Hey guys,
I just moved into a new apartment complex and we are having problems with the water pressure and getting hot water.
We can get hot water from one bathroom tap but nothing in the other two bathrooms or kitchen (after waiting a few minutes it gets a little warm at best).
We tried explaining to our landlord and he said that there hasn't been sun in a couple of days so therefore.... no hot water?
Four of us live in a five bedroom apartment, there must be a way to solve the problem but the landlord seems reluctant to get professional help.
Boiling hot water is coming out of one tap so there is hot water coming from somewhere, we just don't know how to get it to the rest of the house.
If anyone knows a good plumber or someone who can assess the situation (we don't know what the exact problem is) and find a solution, we would be really grateful.
Thanks in advance
Many landlords will not spend any money on property, period.
Contracting a local plumber might cause more costs and problems than it is worth.
The low cold water pressure may be the seasonal lowering of water pressure by water companies to preserve water.
This was supposed to have stopped a couple of years ago, but I had heard unsubstantiated claims that it had started again. It would not be worth you installing a pump, and pressure may go back up once rainy season starts in full.
As for you hot water, I guess that one tap is connected to a new solar heater, and the others are connected to an older system.
A quick fix would be to buy electric hot water heaters yourself, and take them with you when you leave. The simplest type is like a tap/faucet with a heater at the base that replaces your tap. They can be fitted in 5 minutes if you have a power socket in your bathroom, simple DIY job needing a screwdriver only. The one I bought on Taobao even had someone come and fit it free in the price (currently 169) detail.tmall.com/[...] OK you should not have to buy it your self, but reality is you will have to. You can get cheaper ones, but Haier is a good brand.
If you want to shower you can get similar instant water heaters or you can get the ones with a tank that you heat up before you take a shower. Apparently this type are not energy efficient and leaving them on all the time is expensive.
Again, buying on Taobao or Tmall you will get a better price and if you buy from a reputable brand you get aftersales service and in some cases installation services.
You may be able to negotiate with your landlord, if you do all the work (some are too busy or can't be bothered). If not you will have to pay, but you can take them with you or sell them, when you leave.
A bit off-topic/generic comments about these issues:
I've lived in 3 complexes during my stay here so far, and all have had an in-apartment electric water heater that delivers hot water to shower and other places in the apartment. These have all been high-rises, where I guess solar heating water on the roof for so many apartments wouldn't even be feasible?
In our latest apartment up north (in a new residential area) we are the first residents to live in. For example in child-securing balcony and other windows the landlord told us that if we have these installed on our own cost, they may compensate when we leave - if we stay fur sufficiently long time (3+ years) that is. If we move out sooner than that, they won't.
Also I want to mention the funniest in-apartment water heater that I experienced in a small hotel in Hong Kong a few years ago.
The heater was on the wall in shower space, and when you turned on hot water in the shower, it flared up a fire fed by gas outlet and started heating the water container above it.
While it wasn't sufficient to heat the air in the shower room, it felt a bit like sauna back in my home country, with open fire next to you in there.
@JanJal: Ha ha. Speaking of jury-rigged water heaters, I once stayed in a hotel in Brasilia where the shower's electrical heating element was a wire clipped directly to the underside (nozzle) of the shower head itself. The Shower of Damocles... (And it was actually a decent hotel otherwise, in the Setor Hoteleiro.)
@miealex: Pending a durable solution, there's always the fallback of an Indian-style bucket bath using water from the functioning hot water tap.
@miealex
DO IT YOURSELF (DYI)
If you have the wrenches, open open the hot water hoses for the poor water pressure faucets - you MIGHT be able to flush out the crud that's causing the drop in pressure AND you can verify if each respective hose is actually generating water pressure. Our kitchen faucet is right next to the solar water outlet and gets the absolutely worst water pressure - because it got crud in it from one of the occasional water main upgrades. Just make sure you have the usually white colored teflon plumber's tape to re-wrap the threaded joints, to help reduce leakage. Also - crappy chinese plumbing supplies from mom n pop stores - the tape helps cover up the crappy threading, which causes the slow dripping leaks.
HIRING A PSEUDO-PLUMBER
Cruise around your neighborhood and look at the various mom n pop stores that specialize in selling plumbing supplies and equipment - they MIGHT be able to refer a guy or do it themselves but it's hit and miss.
You can also ask your neighbors or the facility maintenance company for referrals (wuyi?) - but finding a "professional is really hit and miss - even with referrals - that's just personal experience. Your mileage may vary (YMMV).
We've just moved into a new apartment (a month ago now).
All of the kitchen and bathroom faucets had low water pressure.
A maintenance worker came up from the community and took off the filters from each of the faucets and found they all had coarse sand in them.
Cleaning that improved the pressure greatly.
Hey everyone. Thanks for the excellent responses. An update first, we seem to have got the hot water going around the house (many levers were turned in various directions). The only issue now is the water pressure so I'll look into cleaning the shower heads/ faucets and then go from there. Really appreciate the help guys.
They sell something that you attach to the waterhead that pushes the water out
Do you know the name of this thing or how I can find it? Thanks.
