Water Regulations

[Triassic]

Apparently, 60% of homeowners didn’t know they had to inform their water company when installing baths with a capacity over 230 litres or  bidets with pop up sprays heads or flexible spray attachments.

 

You learn something every day.

[Sue B]

I’m one of those 60% - and my guess is that this is a HUGE underestimate.

Edited April 22, 2019 by Sue B

[Jeremy Harris]

I hadn't a clue about the details of the water use regulations until we were first ready for our completion inspection.  A retired bloke was brought back in, didn't like our build at all (his first comment was that the foundations were unsafe - they'd already been inspected twice and signed off) and he then went on and on about water usage.  I argued that we weren't bound by the regs (which is what I'd been told by this blokes boss) because we had a private water supply, so could perfectly legally abstract up to 20,000 litres per day from our borehole if we wanted to.  He made me fit flow restrictors everywhere, and at first refused to accept that I could DIY this, he wanted it done by someone who was "accredited" (there's no such accreditation, AFAIK).  In the end he grudgingly accepted that if I photographed every fitting, showing a restrictor in place, that would be OK.  In the end he didn't do our completion inspection, and the chap that did took one look at the evidence I'd prepared on water usage, declared that he wasn't interested as we had a private supply, and signed the house off.

[AliG]

My pool holds 40,000 litres, does that count?

 

I had to look very hard to find anything on this.

 

I found this. which suggests a maximum use of water of 125l/per person per day.

 

https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/siteassets/developer/new_building_regulation_part_g2.pdf

 

Does the way that the calculation is done mean that a house with a bath over 230l will fail? the calculation is somewhat arbitrary.

 

It also seems to say that baths have to have thermostatic valves limiting them to 48C. Our showers have thermostatic valves but the baths appear to just have mixers.

 

I don't believe the water use limit applies in Scotland. No sign of us running out of water.

 

 

 

[Oz07]

@JSHarris

Isn't there a rule that you also had to abide by for your bidet style spray head?

[Jeremy Harris]

1 hour ago, Oz07 said:

@JSHarris

Isn't there a rule that you also had to abide by for your bidet style spray head?

 

I think there would be, had I fitted it before we got our completion chit, yes.  IIRC, I think they need to be restricted to 6l/min, but I'm not sure without checking.  As we're not on mains water it doesn't matter, anyway.

 

As an aside, I can highly recommend these hand-held "bum washers", they seem to me to be a far more hygienic option than toilet paper.

[Gone West]

14 hours ago, AliG said:

It also seems to say that baths have to have thermostatic valves limiting them to 48C.

Yes we fitted one on our bath because it was in the regs. but the BCO wasn't interested.

[joe90]

Like @ProDave our hot water is limited to 48’ anyway ! I don’t think our BCO will be interested in water regs, lucky as we have a huge bath ?.   ?