Mend > Plumbing

low cold water pressure upstairs?

I have low cold water pressure upstairs downstairs connected to mains upstairs fed from tank in loft i believe this problem is slowly getting worse tank fills fine, trickle at tap if you turn sink on no water at bath tap or when cistern refilling if you flush toilet when shower running shower stops electric show fed cold water only hop this makes a little sense told maybe back fill the take however dont have a clue how to do that

steve
July 2009

D.I.Y, Plumbing Pressure Water Mains

tried back filling however it seems all the cold taps are fed from the mains which has really good presure downstairs put very little upstairs ie if you flush the toilet the shower and taps stop working so we can only use one or the other

steve
July 2009

Hi Steve first of all, the electric shower must be fed by the water mains at high pressure.
Next, if the upstairs taps are fed by a loft tank, they need to be ideally 1 metre below the bottom of the cold tank to give reasonable flow.
So, either the tank isn't fully filling with water - which is easy enough to check - or you have an air lock in the system. To clear the air lock - which usually only occurs on the hot side - you connect a hose pipe to a mains pressure tap, then connect the other end of the hose to the upstairs tap, and turn that one on. When you then turn on the mains tap, the water rushes through the hose, through the tap and pipework, back to the tank clearing any air lock as it does so. How you prevent water squirting everywhere is another issue! Hope this helps you understand the system.

John
July 2009