Hot answers tagged water-pressure
25
This is an effective trick a plumbing contractor once told me.
Go to your local home improvement store and buy a cheap shower head (the one I picked up cost $1.50). If you look down inside of the showerhead you'll see a washer which constricts the water flow. If you take a drill and enlarge the hole, thereby increasing flow, the water pressure will ...
13
In the U.S., shower heads are required by government regulation to restrict water flow in order to save water and energy. By law, they must deliver less than 2.5 gallons per minute. For this reason, many shower heads will deliver less than ideal flow and/or pressure. To get around the law, and benefit those with less-than-stellar water pressure, many ...
12
Look for something like this.
near or on the water meter. This is a pressure reducing valve, and it's used by some municipalities to control the pressure entering to house. They are adjustable, so the one in your house might be set too low.
If you have a manifold setup on the PEX system, check to make sure the shutoffs on the manifold are fully open. You ...
12
Low pressure can be caused by old galvanized pipe, which often build up deposits causing the water to be restricted.
Another cause of low pressure can be incorrect pipe size. I like to run a 3/4" trunk line with 1/2" legs to fixtures (which I think is pretty common).
Some houses have pressure reducing valves on the supply line, which are used to control ...
8
I say BFP first.
The backflow preventer must be installed before any point in the system where the line becomes "open" to the introduction of pollutants that would make the water unsafe for drinking (fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, animal wastes, bacteria, and other things you generally find in your topsoil). While a pressure reducer's basic operation ...
8
The usual remedy is to install a water-pressure regulator (aka. water-pressure–reducing valve) where the water line enters the building:
They cost about $70, and the plumber should be able to install it in less than an hour. But since you live in an apartment, this is probably something the landlord or condo management company would have to arrange.
...
7
9 times out of 10, like Tester mentions, this is going to be the aerator. Unscrew it, run some water without it, and clean it before screwing it back on. There's all kinds of stuff that gets knocks around in the pipes when water is shutoff and things are added or replaced in the plumbing system, and the best place for them to end up is the kitchen sink ...
7
If the cold water pressure is good, then you are right about the shower head not being the problem.
Check the hot water shut off valve feeding the tub to assure it is opened fully.
Also if you have good hot water pressure at the vanity and are sure shut off valve is fully open, the problem may be in the mixing valve that feeds the shower head. It's not ...
7
Not clear what the reason for the question is. However, nominal water pressure for most residential homes is in the range of 40-70 psi (pounds per square inch). It can vary due to the distance from the home to the water source (such as a water tower), how much water is being used by surrounding homes (higher usage will lower the pressure), the capacity of ...
7
Clogged line
There could be a clog in the lines feeding some of the sprinklers, or clogged up sprinkler heads.
Remove all the sprinkler heads (the procedure will vary based on the type of heads).
Inspect and clean the heads.
Turn the system on.
If you don't notice any dirt or gunk coming out, and the pressure does not increase in the low flowing ...
6
If you're up for it, I would install a valve in the wall while you have the water shut off. When you're done, you'll have a separate shutoff for the fridge and your bathroom available again. To make it look nice, I'd go for a valve box that you mount in the wall:
6
I'm going to assume it's a typical gate valve, and also since you said main water valve I'll assume it's the main shutoff just before the meter.
With these assumptions in mind, I'm going to say you will have to call your local municipality. The water company does not allow (or like) home owners to tamper with anything near (and defiantly not before) the ...
6
One thing to check before replacing items is the inline filter (if present). When my shower was performing poorly, I unscrewed the head and found a small mesh screen in the line that was clogging up. I cleaned it out and screwed everything back together to find my pressure right back where I expected it. :)
6
If you are on a municipal system and have pressure that high, you quite likely already have a pressure reducing valve (PRV) installed near your water meter. The International Plumbing Code requires PRVs on any water supply over 80psi. If this is the case, your PRV may just need adjustment. As they age, the spring regulating the device's operation can soften. ...
4
Is it the water pressure for the whole bathroom, or just the shower that's sub-par? Before I bought a house, my last apartment had really poor pressure in the shower, but the bathtub faucet was fine. I removed the shower head to see if that was the cause, and sure enough, there was plenty of water pressure in the shower, it was just the cheapo shower head ...
