Basin Tap - Cold water mains and Gravity Fed Hot Water

Victorian House · 12-08-2023 10:00am #1

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out a suitable basin tap that can be fed with a cold water mains and a gravity hot water system. My goal would be that you could get potable drinking water from the basin as well as it's standard use. My understanding is that an unbalanced system like this would prove extremely difficult to get working with a standard mixer tap. Obviously, this set-up does work with a kitchen tap though so I'm wondering if people would have any suggestions for manufacturers/suppliers who would have a suitable product.

Would something like the small ikea kitchen mixer tap below work:

https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/yttran-kitchen-mixer-tap-chrome-plated-80305945/

Or this mixer tap from Screwfix:

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/ryhope-monobloc-kitchen-mixer-tap-chrome/398PG?gclid=CjwKCAjw29ymBhAKEiwAHJbJ8i_eh-jWS_hhvvyNAV2Q_Qj3gINqgEbxx9aVmFrlBm182nUdo7rjzRoCwxcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thanks!

blackbox · 12-08-2023 10:09am

Kitchen taps keep the two streams separate right to the outlet so that the potable water cannot get contaminated.

Bathroom taps mix before the spout.

Tow · 12-08-2023 10:15am

Also, you are better off looking a taps dreigned for the Irish/UK market. Fancy foreign taps are designed for higher water pressures

Victorian House · 12-08-2023 12:34pm

Both of the above taps I showed are kitchen taps so I presume that they would work okay. I was just seeing if people had any experience with basin taps as most of the ones that I find are designed for gravity/pumped tank cold water and hot water and don't seem to be suitable for a mains cold feed.

Sleeper12 · 12-08-2023 1:52pm

Just to point out that it's against the building regulations, local county bylaws & Irish water bylaws to connect the bathroom tap to the cold water supply.

Regulations aside, you would need a kitchen mixer tap for low pressure (not high pressure). I don't believe you will get a bathroom mixer tap for cold mains water because they wouldn't be able to sell any going into new builds as its against the regulations

astrofool · 12-08-2023 2:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120968957#Comment_120968957

Are you planning to fit it yourself?

I would drop into somewhere like Chadwicks, BTW or Tubs and Tiles, their sales people will know which taps are suitable for Irish homes and plumbing system, they'll have big catalogs with every kind of tap under the sun listed from cheap to expensive. They'll usually have a discount on the online prices as well.

You're looking at about 1 bar on the hot tap if you're in a 2 story house with the tank in the attic.

I wouldn't go near the Ikea tap, plumbers hate them, screwfix may be fine if you do your research.

Sleeper12 · 12-08-2023 2:40pm

Just to clarify cold water tank in the attic, bathroom below has around 1/4 of a bar of pressure in hot & cold tap. Bathroom on the ground floor has around 1/2 bar of pressure. You would need four floor home to have 1 bar of pressure on the ground floor. Pressure increase by roughly 1/4 per floor

Lenar3556 · 12-08-2023 3:53pm

You could also consider using a pressure reducing valve installed on this mains cold under the sink.

This combined with non return valves on both supplies should leave it functioning correctly even with a tap that doesn’t have two separate streams to the spout.

Basin Tap - Cold water mains and Gravity Fed Hot Water

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