Negative Head in loft !!!! any plumbers on here?

[scrogger]

Having an issue with a bathroom with no hot water pressure. Basically we had a loft conversion done about 2 years ago and this the company doing it went bust without finishing leaving us in a bit of a mess.

Anyway I have fitted a bathroom suite myself not brill but it looks ok.
however we have no pressure.

Just had a plumber come to look at it and I got a bit of a shock
he was suppsed to be quoting for a salamander negative head pump but as the hot water tank is fitted with 22mm pipe in and out they say it may drain the tank to quickly.

So they suggested renewing all the pipe work which will be a nightmare and very costly and wreck a load of new decorating etc so we would rather not go this route.

Next suggestion was to use the said pump and a bigger 200 ltr hot water tank?? or as this guy has just said an unvented system. He has suggested that the unvented system will resolve it and provide mains hot water pressure for the whole house( he is corgi or gas safe which ever it is now by the way) with minimal disruption. He reckons this will cost around £500 plus vat and then labour on top which I have no idea how much that will be yet.

If anyone knows anything about this sort of thing and would be happy for me to pick their brains I would be so grateful.

Cheers

Andy

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

sounds a horrible mess

I've usually had good advice from Yahoo answers!

you'll need to be logged onto Yahoo but I totally recommend them!

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/

 

[scrogger]

You would not believe what a mess it is mate!! But I am trying to remain positive.
I always think its worse when you have so many solutions and you have no idea so you are at the mercy of someone saying do this etc. Not knowing if you have had your leg lifted is the worst bit.

 

[Melonfish]

i've got a plumber friend i'll give him a shout, my old mans a qualified plumber but tbh i won't ask him, he's the type that'd say a plane would still fly if its on fire...

 

[wanderingblade]

Shouldn't need to renew all the pipework.

I'm guessing he's on about fitting 15mm to replace the 22mm - if so you only need to replace the final section of pipe before it gets to the bathroom - this will restrict the flow rate and avoid the tank draining too fast.

Simples

 

[Hugo]

Yes I would have thought that by fitting a reducer from 22mm to 15mm would have done the job, I have not fitted a negative head pump before so can't advise on that.
AS for changing the tank for a larger one, that sounds daft, as you don't want to use loads of hot water.
As for changing the cylinder from gravity feed to mains pressure, that is the way I would go, a cylinder is app £240 then there is pipe and fittings on top of that plus labour.
Try getting another quote.

Good luck.
EDIT my bad. Price for cylinder was not for mains pressure. Slap my wrist.

 

[FGYT]

sorry keep miss reading the title

I'll get me coat

ATB

Duncan

 

[scrogger]

Lmao Duncan!!! I did wonder if.....................I was expecting the quip to come from Shewie!!

 

[scrogger]

On the subject of said pump Salamander have said as long as all the hot taps are not on
it should be ok and they have a electric cut off saftey type switch that can be fitted to stop it if it runs dry.

Hugo that price seems a lot better than what he quoted. I do like the idea of an unvented system from what he said its just come at a bad time as we have all sorts of other costs hitting up were it hurts at the minute so i want the cheapest and simplest solution for now.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Barn Owl]

Don't know the answer but when I had the loft done I had the tanks removed in favour of mains fed and the boiler placed in the loft and partitioned off.

 

[JonB]

Hi Scrogger.
Just read this thread and i assume that the new bathroom is in the new loft conversion, with the old cold header tank also in the loft in its original position, this would give you negative head in your new bathroom, the answer is to move the old cold feed tank up so it is above the new bathroom, thus giving you a positive head of water, if the cold feed tank is already in this position you may have an air lock.

I hope this helps. Jon.

 

[Dingo]

Yes I would have thought that by fitting a reducer from 22mm to 15mm would have done the job, I have not fitted a negative head pump before so can't advise on that.
AS for changing the tank for a larger one, that sounds daft, as you don't want to use loads of hot water.
As for changing the cylinder from gravity feed to mains pressure, that is the way I would go, a cylinder is app £240 then there is pipe and fittings on top of that plus labour.
Try getting another quote.

Good luck.

any chance you can let me know the supplier of those cylinders mate, at 240 quid they're cheap as chips, i need a 300l hope they're the same money.
fingers crossed.

thanks

Adam.

 

[Hugo]

Scrogger apologies price I quoted was wrong I was thinking copper unvented, not mains pressure. I put my cold water header tank right up in the eaves this put right my pressure problems.

 

[scrogger]

Cheers Hugo apparently we can now still use a negative head pump from Salamander.One of their techy guys rang and went through our usage and he said that its unlikely that it would run the tank dry unless 50% of the hot taps were all open at the same time. The most we would ever have is 2 at once and that would be rare.

Another point he made was that the taps we have (qtr turn ) are pressure reducers in their own right so that would stop the flow. Also as a fail safe they have a kit which cuts the pump off if its stops sensing water at any point.

What a caper but this means about £500 quidish as opposed to £1500 quidish.....

Andy