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Cobra: Water Pressure & Flow – How Does It Impact Your Experience?

Water pressure is something we are all well acquainted with. We have all experienced trying to have a shower when someone in the household is trying to use the water elsewhere – either your shower water takes a drastic temperature change, or you’re needing to run circles around the water spray to rinse off! We hope you pictured that last one.

You can invest in the most expensive taps with the best technology, but if your home or the area you live in experiences fluctuations in water pressure, you could experience difficulties with the water flowing through your taps.

Did you know however, that there is a difference between water flow and water pressure? We promise to not get too technical here, but it’s important to understand the difference as both impact your water experience and water flow can be impacted by water pressure.

Water flow

Simply put, water flow is basically how much water comes out of your water pipes and water pressure is how fast the water comes out of your water pipes.

Water flow is really just the amount of water that is flowing through your pipes when you open the taps and is typically determined by the width of the water pipes leading into your home. So in fact, when you experience a drop in water supply because other plumbing systems are being used in the house, this is not related to your water pressure – it’s actually your water flow!

Water Pressure

Water pressure is the force in which water travels through the water pipes leading into your home. An easy way to picture this is that areas with water towers situated at greater altitudes – such as in Johannesburg – will experience higher water pressure than areas where their water towers are situated at lower altitudes such as Durban and Cape Town, who are at sea level.

Gravity also affects your water pressure so if you alter the positioning of any of your plumbing pipes or taps – you could alter the water pressure in your home.

Water flow is typically adjusted by turning the tap mechanism to release more water through the tap. Water flow can however be affected by narrowing inside the water pipes – such as in the case of a sand or sediment build-up.

Water pressure is not that easy to adjust as this can be dependent on the area that you reside. Usually if one household is experiencing low water pressure, neighbouring homes will be too. Municipal supply pressure in South Africa ranges between 500 and 100kPa.

Broken pressure regulators, closed shut-off valves, water leaks and blocked pipes can affect your water pressure. Low water pressure will impact the flow of water from your taps and can impact your water experience.

How to check your water pressure…

The easiest way to test your water pressure is to call out your local plumber who will make use of a pressure gauge tool. It is also possible to purchase these yourself and to fix them to a tap in your home – obviously we advise consulting a professional for the job if you aren’t proficient in plumbing DIY.

Water Flow and Pressure on your Experience…

There’s no doubt that both water flow and water pressure will directly impact the water experience in your home. You can invest in the best rain shower head for example, but if you experience low water pressure you’re not going to experience the dramatic waterfall affect that you would have expected.

If your area is known to experience low water pressure, there are adjustments you can make in your home to get the best out of your water pressure.

Ways to increase water flow in low pressure circumstances… 

If you live in an area that experiences low water pressure, your choice of tap and shower fittings is very important as you can either improve your water flow or worsen it depending on what choices you make.

Choose the right shower head

A rainfall shower head is going to require a much higher water pressure to provide the water flow that you would need to make this shower head an enjoyable experience.

The Cobra Breathe Shower, provides an invigoratingly powerful shower experience or a pattering rainfall experience depending on what you prefer.

The new Cobra shower collection caters for low water pressure water systems too.

A hand shower is another great option for a household with low water pressure as you are able to direct the spray of water where you need it on your body during your shower. A great option is the Cobra Pause Shower that provides a powerful hand shower experience.

The Cobra Recess is a compact and efficient shower experience which will provide an invigorating shower spray even in lower water pressure systems.

Clean your shower heads 

Sometimes a build-up of limescale can clog the water holes in your shower head which will directly impact the flow of water from your shower head.

Simply cleaning the shower head by unscrewing it and rinsing out any sediment build-up inside the shower head or gently rub the shower nozzles on the outside of the shower head.

Whilst low water pressure certainly impacts the water experience in your home, there are ways and means to mitigate a poor water flow in your home and get the best out of the water pressure available to you.

Touch Cobra kitchen taps, bathroom mixers and sanitaryware with your everyday moments or get inspired by the latest trends, tips, and decor advice on Cobra Engage | Cobra Bathroom & Kitchen Taps (lixil.co.za)

 

 

 

 


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