 bar (45psi)
Click to expand...
It's only iron to the old dairy and that's fine, tee'd off in alky to the house about 30ft from the meter. I did think that 90psi was a bit OTT when the main is asbestos šŸ˜²
 
deere66 said:
Ordered a stopcock for the house on Monday, was supposed to be same day dispatch but I'm still waiting. It's been sent today apparently :rolleyes: Very carefully, I've got another 30deg or so open on the existing one. Sounds very crunchy but flow is better now along with some debris in the sink
Click to expand...
Sounds like the iron pipe feeding it is degrading and going up the pipe you use most ,and getting caught somewhere ,every cold tap in the house will want checking ,plus hot water tank will need a clean .
A filter may be a help
Also sounds like your pipe work may be imperial new tap may well be metric
 
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