Low water pressure in cold tap in kitchen & washing machine

caramel08

Hi,
just wondering if anyone can help me. I moved into a newly built house in November before the snow and since Christmas, I've had low water pressure in the cold tap most of the time. The washing machine sometimes works and other times, won't and the light indicating "water pipe closed" comes on. I can run a short wash usually - it just seems to affect longer cycles of an hour or so.

As the council were fixing burst pipes for a few weeks after Christmas and water was being turned off on and off in the town, I put it down to this. However, I checked with them recently and water in my estate and area wasn't really affected that much and they have suggested that maybe I have burst pipes somewhere. Every other tap in the house is fine as are the toilets.

Just wondering if anyone else has come across this problem?

Thanks

studdlymurphy

The kitchen tap is fed straight from teh mains feed. The other taps and toilets are fed from the tank in the attic so this is their buffer so you shouldnt see a drop in pressure in them. If you were to check the feed into the tank in the attic it is likely the same or less (due to height) pressure as the kitchen. Check that your main supply valve outside the house is turned on completly and if it is I would ssay that it is a supply problem to the house so if it is your side of the stop cock then its your problem and if it is the other side of the stop cock it is the councils problem.
Hope this helps.

caramel08

Many thanks for the advice. Will look into that and hopefully it's not going to be a big job.

perry stanley

I am assuming that the w/m is in close proximity to the kitchen sink. If you can pull out the w/m and at the end of the supply hose there is a filter. I am betting its blocked. The likelyhood is the tap at sink has a similar ( to a filter on the tip) Try it and see. I have had this happen numerous times and always after the water has been messed about with. A cheap cure hopefully:cool:

sullzz

The first thing I would do would be to check that the stopcock under your kitchen sink is open fully and that the stopcock outside is also open fully . If they are ask your neighbour what their pressure is like . If theirs us ok , you may have a leak or a blocked pipe , a handy way to check for a burst pipe is to turn off the stopcock under your kitchen sink and to connect a pressure gauge directly onto it , open the stopcock and take a reading of the pressure , leave this stopcock open and turn the one off outside , if the pressure reading drops you have a leak

cnocbui

You might have a leak on your side of the mains. if there is a meter fitted, make sure nothing in the house is using water or turn of the house mains stop cock and have a look at the meter and see if it registers water being used or not.

Boggles

caramel08 wrote: »

Hi,
just wondering if anyone can help me. I moved into a newly built house in November before the snow and since Christmas, I've had low water pressure in the cold tap most of the time. The washing machine sometimes works and other times, won't and the light indicating "water pipe closed" comes on. I can run a short wash usually - it just seems to affect longer cycles of an hour or so.

As the council were fixing burst pipes for a few weeks after Christmas and water was being turned off on and off in the town, I put it down to this. However, I checked with them recently and water in my estate and area wasn't really affected that much and they have suggested that maybe I have burst pipes somewhere. Every other tap in the house is fine as are the toilets.

Just wondering if anyone else has come across this problem?

Thanks

Firstly Check with your neighbours.

Too many estates built in the last 10-15 years with no adequate upgrade of water supplies to cope, it's a common problem with many houses / estates in the country.

Unfortunately if it is low water pressure in your area, there isn't much you can do, except install expensive underground tanks and pumps, unless you can get the council to address it.

If it is just in your house, and you have made sure the valve is fully open and your sure you don't have a leak, you will have to pay the council a deposit (not sure how much) to check the supply up until basically when it enters your own pipes. This deposit is refunded if it is a council problem. If the blockage is in your own pipes, your liable to get them repaired you also lose your deposit.

Worse case scenario this involves a bit of digging and laying a new pipe.

Check with your neighbours first though, if theirs is fine, consult a plumber he should put you in the right direction.

Good luck.