The “Mains” Course

Water service, referred to as Irish Mains in Ireland is free, as in there is no bill for water usage. Our water comes from Lake Talt. Lough Talt (Irish: Loch Tailt) is a lake in the Ox Mountains of south County Sligo, Ireland. The lake is located between the villages of Tubbercurry and Bonniconlon on the R294 road. Lough Talt is part of the Lough Hoe Bog Special Area of Conservation, an area of montane bogland and oligotrophic lakes. Lough Talt is the largest of the lakes in the Lough Hoe Bog area. It is a glacier lake and lies at 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level and measures 40 m (130 ft) at its deepest point. Its area is about 1sq km (0.39 sq mi). The lake flows out to the Lough Talt River which eventually joins the River Moy.

The water is supplied to the house via a poly pipe, and registers 50 psi (3.4 bars) in the house. 50 psi is on average the pressure from a normal well pump system in the US.

Here is where things differ. The mains are plumbed to an attic water storage system, that is used as a gravity feed water pressure system. This is a hold over from the days before Irish Mains service, and is present in nearly ever home in Ireland today. You can learn more about this system, including pros and cons, by visiting https://www.24hourplumber.ie/attic-water-storage-tanks-guide/

I’m not a big fan of standinig water in my home, nor Legionnaires diesease, so that system is out.

Next we come to the hot water heater, which is commonly referred to as a hot-press, but really isn’t.

This engineering marvel attempts to merge the heat sources of the boiller system, an electric heating element, and a solid fuel heating stove to obtain hot water. What you are likely to get is a luke warm shower, if you are not the first person in the shower. That may explain why every shower seems to have a power shower, a tankless, instant hot, shower head installed in the showers and tubs. If you have electricity, you can always get a hot shower with a power shower.

The image below shows the basic diagram of the existing water supply (less the solid fuel stove). This will be replaced by a $202.89 tankless whole home 27Kw electric water heater.