Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 29, 2018 2:10 am Hi Guys, I have done my research about guaranteeing the maximum water pressure that you can get for showers. The answer that I have found was to reduce the angles/bends in pipes and to increase the size of the pipe. I have requested the above to our builder, and they said increasing the water pipe will not increase the water pressure. Since it will cost us $1500 to get larger pipes to showers, are we just wasting our money here? Re: Larger plumbing pipes in WA 3Jan 30, 2018 12:37 am The main reason is because we have been moving from one rental place to another over the past 5 years, and the place we are currently living in has a very weak water pressure in the showers compared to our previous rental property despite living in the same suburb. We would like to avoid being in situations like this when we build our house. The house we are about to build is not huge at about 270sqm 2 storey house in a 330sqm land. All of the plumbing is only on the ground floor as well. I can see a 25mm water connection specified at the watercorp website. (20mm, 25mm, 40mm,etc) Is that something that we can request to watercorp? Our settlement agent has just settled on the land last week and has setup a water corp account for us. Re: Larger plumbing pipes in WA 4Jan 30, 2018 3:19 pm 20mm connection would be fine, I think you will find your HWS & tap ware are the bottlenecks which a larger connection & piping won't help. I suggest doing research when selecting your shower tap ware & look at flow rates, some tap ware also have plastic flow restrictors installed which can be removed for increased flow. Re: Larger plumbing pipes in WA 6Jan 31, 2018 1:27 am Siegfx I have done my research about guaranteeing the maximum water pressure that you can get for showers. The answer that I have found was to reduce the angles/bends in pipes and to increase the size of the pipe. I have requested the above to our builder, and they said increasing the water pipe will not increase the water pressure. What you have been told is wrong...but with qualification. Water has friction loss as it flows along a pipe and the larger the pipe, the less friction loss. In other words, the dynamic (flowing) pressure along a pipe will decrease the further along the pipe it goes. This is why a long garden hose will flow slower than a short one. If you have a larger pipe, it will 'retain' more dynamic head along the pipe because there are less friction losses due to the slower velocity. Friction loss increases exponentially with increases in velocity. If the water is stationary, the pressure is static and the pressure will be the same all along the pipe. Increasing the pipe size makes no difference to the static pressure. HOWEVER, end fixtures like shower heads by regulation must have maximum flow rates that the builder and plumber are by legislation required to adhere to and this is done by doing hydraulic calculations that adjust the branch sizes. The You Tube video that I have linked at the bottom explains and shows the decreasing dynamic pressure along a pipe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hSL9_eo4n8 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Larger plumbing pipes in WA 7Feb 03, 2018 2:39 pm You could spend your $1500 and find that you have no pressure issue. The water regulator specifies a very large window of 'allowable' pressures supplied to customers. There would be a significant difference in flow rates for people living in the lower pressure areas compared to higher pressure. Even comparisons between the same suburb wouldn't mean it was an individual house problem, because the way that the water supply works sometimes means even neighbouring houses will get water from a different source (and potentially different pressure). Very generally speaking, if your house is on a hill, then your pressure probably won't be as good as if you live in a valley / close to sea level. There are so many variables that I would say your $1500 is probably not worth it. Also agree that there's often fittings in taps etc to reduce the flow rates. Ours popped out of the bath tap by accident and it fills so much faster now! Re: Larger plumbing pipes in WA 8Feb 03, 2018 3:18 pm The maximum pressure within the home is mandated to not exceed 500 kPa. The hydraulic performance at the end fixtures is determined by hydraulic calculations that takes into account the maximum and minimum mains water supply pressures and the pipe sizing calculations 'shall' (note that AS/NZS 3500.1.3.2.3.2 states "shall" and not must) use the minimum pressure. Unfortunately, calculations for individual properties are often not done and home owners often end up with cookie cutter plumbing. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. that's where your drains should be. the plumber is usually supposed to chop them down to ground level at the end, and cap it with some sort of a grill, like the one you… 1 3413 4 3897 As most others have posted above the install isn't compliant. The pipe is meant to be covered in loose soil or sand, the pipe has holes in it that leaks out a termicide… 10 4489 |