water pressure to low

[Stefan in Thailand]

Hello,

 

just finished our garden house. We have a tank app. 2 m above the taps in the bathroom (on one side of the house) and the outdoor kitchen (on the other side). Water pressure in bathroom is okay, kitchen sink not at all. Taps at the same height. But the pipe to the kitchen is approx. 8 m longer.

 

Could that be the reason why the pressure is so low? Or do I have to cut and renew (or at least check) the pipe to the kitchen tap?

 

Thanks for any advice

Stefan

 

PS: I am not a native speaker. My naming might not be correct. If so, please tell me so I can improve.

[Yellowtail]

One meter of water is something less than 1.5 PSI, so your two meters translates to less than 3PSI.

 

Given a decent shower requires 40-60 PSI, if you want to rely on gravity your tank will need to be about 26 to 40 meters high.

 

Buy a pump...

[Crossy]

Stick in a small automatic pump near the tank to boost your pressure.

[Artisi]

Check there is no rubbish in the kitchen tap outlet nozzle. The pressure should be much then same at the bathroom and kitchen taps.

But a small pump is suggested to give you some decent pressure. 

[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, Stefan in Thailand said:

just finished our garden house. We have a tank app. 2 m above the taps in the bathroom (on one side of the house) and the outdoor kitchen (on the other side). Water pressure in bathroom is okay, kitchen sink not at all. Taps at the same height. But the pipe to the kitchen is approx. 8 m longer.

 

Could that be the reason why the pressure is so low? Or do I have to cut and renew (or at least check) the pipe to the kitchen tap?

We have our house setup so when the power is out we still have enough pressure for the showers to function. If the base of your tank is at 2 metres over the outlet you can get a shower though it won’t be strong. Despite the information that @Yellowtail has given you can get a shower with a much lower head of water we have about 3 to 5 metres, of course it isn’t enough for the electric heaters but then we only use gravity feed when the power is out.

 

An important point is to run a minimum of 25mm pipe, we have 32mm, and almost no 90 degree bends. You are probably using 12mm and that’s one reason why you have no pressure 

as @Crossy has said if you have a pump it can overcome the friction losses in your small pipe. 

[Advocate]

The kitchen taps and many other taps in the house have strainers which clog up with debris over the years. Remove the strainers and clean them. That sounds more like your problem. I have experienced such a problem previously which was fixed by removing and cleaning strainers.

 

Here's a youtube video.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_DaEA5UtqY

Edited May 1, 2021 by Advocate

[Stefan in Thailand]

Thank you for all the suggestions.

 

I have already read the thread talking about a pump for higher pressure. Sorry, I forgot to mention we do not have electricity there. The water is pumped up in the tank by a solar pump in the well.

 

 

following Yellowtail there would be only drops. Well, it is not the great rainfall shower experience nor the massage shower ... but it is enough to feel clean.

 

The strainer (Thank you for a new word in my dictionary) is new and checked.

 

Really  thin pipes were used with 3 more 90 degrees bends for the kitchen tap. That might be the reason. Additionally there is a bottleneck just before the tap. I will try to change that.

 

Thank you very much. Great help in this forum.

Stefan

 

[natway09]

Buy & install an in line auto pump

[millymoopoo]

On 5/1/2021 at 2:43 PM, Stefan in Thailand said:

We have a tank app. 2 m above the taps in the bathroom (on one side of the house) and the outdoor kitchen (on the other side). Water pressure in bathroom is okay,

We have low pressure water (tank) also, filled from the irregular town water supply, thus when they turn off the water we don't run out.

Tank (1000litre) is a 4.5m AGL (3m above taps), works perfectly to the bathroom/showers.
Kitchen 10m away was a problem till I changed the pipe (from tank) to 20mm inside diameter, (25 OD) now it''s all good.

BTW if you can use 20mm ball valves all the better, ceramic valves have small openings internally which reduces flow.

With low pressure systems it's about flow not pressure, ie: how much water can flow through any given pipe, tap or fitting, if you're using 20mm ID pipe everything else needs to be 20mm ID.

[khunPer]

On 5/1/2021 at 8:43 AM, Stefan in Thailand said:

Water pressure in bathroom is okay, kitchen sink not at all. Taps at the same height. But the pipe to the kitchen is approx. 8 m longer.

Check/clean the nozzle in the kitchen, if that's clean and water pressure still low without the nozzle, it might be in a hose leading to the water tap, or in the pipe running to the kitchen.

 

Two taps same height based on a tank in 2 meter higher level should give about same water pressure (communicating vessels).

 

I have a ceiling tank with water surface about 2½ meter above shower head(s), if placed on wall, and that gives enough, but not (too) much, water pressure for shower. I had one water tap on the top floor with low pressure, which was due to dirt somewhere inside the tap, after changing the tap, it has lot of pressure.

 

As others have mentioned, a small pressure-fall booster pump (with pressure tank) might help, but you'll loose the benefit of tap water during a power black out.

[sometimewoodworker]

30 minutes ago, khunPer said:

As others have mentioned, a small pressure-fall booster pump (with pressure tank) might help, but you'll loose the benefit of tap water during a power black out.

