You and your low pressure hot water

Let's talk about low pressure hot water. Chances are you've got it if you're reading this. Chances are you're not as happy with it as you would be with mains pressure. But... read on... you might be able to have a better life without the expense of installing a mains system...

So what is low pressure?
Low pressure is simply a relic from a bygone era which has little relevance to our lives today. I've never seen any new houses where the owners are choosing to put in low pressure. That being said, there is a good reason for keeping your low pressure cylinder, and that's money. They are cheaper to buy, cheaper to install and cheaper to run. But don't get excited, the savings are not going to pay for your luxury holiday to Fiji. You would be lucky if it would pay for dinner the first night (excluding wine and imported beers).

There are two types of hot water pressure in New Zealand. One is "Hey, where is the hot water?" (low pressure) and the other is "aaaahhhh I love my shower", i.e. mains pressure. Why do we even have two different types? Good question but it is the same the world over. In the UK, it's common to find a cylinder which is is gravity-fed from a storage tank in the roof, therefore giving about the same pressure as a low pressure set-up in NZ. Actually, in most cases a bit worse. Then they get very clever in the UK, fit a pump to the shower and call it a "Power Shower". Terrible things. (Anybody remember those... they even advertise them in rental property ads - Power Shower!). I digress. Sorry.

 In any case, in the old days in NZ, tanks were in the roof just like in the UK, hence everything was low pressure. Somebody came up with a clever little device called an Ajax Valve which effectively removed the need for roof tanks, but low pressure cylinders remained de rigeur for decades.

Low pressure cylinders are typically smaller. For example if you have a 135 litre low pressure cylinder, if changing to mains pressure you would install a 180 litre. The simple reason is that you use more hot water with mains pressure because it comes through quicker. Therefore you need to store more with mains, so it costs more to run.

When I ask if someone has low pressure, the response is often "How do I know?". That normally means straightaway that they have low pressure. The easiest way to find out is to jump in the shower, get comfortable, get the perfect temperature and sing (singing is optional but does give better and more accurate results) then get some one to turn on another hot tap in the house. If the shower suddenly runs cold and freezes you mid-song, then you have low pressure. The other way is to look at the cylinder as it will normally have a label that says 7.6m max pressure. If its label is measured in feet RUN it's going to blow!! Probably not. But it's old. Really old. However, some of the things made in our parents' time last forever. I recently saw a cylinder with a date of 1956, and its still going strong, and yet 20 years ago I would have advised the customer it needed replacing. What do I know?

OK, you have low pressure and you don't want to pay some over priced plumber $2000.00 to upgrade to mains pressure, what can you do? (Well, obviously you should pay me to upgrade you, after all I have to keep up my payments up on my boat - ha ha, I wish!). Assuming you don't care about my boat repayments then there are perhaps a few things you can do. You could in some instances double your pressure, yes thats right I said DOUBLE. OK, you can stop being excited. There's a whole other story right there about flow and pressure a la E=MC2 (OK, I'm not a physicist, I'm a plumber!). In all seriousness, if you have low pressure and old tapware which are single taps and not mixers I can change your life. If you have a modern mixer type, there may be little I can do. Not nothing though.

Point in case, customer brought a house and the bathroom had been done up to what looked like a very high standard. And I have to say it looked good. The problem was the tapware. I only use two brands for low pressure, Methven and Felton. I also stand by them as they are quality products that I know I can rely on, especially for low pressure. The hot water dribbled out the tap, but in this case it was nothing to do with pressure, just the tapware. I took out the shower valve and replaced it with a Felton and VOILA I changed their life... the power a plumber wields!

So ask me a question in comments below, or if you're in Auckland, give me a call. It costs nothing to have a chat and there may be some things you can do to improve your lot for under $500. Ph 0800 525 2686 in New Zealand.

You bought it on TradeMe!!

I visited a customer the other day. They had bought a "super amazing shower" with massage jets, radio and brilliant flexible waste for easy installation. As soon as I saw it I was not sure how to tell them that what they had bought was one of China's "not so finest" exports. I had the misfortune of installing two just like it last year and the final result was not good. The amazing flexible waste does not even conform to New Zealand standards. It was only fit for the bin and that was really the only good thing about the whole shower. That customer was very disappointed with the result.
 I told the new customer that it was not worth installing and perhaps they should put it back on TradeMe, recover their money and get a decent shower for about the same price. Always speak to your plumber before you buy anything for your bathroom. It saves pain and money.
NB: * It's fine to buy things on auction sites like TradeMe, Sella, etc. They have some quality gear for good prices, but there is also a lot of rubbish that you won't find in reputable plumbing merchants for good reason. Just ask!
* China also manufactures some of the best bathroomware around, you just have to know which brand is which. Just because it's shiny doesn't mean it's silver!