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What could be causing the low pressure? It's a new house so I wouldn't have thought it was my hot water unit (the hot is lower pressure than the cold). It's a real pain because I have a double shower that is useless. Does anyone know what could be wrong? :confused:
Have you checked to see if the mains tap is fully turned on.
I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a kink in your supply line either.
Hi There, is it a constant flow hot water service ... the little quare box mounted on the side of the house, rather than a big tank storage unit?
Your hot water will alway be lower pressure than your cold, that's just fluid dynamics but the new constant hot water services have a temperature limit at about 60 deg. I think. So if the pressure in your area isn't that high to start with you can find you need the hot tap on full in the shower but you can't raise the pressure much with the cold tap because then the water will be too cold.
The other killer can be the water restricting disk in the shower head? Is the pressure any good out of the other taps?
Or since it's a new house, maybe the guys above are correct ... and the incoming line was squashed in construction?
That's a bummer! Check at the meter end - if there is a filter it may well be clogged a bit. Also see if you can checjk the pressure at the meter end and compare it with say a garden tap at the back of the house, and with say a kitchen tap. If there is a noticeable drop between meter and back of house, may well be a kinked line.
When we had our extension - and new bathroom - built earlier this year, had a problem with water flow in the new shower. A heap of crap had accumulated around the washer in the tap - just stuff from al the plumbing works and a bit of grit from some of the older pipes. I know you have a new house, but it may be worth trying to clean out the tap seats if you can.
we are lucky enough to have a filter on the meter and this needs cleaning about every 6 months as the volume and pressure do drop a bit over time on our supply.
Just some thoughts...
Jeff
When I bought a house and found the water pressure was low, it turned out that the last owners had tried to turn the water off at the mains before they left.
Also check that the inlet tap directly before the hot water heater is fully opened.
You will probably find that your new hot water system has three gadgets on it, all of which contribute to low pressure in your shower:
1. A pressure limiting valve - limits the pressure from the mains into your cistern - these are fitted to all new installations
2. A temperature limiting valve - mixes cold water with hot so that it doesn't get above the factory preset (50 degrees?)
3. Non-return valve so that your hot water cannot find it's way back into the mains.
If you remove them, you will get a noticeable increase in pressure, but then that would be naughty, wouldn't it?