DerekJ Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Can anyone please answer the following query.Our water pressure gauge (in the garage) shows a steady reading of around 4 (bar?). However, when the chauffe eau is turned on the gauge steadily rises towards 8. I haven't let it progress beyond this and have either turned the chauffe eau off or released the pressure by briefly turning on a tap. Whilst the pressure is rising the Groupe de Securité drips gently (as per normal). Is it correct (and safe) for the pressure to rise like this? I haven't noticed it doing it before but once I did I was a little concerned.Thanks in advance for any advice and guidance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 The groupe de sécurité is set at 7 bar by the manufacturer so the dripping will only start at that pressure.Worth opening the red valve on the groupe now and again to ensure that it flows freely.If the chauffe-eau is upstairs there may be static pressure difference with the gauge in the garage, maybe the gauge is not accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 The rise in internal pressure in the ballon is normal but if all is functioning correctly is should not be seen upstream as the groupe de securité should have a one way valve allowing mains water in but not the heated water in the other direction.As ever calcaire is the enemy of all parts of a groupe de securité.You have raised an interesting point which I doubt many would be aware of (I wasnt) I too have fitted a pressure guage at my incoming mains so tonight I will have to get up ans have a look in the cave, actually that wont work as the incoming pressure has the guage needle already bent around the stop, my guage only reads to 2.5 bar and then I have a cheap plastic pressure reducer dropping the domestic feed to 1.8 bar.What I will do is to get up after the ballon has been heating a few hours and crack open another cold tap, it should come out at its normal feeble spurt, then the same with a hot tap which should initially have a rush at higher pressure before stabilising at 1.8 bar.All of us as well as having groupes which may be dripping more than necessary may also be unwittingly overpressurising our cold water systems, mind you i guess the hot side has always been subjected to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekJ Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 Just to give a little more detail....The positioning is as follows. The mains water pipe comes out of the concrete floor of the garage which has a stopcock fitted to it. Immediately above this stopcock there is the gauge I referred to. Incorporated (I think) is a rotary adjuster for the pressure. This is set at around 4 and roughly corresponds to the reading on the gauge when the chauffe-eau isn't turned on.The groupe de sécurité has always dripped a bit when the chauffe-eau has been turned on but in the past I have never noticed what the gauge was reading.The positioning of the chauffe-eau is just above the stopcock and gauge (about 1 metre above). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Even with a new regulator I've noticed my pressure fluctuating like you describe. I normally have it set for around 3.5 bar but sometimes when I look it's up to 4 or more, it's almost as if a single stage reducer is not able to adequately stabilise it at a set pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Could it be that the regulators only "regulate" when the water is flowing through them?I have a miniscule pin hole in the diaphragm of the regulator on my compressor and it behaves like that, leave it standing and the line pressure gradually rises to that of the tank.The cheapo plastic 1.8 bar ones that I am using to even out the pressure and flows across three floors have a peculiarity all of their own, they do indeed hold at 1.8 bar but have a little weep hole through which water constantly drips, not good at all, I suspect they are made to go on an outside tap before the hose so you would not really notice, I have sealed up the weep holes with a rubber sleeve and jubilee clip and now they behave like my compressor, when I open a tap I get an initial rush of mains pressure and then it drops to a steady 1.8 bar.Perhaps even the proper expensive brass ones work on the same principle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I have high pressure, at night with the chateau full at the top of the hill, it can touch 10 bars, plus high hardness with resulting deposits. As a consequence the valve seating gets corroded and the valve will not seal properly allowing a continuous drip of wxater through the security group which is nominally set at 7 bars. At the moment I have an italian reduction valve 3/4 " which has survived longer than the 1/2" french reducers.Once the seating is notched the valve is useless and difficult to take apart, easier taking hub nuts oa the front of a volkswagen; I finally resolved my curiosity by cutting one in half with a diamond disc and an angle grinder. The design is quite smart with a spool valve fitted with a flat "O" ring seating on a brass seating, on either side of the valve there are springs with one side having a screw adjustment bearing on the spring. The spool has different diameters on the high pressure and low pressure side; the low pressure side has port connecting to the larger diameter side of the spool valve so that when a tap is opened and water flows the counter acting springs control the pressure differential across the valve but when the tap is closed the pressure on the low pressure side increases immediately pressurising the larger diameter and closing the valve. If the ring and seating are in good condition then Zero flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Bonjour Chancer, here is a drawing of the one I cut in half, over the years had 2-3 of them, the weak point is the seating below the diaphragm.I'll never buy anything made by Honeywell ever again, I promise.[:P]http://products.ecc.emea.honeywell.com/france/pdf/d03-ft-fr0p1033ge23r0509.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekJ Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 Thanks for all the feedback. The position seems to be that no one is really sure whether there is a problem or not. So far I've been around the house when the chauffe-eau has been turned on and able to monitor the pressure gauge, taking steps to reduce the pressure as it has risen towards 8 bar.At this stage I'm not comfortable to leave the chauffe-eau turned on when I can't monitor the pressure eg. overnight.When we go back at the beginning of May I'll call our friendly plombier and see what he has to say. I just have this dread of the needle going through the Richter Scale and blowing every joint and fitting in its way.[blink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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