UKH

I've got a cold water tap in our garage to which I attach a hose for car washing, plant watering etc. It is fed by a flexible pipe which runs from the water supply to a down stairs lavatory. The said lavatory is as far diagonally opposite the mains supply as it's possible to get. Consequently there is very little pressure and the flow from the hose is scarcely better than a dribble.

Does anyone know if there's a simple way of increasing the pressure such as an easily attachable pump.

Thanks.

In reply to mypyrex:To be clear the garage tap is supplied by a flexible pipe from the toilet?  I don't care where the mains inlet is, I'm curious how your house is plumbed so you're not on mains pressure?

In reply to mypyrex:

What is the nature of the flexible pipe - Is the bore comparable to standard 15mm copper pipe? 

In reply to mypyrex:

From what you've said you don't have a cold water tank tne loft. If there is a loft tank then as direct as possible a feed from it with as wide a pipe as possible most of the way might help. Otherwise can you get a new,large tank, with ball valve or similar, as high as possible (loft would be best of course)which is fed by the "dribble" or other house pipes but then gives a better flow volume  for the hose?

In reply to mypyrex:

Difficult to know what is going on without understanding your plumbing.  Is your house on direct mains supply, with all cold taps / facilities fed directly or does the incoming main supply a cold tank in the loft?  If the former, then it isn't a pressure issue and is most likely to be the tap failing to open properly or the flexible hose being compressed or kinked on it's travels.  If the latter (cold tank in loft) then the pressure will be lower as you go higher in the building, but six foot of fall typically gives reasonable pressure (and I'd assume your garage is at least six foot below the loft)!  I'd suspect the tap.

In reply to mypyrex:

Is there a kink in the flexi pipe?

Edit, this would only apply there's enough pressure at the toilet. Does it take ages to fill up the system?

In reply to mypyrex:

Should also say that shower pumps would be the easiest way of improving pressure, but are usually only needed where fall from a tank is poor or pipework is thin and supplying a lot of facilities.

In reply to mypyrex:

The simplest short term solution might be to get a hose adaptor for the kitchen tap (always at mains pressure) and connect the hose to that if it reaches where you want.

In reply to nikoid:

It appears slightly larger although I haven't measured it.

In reply to oldie:

It's mains feed

In reply to mypyrex:

Not sure if this helps, but I've got an old house and had awful time. If you were in the shower and someone turned another tap on, shower died. Severn Trent said pressure was ok, but flow could be restricted; old mains pipe. Got a moler in to stick a modern pipe from driveway to house (very little digging), new stopcock and voila, good pressure and excellent flow. You need both.

Chris 

In reply to Derek Furze:

I'm going to have a closer look at the tap and the pipe

In reply to mypyrex:

If there's good mains pressure to the toilet cistern, the same pressure should be at the end of the flexible pipe unless it's kinked.

In reply to mypyrex:

Assuming the downstairs lavatory is fed from the mains then the distance between it and mains supply won't effect the flow in the flexible pipe, assuming there is not blockage or pinching of the pipe.

Is the water supply to the downstairs lavatory OK, ie when flushed does it fill up at a normal rate? If so, then the problem is somewhere in the tap and/or flexible pipe?

Dave  

In reply to mypyrex:

Fit a no-return valve followed by a 50 litre expansion vessel in the garage to the water feed before the hose fitting.  Get a plumber to adjust the air pressure in the vessel to suit your mains pressure.  This tank will slowly charge up with the limited flow to mains pressure, and can then discharge it with a wallop when needed. 

In reply to Rigid Raider:

Pressure drops with flow rate, and it drops surprisingly fast in small bore pipes.  I’m regretting not having run 25 mm MDPE through our house to the garden tap now, the pipes take a tortuous route with many bends and once I add a big length of hosepipe flow rate gets a bit crap. 

In reply to mypyrex:

Have you got one of those automatic stop end fittings on the hose?

The jet wash at work suffered from not enough flow. Put a normal connector on and no problems at all.

In reply to mypyrex:

Ok that's not restricting flow then (unless it's really long and it sounds like it might be).

In reply to mypyrex:

There's plenty of confusion between the relationship between flow and pressure going on here! A garden hose should be on a direct 1/2" tee off a 3/4" main otherwise it will be worthless.