Another newbie wannabe capable plumber

[Dustboy]

Hi,

I am knocking on the door of 57 years old and I have given up trying to find a plumber who can get me my shower back working properly.

So I am thinking of doing an NVQ level 2 from Access training so I can do the work myself. Yes, I am that desperate now. I also hope to be able to put right all the rest of the wrong bits in my house, everything from fitting the water softener properly to relaying the mains pipe if necessary, not to mention changing some rads, sticking a better boiler in etc. Bad plumber on the install.

I might also do some family/friends work and a few odd jobs to make a few bob as I consider moving towards retirement. I also seem to have a knack for clearing blocked drains and fixing toilets.

Bottom line is, I think training with Access and doing the work myself is likely to be cheaper than paying someone else. If I could find someone.

Am I being deluded, or does this Access training make sense. Yes, a blue plumbers card would be useful for extra bunce on straightforward domestic work, but I don't particularly want to be a full time plumber.

I would really like to learn all those bends and stuff though! I think that is real craftsmanship.

Sorry if I sound an ar5e, but I know I have 25l/min at the street stopcock and 5l/min at the shower 7 meters away is not good enough!

Cheers for any replies.

DB

 

[jtsplumbing]

Good on you for wanting to have a go but to be honest you will be wasting a lot of money, now depending on your type of shower will determine the flow of water going through it, if its a low pressure one ie. fed from roof tanks then no matter what your water pressure is coming into the house it wont make any difference to your shower, if that's the case then fit a booster pump to shower, but other factors come into play, type and size of shower head, pipe size, flow rate that shower is designed for, Getting back to you doing plumbing apart from the time it will take you to train there is the added cost of tools, you wont be able to fit your own boiler, well maybe in 5 years then at even more training and expense if your lucky, if you perceiver you may have reached the required level & experience to fit your own boiler B4 you retire, Best of luck.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

What system do you have ?

Tank and cylinder etc

 

[sammathias]

What material is your mains coming in...galvanized steel?? Is your shower an electric shower?? Boiler fed? Or tank fed? Whats your flow rate at your sinks?

 

[Dustboy]

FLow at street 25l/min. Blue poly 25mm from street for at least a metre. Then about 10M unknown. Blue poly 25mm from under house to new stopcock. Flow at stopcock unknown (he didn't have a flow meter). Then all sorts of weird ironmongery around the house but culminating in 15mm plastic pipes to downstairs sink. Combi boiler about 13 years old so shower is mains fed. Estimated flow rate at kitchen sink 8L/min. Estimated flow at shower upstairs 5l/min, barely. Water softener in place so the shower unit isn't clagged up (I checked).

One thing. When the water board replaced the street stopcock a short while ago, we lost water (obviously). some probably drained back to earth. When they went back on, a fair bit of spluttering, then for about ten seconds, full power at the shower, then it just died back. Standard ecocamel head give a Sody dribble. Have fitted a hand basin head and it can just about drive that. Any flushing or other tap usage in house stops it dead.

Sorry, am not a plumber so don't know tech terms, but I would guess a blockage somewhere being held in place by the pressure.

Ta.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I would say get the flow tested at your incoming stop tap

 

[sammathias]

Take out any flow restrictions on shower hose and head. Could also potentially be a blockage from when mains got turnt back on how olds your house?? Id say all your iron pipwork is restricting the flow also. Best bet is what shaun said at incoming tap then i would disconnect shower and test flow rate from.pipework.

 

[Chalked]

Softener inlet filters might be blocked. When was it last serviced.?
Your course won't teach you specifically how to fix your house. It's more generic, you can't beat experience. I learn something new, most days.

 

[Dustboy]

Thanks all, absolutely agree that flow at main stopcock needs to be tested first. Then I know if it is before the stopcock or after. If before, it's dig it up time I guess and put new poly in. If after the stopcock, then it can be fixed in house rather than underground.

I hadn't thought of water softener inlet filter. That would account for all post filter stuff, but the mains sink is way off what shot out in the street and that bypasses the filter, or it should. It hasn't been serviced, we were advised it didn't need it. Kinetico. And, in common with the rest of the plumbing, the installer made a right pigs ear of that too. Weird different types of hoses everywhere.

House is 70's but all the pipework was replaced 13 years ago with major refurb including all new heating etc. The shower then wasn't great, but it was adequate. I have pulled all the shower bits off including the reg valve and just run it from the pipe, still very restricted flow.

I am guessing that if main kitchen sink isn't great, neither will anything after it be after it has gone around the house.

I don't want to slag off a tradesman but to give you an idea of what I am trying to resolve overall in the house, he put the temperature sensor for the heating 1 metre above the radiator, plumbed the water dispenser for the fridge into the water softener instead of the loo and vice versa and the entire space under the kitchen sink was turned into spaghetti junction. Which I subsequently fixed.

So, I need to flow test at stopcock, possibly excavate and relay poly, possibly remove kitchen piping to do the water softener properly and see what happens from there.

For which I need a plumber. Or learn how to do it. Back to square one. LOL.

 

[Dustboy]

By the way, I really appreciate your input here. I realise that you don't get to be competent on a course in a clean classroom set up for you to succeed and I know that gas safe is a whole new ballgame. Not to mention the damage to your knees and back and whacking your fingers in icy wet miserable weather when the nut finally gives way and you recoil, stand up swear and find you have just stuck your head in a spiders nest.

But what I have been able to do, I have enjoyed. I am just annoyed at myself that I can't do the rest.

 

[Darren Jackson]

Just a thought! have you looked at the 13yr old combi? the plate hex and water filters could well be scaled up and partially blocked dramatically reducing the flow rate. I would also have a GSR to check out the combi and give it a good service as well.

 

[jtsplumbing]

All your problems seem to stem from the water main is it blue Polly up to the internal stopcock ? if so 1st turn off water from outside remove internal stopcock and check for blockage, then if possible connect on to that blue Polly run a length to outside , turn on main stopcock and check flow through the Main pipe, once you know that is clear reassemble internal stopcock, then do you have a pressure reducing valve above or next to the internal stopcock some of these have a filter if so clean out that one.