4
The part that jumped out at me is this: "4" well with a submerged pump and a pressure tank in the garage."
How big is your pressure tank? My guess is that the greater water draw of a 1/2 or 5/8 inch hose can drain the tank in 15 minutes. The washer or shower has a much lower flow rate in gallons per minute used than a hose.
When the pressure is low from ...
4
Check the main shutoff valve, where the water comes in the house; it may be partially closed; close it, then open again. Also check the screen on the hose, it may be full of gunk. You may have a faulty pressure regulator, you can check your pressure easily with an inexpensive gauge
4
Adjusting the whole-house water pressure is unlikely to solve this problem, simply because you set your shower temperature based on some initial balance of hot and cold. When other people draw cold water only, the pressure difference will still have the potential to affect your shower temperature.
Instead, you should get a pressure balanced valve or shower ...
4
The lucklihood is that it will reduce the pressure throughout the house significantly, especially if more than one faucet is running at once.
It is also possible that the softener might not work correclty due to the reduced pressure, or that the output pressure will be even less than expected.
I would think that hard water for a couple extra days would ...
4
I would think you would need the backflow valve first. I don't think it maters much for operating, but I think the water co. might want it that way.
Are you regulating the water pressure to your whole house? Or just the irrigation system? I ask because if you are doing the house, then you need to adjust the air pressure in your expansion tank on the water ...
4
The hose clamp is right out. All you'll do is crack something -- if you're lucky, right away.
Likewise trying to inject PVC cement (705) is not a good idea. Even if you manage to plug the leaks, the majority of the joint is compromised. It will eventually fail, and the law practically says it will fail 2 hours after you've left for a 2 week vacation, ...
4
If you have well water, you almost certainly have a pressure tank. The well pump runs until the pressure in the tank (and the overall system) is up to a predesignated level, then shuts off. The tank pressure then pushes water through the system until the pressure drops to a lower predetermined level. Then the pump motor kicks in again. This is supposed to ...
3
I would believe the pump isn't keeping up with demand and the pressure tank is supplementing it for the first 15 minutes.
Where I live the pump can run at full steam and the pressure tank is used for reducing the number of times the pump turns on and off.
Test - Turn off the pump attach a hose closest to the pump and drain the water tank. Leaving the ...
3
Blockage of some sort is probably a pretty good guess. Trying to think of other solutions though since that doesn't seem to be it...
There's a chance that the plumber "fixed" the pressure reducing value (PRV) on your mainline, although that seems less likely since your other fixtures aren't affected. However, depending on the size of the line running to ...
3
What type of faucet do you have? If you have a pull-out faucet then you can detach the pull-out head from the hose (that reaches down under the sink) and see if the water pressure is good at that point. There are small parts in the pull-out faucet that also could have caught some debris (although cleaning them out may be a challenge). But at least you ...
3
If the ice maker if refilling quickly after making a batch of ice, then the problem will likely be in the valve in the door dispenser or some kind of blockage in the line leading there.
The first easy fix that comes to mind is an ice buildup, since I've seen that wreck havoc on in door dispensers. You can try turning off the fridge and taking a hair dryer ...
3
The problem ended up being a mineral buildup around the air nozzle. I poked through that with a drill bit (after letting the pressure drop to zero). Once the nozzle was clear, I could use the air pump.
However, it looks like there is no bladder at all (or it has a massive rip, not just a tiny leak). The tank empties completely, and no amount of pumping ...
3
For yard sprinklers (irrigation) this is usually figured the other way around. Find out what your water supply is capable of, then build a system which will work well within that. If you have an existing system and you're trying to find an estimate without measuring... every system is different. There's not a standard pressure.
To find our what your ...
3
Sorry to hear about your "odor" problem. Maybe there is a local public fountain you can take a dip into!!!
However, the problems you describe are fairly common, but may be tricky to isolate. Let's try some basics:
Relieve the pressure from the bladder completely. Let the well pump fill the tank completely and bleed any air from the system using the ...
3
Here is what I found. I went to the hardware store and located two of the replacement valve cartridge made by Delta. Reading the back of them I found that one was for faucet made after 2005 and the other was for faucet made before 2006. Being that my house was built in 2000 I went for the one made before 2006. I then replaced the after market cartridge ...
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