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mrtelcom

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1. A neighbor bought a pressure tester after his PRV failed and he had a leak. We tested several homes in the hood, and around 30% failed ( I thought they failed to closed?). My pressure was ok.

2. A month ago and a few weeks after one, a noticeable high pressure out of the faucets, for a few seconds. Tested the pressure again and ok.

3. After another month, ,noticing the high pressure at the start of faucet use more , and my wife said this morning the shower was only lukewarm.... I did not notice later in the morning. ( Higher pressure on cold water than hot??)

The house and water heater are 12 years old, no issues to date. I do not think it is a design flaw, and am wondering if I have a PRV ,or water heater issue.

I have zero plumbing skills. :D
 
Hi mrtelcom, I am currently dealing with a bad PRV issue, and while I'm no expert, I've learned quite a bit about the PRV. What do you mean by "30% failed"? How did you determine that they failed? I suspect mine is bad because the pressure to my house is over 110psi, despite me throttling it down at the PRV. In addition, when I flush a toilet, the pressure drops significantly. On a gauge attached to my hose bib, I can see the pressure go from 110psi to about 10psi, and then slowly return to 110psi. This is a sign of a bad PRV. Your initial high pressure followed by a drop could also be a sign of a bad PRV. I've learned that they may only last 15 years or so and sometimes need to be replaced.

The PRV has nothing to do with water being lukewarm. The cold water coming into the house also goes straight to your water heater, so the pressure on the hot side should be roughly the same as the cold water pressure. The lukewarm water sounds like an unrelated issue.
 
Hi mrtelcom, I am currently dealing with a bad PRV issue, and while I'm no expert, I've learned quite a bit about the PRV. What do you mean by "30% failed"? How did you determine that they failed? I suspect mine is bad because the pressure to my house is over 110psi, despite me throttling it down at the PRV. In addition, when I flush a toilet, the pressure drops significantly. On a gauge attached to my hose bib, I can see the pressure go from 110psi to about 10psi, and then slowly return to 110psi. This is a sign of a bad PRV. Your initial high pressure followed by a drop could also be a sign of a bad PRV. I've learned that they may only last 15 years or so and sometimes need to be replaced.

The PRV has nothing to do with water being lukewarm. The cold water coming into the house also goes straight to your water heater, so the pressure on the hot side should be roughly the same as the cold water pressure. The lukewarm water sounds like an unrelated issue.

we tested around 15 homes all with the same valve and age, and 4-5 of them were running 150 plus PSI.

I agree with the lukewarm thing ,not knowing better ,that seems logical. Thanks.
 
Well, now I have water dripping hard out of the temp/pressure relief valve at the top of the water heater. I turned the water supply off, turned off the gas supply, hooked up a hose, opened the hose spigot, and then pulled the TPRV valve open and the tank is slowly draining.. ( Note this is not the PRV I mentioned above I was worried about for the whole house.

I went outside and did not see where any water from the water heater relief system had made it out.
 
Water heater failure. Possibly aided by house pressure reducer valve failure. Both are gonna get replaced... Monday. Going tankless on the water heater.

I have a high efficiency side vented 75G tank now, so the cost is very close to tankless. Otherwise I would probably not do it. We shall see....
 

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