Upgrading a Weak Incoming Water Supply
Where showers are weak and taps starve each other, the fault is often the incoming supply rather than anything inside the house.
Where showers are weak and taps starve each other, the fault is often the incoming supply rather than anything inside the house. Old lead or small-bore supply pipes throttle everything downstream.
Measure before you spend
Static pressure and flow rate at the stopcock tell you whether the problem is upstream or in the internal pipework.
What upgrading involves
Replacing the supply pipe from the boundary to the property, usually in blue MDPE at an adequate size and depth, with the correct stopcock arrangement.
Where responsibility splits
The water company owns up to the boundary; the pipe from there into the house belongs to the property. That line decides who does what.
Questions we get asked
Will an unvented cylinder fix this?
No. An unvented cylinder amplifies nothing — it passes on whatever the mains gives it.
Is a pump the answer?
Boosting from the mains directly is not permitted; the compliant route uses an accumulator or break tank.
Do I have lead pipe?
Dull grey, soft, no ring when tapped and a rounded swollen joint are the usual signs. We can check at the stopcock.