hi, looking at shower fittings and they all state water pressures, the obvious question is, how can I measure mine without paying a plumbers callout fee?
also I have a combi, will this affect the pressure? there is a Bar gague on the combi, but not sure if its for the hot water or closed central heating system. ( I thought it was the latter.)
You need Ebay item 380312059370
Mike
very neat - I fancy one of those.
It is the latter, usually between 2 - 3 bar for a CH system.
Take your pick from these, starting at about 8 quid:
If you have a footpump with a gauge on it just jubilee clip it to the end of the garden hose and slowly turn the water on (or it blows the joint!)
The gauge will tell you the pressure (or max out if, like mine, it stops at 7bar and the pressure's higher) and the air buffer in the hose will stop the pump filling with water if you get it fairly empty first.
Cheaper than buying one :-)
OK, so I fashioned a gauge out of some stuff in the garage, and measured
4.5bar before it all went pear-shaped and the sellotape and cardboard got wet :-) (only joking!)So that begs my followup question, when bathroom stuff mentions pressures, does it only refer to the cold water pressure? As i'm guessing the hot-water pressing going through the combi will be lower....
Either way, I'm guessing i'm safe to order showe heads and a thermostatic mixer valve that has a 2 bar or higher recommended pressure....
4.5 is not bad for static pressure...
Well the static pressure (i.e. with no water flowing) will be the same as the cold. The combi will add a little bit of extra flow resistance[1] which will make the dynamic pressure a bit lower - but not usually significantly. Certainly not like the difference between gravity fed water at under 1 bar and mains.
Yup, certainly. Make sure its one that is designed to work with combis.
[1] Most don't have any flow regulation (although a few do). Of those that don't the installer is supposed to set the valve feeding it such that the flow rate is restricted to something that the combi has a fighting chance of actually heating to a useful temperature.
I've got a very similar one which I bought from Screwfix a few years ago. It has a 3/4"BSP female thread - so it will screw onto an outside tap or washing machine tap without requiring any plumbing.
That will measure *static* pressure - but that's only half the story! You also need to measure *flow* at the point nearest to where the water comes into the house - probably at the kitchen tap. If the house is fed by a long thin pipe, you may have inadequate flow even though the static pressure is ok.
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