Water fed Systems

Stored System (basic explanation).

A stored system uses the incoming cold water mains to feed and fill a huge tank for storage. This tank is normally sat very high up in a property, usually in the loft space. Water is supplied to the taps from this tank, so even if you isolate the water supply the taps will still run for some time after. If the tank is big it can take 20-30 minutes for them to empty and for the flow from your taps cease. This means that really you should where isolating valves are if you don’t have a stored system like this.
So if your home does not use stored water you need to know where the valves are that will turn this water off immediately. Belgravia Plumbers are a professional service who know these types of systems.

Mains System (basic explanation).

All cold water in high pressure system, comes directly from a main supply, so turning off the main stop tap in this system will stop a tap from producing water almost straight away. The cold (main) water is also used to push your hot water from the hot taps. When you turn off the main stop, it will isolate the pressure from the hot water, so there is no hot water at the tap. Without the cold water mains pressure to push hot water around, it wont reach the taps and remains in the hot water cylinder (if fitted). Most homes have a mix of both, mains and stored fed water, for example, cold water is mains fed to the kitchen then delivered from a storage tank to the bathroom, with all the hot water coming from a stored supply. A Belgravia Plumber is trained to work on both systems. An important advantage of a high pressure system is that isolating the main stop tap will stop all hot and cold water flow straight away. The disadvantage is that a large volume of water will leak out if you don’t know where the main stop is to isolate.