shower and washing machine? All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[vw754]

Ive just had a new boiler fitted in the pantry,can i connect a washing machine direct to the boilers hot and cold feed or is it not a good idea?

1more question: I have a shower fitted direct to the combi boiler,when i turn taps on in the bathroom (both hot and cold) the shower stops working..........is this normal ?

[nitro23456]

better off connecting to feeds tee'd from the sink taps!

water always follows the path of least resistance and I am presuming opening the bathroom taps allows the water easier escape than the shower route.

[chris_on_tour2002]

you could connect directly to the hot and cold at the boiler but far better to do it from under the sink as nitro says.

[quote]1more question: I have a shower fitted direct to the combi boiler,when i turn taps on in the bathroom (both hot and cold) the shower stops working..........is this normal ?[/quote]

yes. that's the drawback of a combi, it can usually only feed one tap/appliance at a time. if you run both hot and cold elsewhere at the same time then its a double whammy, assuming that your whole house is now mains fed then turning the cold tap on will at least partially starve the boiler of cold water, meaning there is less available for the boiler to heat up.

this might affect your decision to connect the washing machine to the hot feed straight after the boiler. if the machine demands hot water from the boiler then everything else in the house - bath, shower, basins, kitchen sink etc will be starved of water until the machine has taken what it needs.