Actually it’s no problem. Our supply is from a ready use tank in the roof that has a pump after it. When there is a power cut the water just flows through the pump.

 

I could add in an automatic bypass it’s a trivial plumbing job, probably a single NRV and some pipe would do the job. I haven’t bothered as the flow through is enough and the tank is roughly 4 metres up so we need a ladder to get to it. 

Edited May 2, 2021 by sometimewoodworker

[ifmu]

KISS it ... keep it simple Stuup.d   plugged up with dirt unscrew filter on outlet ...  ..

 

important .... did this just start ?  how was it a month or two ago ...   

was it working aok before .. if so look at sink

[connda]

We had tanks on a hill above our home.  Still low water pressure.  We bought an on-demand pump.  Should be around 2000 THB.

[Stefan in Thailand]

5 hours ago, natway09 said:

Buy & install an in line auto pump

As I said, no electricity

 

[Stefan in Thailand]

2 hours ago, ifmu said:

KISS it ... keep it simple Stuup.d   plugged up with dirt unscrew filter on outlet ...  ..

 

important .... did this just start ?  how was it a month or two ago ...   

was it working aok before .. if so look at sink

I just had it installed. Low pressure from the beginning.

[The Theory]

1 hour ago, connda said:

We had tanks on a hill above our home.  Still low water pressure.  We bought an on-demand pump.  Should be around 2000 THB.

Size of pipe matters, from tank to the house. 

Edited May 2, 2021 by The Theory

[Golden Triangle]

Do you mean you have no electricity at all or just to the tank ?

[whaleboneman]

The elbows and extra length of pipe will reduce pressure to kitchen but not by too much. I would cut pipe below kitchen taps and check flow there. If little flow, go back to elbow and cut again. Keep going backwards towards tank until you get flow as I think you've got a blockage in your "new" pipe. Blockage will almost always happen at the elbow. Couplings are available to repair your cuts after and are easy to install. 

[malt25]

10 hours ago, Stefan in Thailand said:

As I said, no electricity

 

Slowly fill the black rubbish bin with low water pressure. Take dipper or other receptacle, fill from the black rubbish bin. Raise the receptacle or dipper above the head, invert. Enjoy Thai shower. problem solved.

[Yellowtail]

I use a roof tank and a pump and have great water pressure & flow on all floors. When the power goes off, I can still take take take a hot shower shave, but I much prefer the pounding I get get with the pump on.

 

[brianthainess]

On 5/1/2021 at 1:54 PM, Crossy said:

Stick in a small automatic pump near the tank to boost your pressure.

I fitted a pump near my bathroom, to save laying electric cable 60 meters. have no pressure issues.

[brianthainess]

13 hours ago, Stefan in Thailand said:

As I said, no electricity

 

You could buy a solar pump. Edit; If you have a car you could by an inverter to run a small pump while you shower.

Edited May 3, 2021 by brianthainess

[Stefan in Thailand]

5 hours ago, malt25 said:

Slowly fill the black rubbish bin with low water pressure. Take dipper or other receptacle, fill from the black rubbish bin. Raise the receptacle or dipper above the head, invert. Enjoy Thai shower. problem solved.

Of course we have the thai shower available too ????

 

[Stefan in Thailand]

13 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

Do you mean you have no electricity at all or just to the tank ?

It is the garden. That means far away from public power line. We have a solar cell pump that pumps the water from the well up into the tanks (500 l for taps and 2500 l for flowers). No battery.

Situation may change in 1 oder 2 years.

[Stefan in Thailand]

3 hours ago, brianthainess said:

You could buy a solar pump. Edit; If you have a car you could by an inverter to run a small pump while you shower.

I love the idea with the car. Should I build a car park beside the bathroom or the tanks?

 

We have a solar pump to fill the tanks.

[Artisi]

2 hours ago, Stefan in Thailand said:

I love the idea with the car. Should I build a car park beside the bathroom or the tanks?

 

We have a solar pump to fill the tanks.

A new solar panel, storage batteries and small 12 volt pump for the bathroom and kitchen would work wonders increasing your flow and pressure. 

[pizzachang]

On 5/1/2021 at 1:54 PM, Crossy said:

Stick in a small automatic pump near the tank to boost your pressure.

Lazada has some nice ones for around 900 to 1 thousand baht. .

 

[Crossy]

1 minute ago, pizzachang said:

Lazada has some nice ones for around 900 to 1 thousand baht. .

 

Yeah, sadly our OP doesn't have electricity so he would be looking at an automatic solar pump.

[l4ml4m]

Sorry, I have a related question, is there a way to bring more pressure to a 15th floor condo ?

 

[sometimewoodworker]

6 minutes ago, l4ml4m said:

Sorry, I have a related question, is there a way to bring more pressure to a 15th floor condo ?

 

You will need to talk to the condo manager but a pump drawing from your supply may be ok. However just putting in a pump without talking to the managers may cause problems to other users so you may need to add a small tank to pump from