water pressure problem following minor repair

[jaw444]

Am i right in understanding that this is not something i can try to adjust myself to try to get the pressure back where it was?

[LiQuId]

What havasu means is that if you have nothing consuming water, No sprinklers running, no fixtures such as sinks, toilet, washing machienes Etc running then your water meter should not be moving as there should be no water passing through it, if it IS spinning under these circumstances then your piping is leaking somewhere and since youève not noticed water damage it would be likely under the house.

the guage you have pictured can be attached to an exterior hose bib, then you turn the hose bib on and read the pressure.

P.Ressure R.eleif V.alves, are ( in canada ) recentlly changed and referred to as Safety releif valves due to the confusion resulting from the 2 valves having the same acronym

[LiQuId]

srry for double post.. just saw your recent question..

If you adjust it yourself and have it too high, YOU are responsiblle for the damages done, if a plumber does it they wilkl set it up correctlly and ( though highly unlikely ) if they mess it up their insurance covers you.

I would have it replaced knowing that it will not be an issue further.

[jaw444]

Liquid, thanks for the explanations. This was checked a year ago by my friend and the needle was moving but it wasn't spinning. It was checked by the plumber when he was here to replace the PRV and he didn't see any problem--at least i think he would've told me if he saw a problem. It was wet in the area of the DWP gauge, but he said it was probably from the sprinklers.

As for adjusting the pressure myself, ...ok. i was thinking i could adjust it, within whatever the safe range is, and try to get the pressure back up and save on a plumbing bill that i expect will be some hundreds of dollars (2 hours). I was waiting for pay day on the 30th to get a $400 brake job, so that's where i'm coming from. I expect i will have to get the valve replaced so that it won't be an ongoing problem--maybe it's not a problem, on the phone he wasn't sure and said he wanted to come and check it, and he suspected it was the 'regulator.'

I adjusted the pressure on the backyard faucet once, that's why i got the gauge. I think it was the first plumber i had who told me how to do it, it's been a few years since then. I never did it again, so now i don't remember how i did it. As far as just looking at what the pressure is, if i screw the gauge on the bib and turn on the water, i would be able to read the pressure, right? Does it matter how high i turn up the water? just a little, or a lot, or does it matter?

thanks

[LiQuId]

yes you would be able to read the pressure, the pressure will be the same either full open or throttled.



Disclaimer: This is IF you choose to adjust water pressure..

attach the guage to the hose bib... open the bib and read the pressure, adjust the PRV. slightly, overdoing this is bad bad news .. screw the screw in to increase pressure, out to decrease, try a quarter turn first and then verify the pressure increase or decrease at the hose bib guage (leave the guage on and the valve open while adjusting the prv )

DO NOT GO IN EXCESS OF 75 PSI under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES the acceptablle limit is actually 79 psi ( 550 kpa ) but you should stay well away from this, it is a common mosconception that pressure is what you seek when dealing with fixtures. I remedy this with this example.

lets pretend you have 2 showers, one is 1 psi and 50 gpm (gallons per minute flow ) the other is 50 psi and 1 gpm ... which shower do you prefer to use..

[jaw444]

Originally Posted by LiQuId

...

DO NOT GO IN EXCESS OF 75 PSI under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES the acceptablle limit is actually 79 psi ( 550 kpa ) but you should stay well away from this, it is a common mosconception that pressure is what you seek when dealing with fixtures. I remedy this with this example.

lets pretend you have 2 showers, one is 1 psi and 50 gpm (gallons per minute flow ) the other is 50 psi and 1 gpm ... which shower do you prefer to use..

Thanks for this information. So, with the example, i would rather have the first one, 50 gpm (if i understand the terms right). But how do i get or adjust that?

Like, i used have waterpik shower massage for years, and then they stopped making them because of the water restriction laws (i think). they made a compliant version but it was nowhere near what it was before.

At my house, until the recent repair, my shower was just right, but borderline--is this called flow rate? Anyway, whatever it's called, i was calling it pressure, but whatever it's called, it was just right.

since the plumber replaced the leaking relief valve, the shower is not satisfactory.

I have been using a showerhead that increases gpm (i think). It was sold on ebay for a long time, but not any more. That shower head has made the shower work properly, as far as rinsing off soap, getting the hair wet down to the scalp, and feeling good. It is not a really strong shower which is what i had in my apartment, that water came out very forceful in all fixtures. When i moved to my house, i found that the shower was not nearly as strong but i put the special shower head on it, and that increased it just enough.

Now, even with the modified shower head, it's too weak to get my hair wet, it's difficult to get soap off, it doesn't easily reach all over, it's a poor experience, it takes longer, which probably means it uses more water, and i just want it to be fixed back like it was.

I appreciate any information that can help me with this. The plumber is coming today and i don't want to pay him hundreds of dollars and still have the shower be like it is now, and that worries me. I had the whole house repiped believing that the pressure or flow rates would be better but really saw no change. that was a lot more than a few hundred, so i wish i knew ways of giving things the best chance to work out right.

I wish i could fix this myself--it's not a good feeling when right after a repair, i have a worse problem. But i take your words to heart and don't want to create more problems by doing something wrong. If i adjust the pressure myself, i will be very careful.

thanks very much, i was watching some you tube videos where they showed how to adjust the pressure, but as you say, doing it too much is risky at best so before i would do something like that, i would want to have a lot of info and opinions.

When the plumber comes, can he test the shower and measure the flow rate, and then after the repair, measure it again and make sure it's substantially more? what tool or gauge measures flow rate from a fixture?

[havasu]

I'm going to throw in my two cents and if it has been done already, I apologize. It seems as if your primary complaint is the lack of flow in your shower? When anyone works on existing plumbing, the sediment broken free from wrenching follows the path of least resistance.

Have you pulled your shower head to confirm the holes are not blocked with sediment? When I re-piped my house a few years ago, all of the sediment went directly into the shower valves and shower head, completely stopping the flow. Ten minutes later, after pulling the valve and shower head apart, I was back to great flow.

[jaw444]

Originally Posted by havasu

I'm going to throw in my two cents and if it has been done already, I apologize. It seems as if your primary complaint is the lack of flow in your shower? When anyone works on existing plumbing, the sediment broken free from wrenching follows the path of least resistance.

Have you pulled your shower head to confirm the holes are not blocked with sediment? When I re-piped my house a few years ago, all of the sediment went directly into the shower valves and shower head, completely stopping the flow. Ten minutes later, after pulling the valve and shower head apart, I was back to great flow.

Havasu, thanks for that info! The plumber did come and right away he saw that the valve with the big black handle that turns on and off the water to the house was almost all the way closed--so apparently that's how it was left when he came out the last time to fix the leaky relief valve. So no repair was needed, just opening (or closing?) the valve. I didn't check the shower because i would need to get into the shower to test it, but the sink faucet in that bathroom normally came out too strong and i always would be careful to only turn it on a little to avoid splashing, but after the problem started, it came out very weakly, so i just tested that and it was back like before. if the shower is still weaker than before, i will do what you described! It's so good to have some knowledge.

btw he checked my pressure. The City pressure was 120 and the house pressure was 70.

[havasu]

Your water pressure is more than adequate. Sounds like you got this problem licked. Let us know what, if anything else you had to do to increase your pressure to the shower. This forum is read by numerous others who usually have similar problems and your responses are appreciated by all!

[LiQuId]

glad to hear that you've remedied the problem, the water that comes out of a fixture is expressed in
GPM. ( gallons per minute ) and is referred to also as flow rate, and a half throttled valve would definatelly affect the flow rate.

thanks for the feedback