Flow restrictor?

[Richard Tobin]

Is this a simple service valve or is it restricting the flow?

-- Richard

[Scott M]

It's a simple service valve but, by dint of the small bore through the rotating ball, will have some flow restricting properties. Unlikely to be a problem inline with a cistern filler (which I presume the photo's of.)

[Richard Tobin]

Yes it's a toilet cistern, which fills *very* slowly (several minutes). I can't see anything wrong with the valve in the cistern. The cold water tank is only a few feet above though - maybe 5 feet between the water levels.

-- Richard

[Tim Watts]

On Thursday 19 September 2013 14:30 Richard Tobin wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Service valve.

Flow restrictors look like:

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Service valve and it will restrict the flow. Replace it with a full flow type if its a problem.

[John Rumm]

Yes (both!)

The flow restriction however won't be much. You can get "full bore" service valves which don't restrict the flow at all.

If its slow filling, then its more likely to be a problem with lack of water pressure in the first place, or a problem with the cistern float valve.

[Scott M]

Sounds like it's the sort of valve to have a choice of lo and high pressure inlet port and it's got the wrong one in it. For some cistern fillers the low pressure inlet doofa is clipped to the arm (and usually red) and needs swapping over.

The service valve won't make that much odds to fill rate.

[Andy Wade]

Yes, but there was no mention of it being newly installed. If it used to fill OK look for a build-up of sludge/grit/crud at the cistern outlet, in the pipework or in the float valve. Temporarily back-feeding with mains pressure water might clean it out (YMMV).

[charles]

two immediate possibilities spring to mind.

1. The wrong vales (ie a high pressure one) has been fitted
2. Hard water deposits have started to block the feed pipe or valve. It might simply be a matter of removing the valve, taking it apart, cleaning it and putting it all back.

[harryagain]

The hole in that valve is much smaller than the pipe. But OK for normal mains pressure in most circumstances. You only need full bore valves for low pressures like from domestic tanks and heating systems.

[harryagain]

Assuming your toilet is on mains pressure you may find there is a filter which might be blocked. If the float is very tiny, it is a pilot operated valve and there will be a filter on the inlet side, you will have to disconnect the incoming water pipe. Has this always been so BTW?

[Tim+]

As others have said, replace it with a full bore valve and consider a different filling valve for the cistern. Some will work better with low pressure than others. A good plumbers merchant should be able to advise you as to the best kind.

Alternatively, convert all your cold waster system to mains pressure and just leave the tank feeding your HW tank.

Tim

[Roger Mills]

It's a simple service valve and - unless the ball has become detached from the screw (which *can* happen) - it appears to be fully open.

[I do use mine as a flow restrictor by setting the screw at about 45 degrees, but it's not really designed for that].

More likely that a restrictor intended for a mains feed has been fitted in the fill valve itself. Has it ever filled at a decent rate? If so, there must be a blockage somewhere along the line.

[Scott M]

And you wonder why we take the piss?

[polygonum]

Try combining the two - that is what it was like in this downstairs WC in this house. :-) Took towards ten minutes to refill before we changed the whole caboodle.

[Richard Tobin]

I'm not certain it's ever filled at a good rate, as I don't use it much. I don't *think* it's always been this bad though. It's certainly not a hard water problem because I'm in Edinburgh - lime scale dissolves off kettles brought from elsewhere.

If I take the valve off and find it has a restrictor inside it, can I remove it completely? Or does it need to be replaced with some less restrictive restrictor?

-- Richard

[Roger Mills]

Assuming you're talking about the fill valve - the service valve you photographed won't have a restrictor - remove it altogether. It will be in the form of a nylon insert a couple of inches long which more or less blocks the inlet pipe, forcing the water round a narrow spiral path. For a low pressure - tank-fed - system, you don't need it at all.

[harryagain]

Well you are an ignorant goon. In days of yore most WC tanks were fed from a header tank in the roof space to make the fill quick and silent.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Still are here. Only things on mains are cold taps you might drink from. And the outside loo. ;-)

[Scott M]

I'm sorry, but are you congenitally thick or did you have to have special training? Do I have to write slowly for you?

"Assuming your toilet is on mains pressure," you wrote, not two lines after y'man tells you about the cold water tank. That's why I was poking fun. And you *still* can't see it.