Bathroom Taps for Low Water Pressure

If you’re looking for the best bathroom taps for low water pressure, you’ve come to the right place! Knowing your household’s water pressure is vital whether you’re renovating your bathroom or starting from scratch. 

Cue “Under Pressure” by Queen because the first step to finding the best bathroom taps for your home is knowing if you need high or low-pressure fixtures.

 

What Is the Difference Between High and Low-Pressure Taps?

Do I need low or high hot water pressure taps? If you don’t know the difference between high and low-pressure taps, we’re here to guide you through buying the best possible taps for your bathroom.

Why is my bathroom tap pressure low? Your household’s water pressure depends on where your home is located in relation to the nearest reservoir or water supply. If you live in a valley, naturally, the water pressure in your home will be higher than those atop a hill, for example.

 

What You Need to Know About Water Pressure

Water pressure is measured in “bars”, and one bar is equal to the force needed to push water up to the height of ten metres. In general, water pressure can be summarised in three types:

 

1. Low Pressure (Gravity System)

A gravity water pressure system usually entails an old water tank in the loft and a hot water cylinder upstairs. These systems should be paired with low-pressure taps only.

Typically, the water pressure in your first-floor bathroom will be around 0.2 bar or less. On the other hand, a ground floor kitchen may well be 0.5 bar.

A mixer tap will suit a minimum pressure of less than 0.5 Bar for those with extremely low hot water pressure. Most quality brands can guarantee a flow rate of 15 litres per minute. 

 

2. High pressure (Combi-Boiler System)

This system consists of a boiler unit in the kitchen, lacking a hot water cylinder. Households using these systems can choose from a wide selection of taps.

Water pressure will typically be around 1-2 bar, which is more than enough for 95% of the taps and showers available today.

 

3. High pressure (Pumped System)

The hot water cylinder with an expansion vessel is usually placed in an airing cupboard with a pumped system, while there is no cold-water tank. 

 

Taps for Bathroom: How to Check Water Pressure

The best way to measure your water pressure is by contacting a professional plumber for help. However, if that’s not possible, you can measure your water pressure at home using a one-litre jug and the stopwatch or timer on your phone.

  1. Place the jug under the tap and switch it on for six seconds.
  2. Assess the amount of water in the jug, measuring its contents in litres.
  3. Multiply this amount by ten.

Let’s say you collected 0.5 litres of water in six seconds. That multiplied by ten would equal 5 litres per minute. Because one bar is equal to ten litres a minute, we know that your water pressure stands at 0.5 bar, meaning that you have a low-pressure system in place.

The best flow rate lies above 15 litres per minute, although a flow rate above ten is also not too bad. You can also purchase a pressure gauge to check your water pressure at home.

 

Why Would You Need Low-Pressure Taps?

Different taps and showers require other water pressures to function at their true potential. Generally speaking, anything 0.3 bar or below requires a low water pressure tap or shower, and anything at 1.0 bar or above requires a high water pressure tap or shower. There is no in-between.

 

How Do You Increase Water Pressure in Bathroom Taps?

How do you fix low pressure in a bathroom tap? There are a couple of things you can do to improve the water pressure in your bathroom.

  1. Using a gravity water system, you could raise your cold water storage tank, which will work with gravity to increase the pressure. If you do not have a cold water tank, or if raising it is too expensive, you can swap your current tapware for bath taps designed to work with lower water pressure.
  2. An easy way to increase water pressure is to adjust the pressure-reducing valve, which is a conical-shaped valve found next to the water meter on the main water supply pipe. Jutting out of the top of the valve is a threaded bolt. Loosen the bolt’s locking nut to raise the pressure, turning the bolt clockwise. Use a pressure gauge to determine when you reach the proper water pressure, then tighten the locknut to secure the valve.
  3. When all other methods to increase water pressure have proven to be ineffective, you might want to hire a licensed plumbing contractor to install a water pressure booster pump. These compact yet powerful electric pumps are installed in the water supply line, where they turbo-charge the incoming pressure, raising it to the proper level. An experienced plumber can recommend which pump is best suited for your household’s needs.

 

How Can You Choose the Right Bathroom Tap for You?

When choosing bathroom tap fittings, there are a few factors that you’ll need to consider:

  • The tap water pressure of your home
  • If there are pre-drilled tap holes or not
  • Whether you are choosing bath or basin tapware
  • The different types of taps and which you’d prefer

 

Types of Taps

Mainly, there are two types of taps in bathrooms:

 

Pillar Taps

Pillar taps are taps that have an individual hot and cold supply and are most common in bathrooms. These taps offer the added advantage of operating two fixtures simultaneously, which can be helpful when warming the hot water tap whilst pouring a cold drink, for example.

Pillar bathroom tap fittings are simplistic, easy to fit, and much easier to fix when there is a leak. If one tap has an issue, the other tap can still work, allowing some running water in the bathroom.

 

Mixer Taps

Mixer taps essentially mix hot and cold water in the pipes while distributing the water through only one tap. There are different types of mixers, namely taps with two handles and fixtures with a single lever. Installing mixer taps incorrectly can result in your supply only including hot water or cold water, so we recommend professional assistance.

 

Where Can You Purchase Your Tapware?

The Plumbing Store has a wide range of quality products to make your bathroom stand out from the crowd! Contact us today for assistance.

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