One of the things that we notice here at Plumbers Geelong is that most people lack some of the basic knowledge of how things work in the house.
Do you ever wonder how water taps work? You use them every day around the house from the kitchen to the bathroom. Lift or twist the handle and out comes the water you need. Simple!
But if you wonder how the taps actually work to get water to pour out of them, this article explains this process. The process itself is based on very simple principles of engineering and gravity.
When the tap is pulled or otherwise opened a screw will rise and pull a washer up along with it. The water pours out from the pipe and then comes out for you to use. When the tap is pushed downward or turned off, the motion of the tap pushes the screw down and this in turn cuts off the flow of water coming from the pipe.
The process works in a similar way for both hot and cold water. When you turn a hot water knob it uses the same action to deliver hot water to you. When you turn a cold water knob it gives you cold water. How does the tap know which water to give you? It pulls water from the supply to which it is connected.
So, a hot water tap pulls water that is coming from a supply that is attached to the hot water heater in the house. A cold water tap uses the same principle but draws its water from a different line which contains water that has not gone through any heating.
Screws and levers are two components that help water taps to work efficiently. When the taps are drawn on the pressure changes inside the pipes. It is greater than the air outside it so it forces gravity to work to make water go from the ground up. Ancient Romans understood this process and were able to create plumbing systems thousands of years ago.
The same principles work to deliver water through the taps in today’s houses. The force of gravity and air pressure are at the basis of how taps are capable of working even in the most sophisticated plumbing systems in the most modern homes around.
Understanding how plumbing works is a good thing. It can help you better understand why taps sometimes fail to work. If they are in need of new screws or washers, they will not do their jobs properly and you will know that they need to be fixed either by a plumber or with a little DIY.