Plumbing advice

Shazbot100

Hi all,

I live in an apartment and I'm having trouble with a pump.
Previously everytime a tap is was turned on the pump kicks in and stops when the tap is turned off.

Now when a tap is turned on the pump sometimes sticks and seems to pulse and does not turn off as before. It only happens now and again and you have to play around with turning taps on?off to make it stop.

This seems to be happening more often of late. Any ideas as to what's happening

Thanks
Shazbot

GreeBo

A pump can pulse if its not getting enough water, you might have an airlock or maybe the taps are at fault.
Does it only happen from a single tap or are all taps affected?

Has anything changed in your setup recently?

Shazbot100

Hi Greebo,

Thanks for the reply. It seems to be mainly the hot taps. Tap in the kitchen is spitting alot lately. In answer the setup change I did mess around with red valves leading to the pump in order to get it to stop pulsing. Is there a correct way to set these up?
If it's an airlock what do I have to do?

Thanks again
Shazbot

GreeBo

I'd start by opening the valves fully to see does that solve the problem (turn them anti-clockwise as far as they will go, and then turn them back a tiny bit (this will stop them from getting stuck in a fully open or closed position))

Since you are in an apartment Im not sure what type of water setup you will have, do you have a hot water cylinder anywhere in the apartment or is the water heated on demand?

If you have a cylinder then check any valves leading to/from it, but these shouldnt have changed unless you changed them.

If you dont have a cylinder then there may be a supply problem that you will need to check with the management company, maybe ask your neighbours how theirs is?

items

Shazbot100 wrote: »

Hi all,

I live in an apartment and I'm having trouble with a pump.
Previously everytime a tap is was turned on the pump kicks in and stops when the tap is turned off.

Now when a tap is turned on the pump sometimes sticks and seems to pulse and does not turn off as before. It only happens now and again and you have to play around with turning taps on?off to make it stop.

This seems to be happening more often of late. Any ideas as to what's happening

Thanks
Shazbot

If problem has been happening from day 1, could be piped incorrectly. Before I can answer, might be best to take some picture's of pump, cylinder connection to pump, cold water connection to pump.

RossCarbery

I had the same problem before. Pressure is required in the pipework to trigger the flow switch, which kicks in the pump. Solved the problem by installing a pump with a small pressure vessel attached which forced the water through the pipework when the taps etc. were opened, thereby triggering the flow switch faster. The taps etc (incl. washing machines) only needed to be opened a little for the water to flow. Pump was expensive but it was a lot quieter and ran way better than the cheap pumps installed at construction.

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RossCarbery wrote: »

I had the same problem before. Pressure is required in the pipework to trigger the flow switch, which kicks in the pump. Solved the problem by installing a pump with a small pressure vessel attached which forced the water through the pipework when the taps etc. were opened, thereby triggering the flow switch faster. The taps etc (incl. washing machines) only needed to be opened a little for the water to flow. Pump was expensive but it was a lot quieter and ran way better than the cheap pumps installed at construction.

Negative head pump you have. Sometimes not enough movement of water to trigger pump, cases where taps, showers etc are above stored water or not enough below it. The price difference between the two different pumps is madness, all your paying for is that small vessel to pressure up water after taps close.

Brass or stainless body pumps are the only options, steer well clear of plastic ones.