Adsibob Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 Got home to discover very low water pressure. On testing the taps, each one just had a few litres in them, probably what was in the pipes. Have checked with two neighbours and they don’t have a problem. Our garden tap is also out of water. Cannot think what could be causing this, as we have had no building works for the entirety of August and water was working fine since we moved in May. Have called the plumber who installed the whole plumbing system since scratch and he’s away on holiday. Have called Thames Water and can’t get through because their voice recognition software is so f&£king atrocious! Very strange. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 Stop tap turned off? Or can you hear a hissing sound at all … underground burst pipe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adsibob Posted September 1, 2022 Author Share Posted September 1, 2022 7 minutes ago, markc said: Stop tap turned off? Or can you hear a hissing sound at all … underground burst pipe? Well I’m not entirely sure where the stop tap is (I know, I know, … I’m a fool), but we haven’t touched anything in the house or had any workmen or even our cleaner as everyone has been away in August. Only person who has been here is a guy to fit a new fence, but he didn’t have access inside and I can’t think how he could have damaged anything from work he did in the rear garden. That’s a good idea about walking around outside. Just tried that, but no joy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adsibob Posted September 1, 2022 Author Share Posted September 1, 2022 Anyone know what this is? Found it on the public pavement outside my house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canski Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 Water meter and stop tap. Is it raining where you are ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adsibob Posted September 1, 2022 Author Share Posted September 1, 2022 13 minutes ago, Canski said: Water meter and stop tap. Is it raining where you are ? There was a very very tiny amount of drizzle, hardly noticeable. Why do you ask? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canski Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 I saw droplets of water. I’m sorry, I don’t know if that’s on or off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 I thought all yours came in bottles especially flown in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adsibob Posted September 1, 2022 Author Share Posted September 1, 2022 17 minutes ago, Canski said: I saw droplets of water. I’m sorry, I don’t know if that’s on or off. I tried turning it. It only turned in one direction, and only a quarter turn. So it basically has only two options: on or off. Neither do anything for me. We have a water softener salt based system. Could that be the culprit? I checked and it still has a few shards of a block of salt left, so I doubt it. Just so strange to be without water like this. I paid something like £4k to have our connection to Thames Water upgraded which was done about 6 months ago. Feels very much like a downgrade right now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 We're the numbers changing when you looked at the meter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 Looking at your picture of the meter, the blue lever is in the on position. If the meter numbers are not increasing with the valve open you have no leaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 With no leaks it would mean a valve has been turned off somewhere presumably in the home. Is the softener in a cupboard or in a position where the isolating valves could be accidently closed. The other one is the mains valve in the house is off presumably in the kitchen? Or finally, have you paid the bill. Why does the always happen last thing at night???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adsibob Posted September 1, 2022 Author Share Posted September 1, 2022 I’ve identified the problem. By accident. I thought it would make sense to switch the boiler off, just in case the call for heat at 6am to heat water might cause some issue with no water. I was too lazy to switch the boiler off directly, so went to the fuse board to switch it off from there. There I see the fuse labelled “priority demand valve” has been tripped. This is a valve to give the internal imist system priority over every other tap in the house. I switch the fuse back to the on position, and everything is working again. i report this to SWMBO, who responds: “oh yeah I forgot to tell you, when the fence was being installed this afternoon, they kept tripping a fuse with their power tools.” Bloody hell! I know we are bad at communicating, but this!!! So rather than get a plumber out, I need to speak to my electrician. Luckily he is coming in the morning. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 8 hours ago, Adsibob said: I’ve identified the problem. By accident. I thought it would make sense to switch the boiler off, just in case the call for heat at 6am to heat water might cause some issue with no water. I was too lazy to switch the boiler off directly, so went to the fuse board to switch it off from there. There I see the fuse labelled “priority demand valve” has been tripped. This is a valve to give the internal imist system priority over every other tap in the house. I switch the fuse back to the on position, and everything is working again. i report this to SWMBO, who responds: “oh yeah I forgot to tell you, when the fence was being installed this afternoon, they kept tripping a fuse with their power tools.” Bloody hell! I know we are bad at communicating, but this!!! So rather than get a plumber out, I need to speak to my electrician. Luckily he is coming in the morning. I would be talking to your plumber AND electrician about this. So you have some form of valve to give priority to the imist system. I understand that. BUT an unintended consequence is this valve must need to be energised all the time to feed the rest of the taps in the house. This means if you get a power cut, you will not have any water in the house. I would not find that acceptable and I would be wanting to change that. This may be something you have to wait until after building control sign off to alter, but I would definitely want to change it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 We had this during the build, when ever the tilers were here, the electrics would keep tripping. The transformer they were using was good for the skip as it had an internal issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adsibob Posted September 4, 2022 Author Share Posted September 4, 2022 On 02/09/2022 at 08:21, ProDave said: I would be talking to your plumber AND electrician about this. So you have some form of valve to give priority to the imist system. I understand that. BUT an unintended consequence is this valve must need to be energised all the time to feed the rest of the taps in the house. This means if you get a power cut, you will not have any water in the house. I would not find that acceptable and I would be wanting to change that. This may be something you have to wait until after building control sign off to alter, but I would definitely want to change it. I have to say that I’ma bit miffed that imist did not make this clear at the marketing stage. Had I known this, I’m not sure I would have opted for this system. I had a chat to my sparky about this, and he said he couldn’t disconnect it because he signed off on the electrical safety certification and he doesn’t want to get into any trouble. I’m sure I could persuade him, but I’m not sure what the actual workaround would be. Maybe some sort of battery power backup just for the priority isolation valve? It would only be worth doing if not too expensive, as we very rarely have power cuts in the area. In fact, I can’t remember having one since 2018 when I bought the house, other than some issue which was unique to my house, and which UKPN fixed very quickly because we have small kids so are on the priority register. Now that everything is brand new, we shouldn’t have any local problems, and would only be affected by street wide power cuts, of which I can’t remember there being any in the last 4 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 16 hours ago, Adsibob said: but I’m not sure what the actual workaround would be Can you not just do s split at the incoming mans, then run the house of one part of it and the iMist on the other. Not as if a broken pipe is going to cause a real problem in a fire. 16 hours ago, Adsibob said: we shouldn’t have any local problems, and would only be affected by street wide power cuts, of which I can’t remember there being any in the last 4 years. Have yo read the news recently about power cuts and rationing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 I read the function of this valve being to shut off all other uses of water in the event of the sprinkler being activated to ensure the sprinkler is not starved of water if a hose pipe is running to wash your car outside. It is just a shame (I guess for fail safe reasons) that the valve has to be energised permanently to give water to the rest of the house so is shut off in the event of a power cut. I guess if you bypass it completely there could be an insurance issue if there was a fire and the sprinkler did not get enough water? I would probably be looking at a manually operated bypass of some form so you can restore water in the event of a power cut, and not tell too many people that bypass is installed..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 Can't you get pressure activated valves. https://www.norgren.com/uk/en/list/fluid-control-valves/pressure-operated-valves?refine=port-size-over-portsg1forwardslash4 I seem to remember they had them dotted all over the oil refineries I used to play on as a kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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