For last 2 weeks or more we are trying to finish house construction. As part of it, we bought few bathroom fittings. Little did I knew that I am getting into a full fledged study of Gravity, "Bernoulli's Principle", Atmospheric Pressure, PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch), Conversion of Atmospheric Pressure to PSI, Foot of Head etc.

Here is some newly acquired learning that I am documenting for others like me!

First and foremost, the pressure water needs to open valves in heaters, few new valves, get proper speed in the showers etc. Essentially fancy showers will not work properly if there is no proper pressure. In India most of the homes uses tanks above homes to get good water pressure. ie, not many uses pressure pumps.

For most of the showers and valves we need more 1 atmospheric pressure, ie 1 Bar to work properly. To achieve this pressure, we need the water tanks at 32 feets above the pipe outlets. ie around 10 meter. For single and even 2 storied homes, this is not a height that is easily achievable. The result is showers not working properly.

How to choose the valves, shows etc ?

We need to look at the "Flow rate" which will be mentioned in the equipments. Its not practical to even achieve the 0.5 Bar as that needs 17 feet height (of water column.)

If its not possible to get a water pressure of say, 2 Bars, which needs the tank to be atleast 20 meters above the ground, its advisable to buy normal pipes. ie, the old school pipes, values, taps etc.

How to increase the pressure ?

Using pipes which are wider and then taper down to smaller diameters can give some advantage. Say, 1.5 inches to 0.75 Inch. Further, give separate connections to bath rooms & isolate the pipes from rest of the home. This will help to increase the flow and also give the room for adding pressure pumps in the future. ie if required.

Foot of Head

One feet of water column will give 0.43352750192825 PSI.

PSI = Pounds per Square Inch

( https://a1133-27532357.cluster47.canvas-user-content.com/courses/1133~969642/files/1133~27532357/course%20files/Images/Fig-IR-BH-2.html )

    1 foot of water = 0.433 pounds per square inch pressure = 0.433 PSI 

    2.31 feet of water = 1 pound per square inch pressure = 1 PSI

14.50377 PSI = 1 Bar
7.25 PSI = 0.5 Bar
17 feet = 0.5 Bar ( 16.7475 ft = 2.31*7.25 )
32 feet = 1 Bar

Types of Toilet Flushes

There are flush tanks, concealed tanks, exposed flush buttons, concealed flush buttons. Plumbers gives 100 more reasons for how and why each one of this will not work.

We need to look for flow rate and "head of feet" to get adequate water flow.

( Metropole Flush Valve - from Jaguar)

The metropole one doesn't need a flush tank and thus the most confusing item.

** Need around 0.5 Bar water pressure aka a water tank 16 feet above the outlet of water. **

[The water comes through a BIG pipe and then flows through a SMALL pipe. When the button is pressed, the valve is opened for a duration allowing 3 - 6 liters of water to flow to the Commode ]

Height at which the the push button flush valve has to be kept is either 2.25 feet or 4 feet. The reasoning is 2.25 feet will allow kids and the 4 feet for adults.

Dangerous Terms: Sprout, Shower, Shower arm, Diverter

Sprout is essentially a tap ! - this can sometimes have a shower attached to it and its called "Telephonic Shower" in a raher kiddish manner.

Whats inside this ?

I have often wondered how does the pretty valves work. Oh, yea kind of things shown below.

These pretty things are called Diverter and are normally used to mix hot and cold water.

or

[The innards of the diverter ]

Water Heater

The water heaters are also "pressure" sensitive - means they need a minimum water pressure in PSI to open the values to push water to the tank. (Non Returning Value). These valves are used to prevent the hot water escaping and getting mixed with the cold water in the pipe.

ELCB : for circuit breaking when there is a short circuit or overload in the circuit.

Glass coated : It looks like the tank and the heating element is glass coated to give it long lasting.

The tanks are made of Stainless Steel. Further there are heating elements made of Copper and Stainless steal. Not sure which is better. From what I can understand, the copper is fast to heat but interacts with the water and looses efficiency in the long term.

Pressure pumps

This is a common equipment in the west. But in India, they are reserved for the ultra rich I think. Atleast I started seeing them very recently (and considering I am not an Ambani, this might be a common item now.). The reality is that most of the recently available taps, showers etc require 0.5 Bar and that needs an over head tank around 17 - 20 feet above the ground level. This is quite a difficult scenario in the Indian scenario. The height of 2 floors is around 24 feet. This results in a situation where the showers will not work properly on the first floor.

The better approach is to get a Pressure pump of around 0.5 HP for smaller homes & connect to only the bath rooms. A typical bath room will have 2 taps and a shower. In addition to this a flush and a health faucet.

References:

https://a1133-27532357.cluster47.canvas-user-content.com/courses/1133~969642/files/1133~27532357/course%20files/Pages/3.1%20Creating%20Water%20Pressure?download=1&inline=1

What Next ?

I will be back with my adventures with laterite stone walls soon !!