Low pressure hot water

[isthatthetime]

Hi,

The hot water pressure/flow at my bathroom and kitchen taps seems to be very low. We have one of those hot water cylinders that has a small cold water tank attached to the top of it. I have checked any valves I can find and they all seem to be fully open. The problem has been there since I bought the house a year ago and doesn't seem to get any worse.

Can anyone suggest things to look for/try before I call a plumber? Is it just endemic with this sort of tank (I have never owned one before).

thanks

Jeremy

[Ian Stirling]

If in fact you mean you simply have a cold water cistern, from which all the cold taps in the house run, and a hot water tank simply connected to that, then the pressure will be much, much lower than you are used to - if you've previously lived in a house with a combi, or one of the plethora of other hot water heating devices that deliver hot water under pressure.

Some measurements might be nice. With a wide-open tap, how much flow do you get? I.E. how many seconds to fill a 1l container.

[Owain]

How high is the top of the cold water tank above the taps? If the tank is within the same storey as the taps (ie top of tank at ceiling level) you will get eff all pressure because there is no head.

Owain

[isthatthetime]

I think the cold taps are all mains fed. I've dug around a bit and what I have is a 'combination cylinder' similar to this

'm used to a normal hot water cylinder with a header tank in the loft.

I can't measure the flow as this is a holiday let - I will be over there later in the week and will do so then.