Water Pressure - "Still"

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OldernDirt

OldernDirt

Active Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2017
Messages
28
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Location
City of the Big Shooters - Chicago, Ill-ANNOY
This has me thoroughly stumped. After 14 years in my home, bought new, I'm having problems with the water pressure. Open 2 faucets, shower or use the dishwasher/washing machine and the pressure drops to almost nothing. I've opened/closed every valve in the water system, no difference. I have only a water meter in the basement where the water comes into the house. I'm told by the village it's working properly. There was a water shut off in the parkway that was sunken, the village repaired that. Still low pressure if more than 1 faucet/appliance calls for water.
The only thing that has been changed in the water system is a new Hot Water Tank. Same gallon sized tank as the original, installed professionally. Any ideas what could be causing this aggravating problem.
 
When he turned the water back on after replacing the hot water heater, did he turn it all the way on?
 
Do you have an outside hose bibb that you can check the water pressure with nothing else on? You should have at least
55-60 pounds of pressure. Will need a water guage to do this. This will let us know if your meter is ok coming into the
house. In someplaces the water dept will check this for you.
 
TomFOhio said:
Do you have an outside hose bibb that you can check the water pressure with nothing else on? You should have at least
55-60 pounds of pressure. Will need a water guage to do this. This will let us know if your meter is ok coming into the
house. In someplaces the water dept will check this for you.
Click to expand...

Ill have to contact the village Monday and see if they'll check this for me. If not I'll have to find someplace to rent one or call a plumber in to do it.
 
As already mention you should definitely check your water pressure.
Now what you should know, and hopefully what the water department or plumber should know is...
Assuming there is no flow when the pressure test is taken, that is considered static pressure. Static pressure can be high(for example 60 psi) even when being fed through a pin hole. In other words the important pressure reading is while there is flow. (referred to as dynamic pressure)
Now it does make a difference how much flow there is and what the pipe size is that it's flowing through(due to pressure loss), so to begin with you should try to locate the pressure gauge as close as possible to the water meter.
Keep in mind that if all water demands in the house seem to affect the pressure drastically, chances are it's closer to the common pipe feeding all those demands.
I can't get into it too much more then this, without it possibly getting confusing.
Also keep in mind that there is likely a restriction somewhere in the system, which could be before or after the water meter. One example is an older gate valve that doesn't fully open due to corroded or malfunctioning internals. Pretty obvious there's a problem when the handle keeps rotating when they're opened. Quite common on these cheaper gate valves.
Let us know how you make out. If it isn't obvious where the problem lies(after pressure testing), you may have to sketch a diagram showing water pipe routing with all valves shown, as well as the valve types.(globe valves, ball valves or gate valves.)

EDIT: You can pick up a hose connection type pressure gauge for $10 to $20
 
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PlumbGate said:
Including and especially the main to the house? These are often frozen up and difficult to turn on all the way do to disuse.

Get one of these for $5.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004RACK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Click to expand...
I'll have to order one of these and get back here after I hook it up and see what the pressure is. One outside faucet is about 1 -2 feet away from where the main water line comes into the house, it goes directly into the water meter then branches off to the other parts of the house in the basement ceiling. All those valves were opened and closed and seem to be working, then, because the hot water tank was replaced, it was the first valve I tested to make sure it was opening and it, too, seems to be working properly.
I did open and close every valve on the water lines. The main where it come is was the first one I did. The valve seems to be opening and closing, the handle has a slight resistance like it's moving. All the other other valves seem to be operating correctly.
 
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In case you didn't understand what I was trying to tell you above, if the problem is due to a restriction such as a partially opened valve, a pressure test with no flow will not tell you much. But we'll take it one step at a time.

If you flow the outside faucet, you mentioned above, and the flow/pressure out of it is also noticeably reduced, particularly when another faucet is opened elsewhere in the house, the chances are good that the main valve is the culprit. Assuming it's a gate valve and not a ball valve.
 
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After 6 months of tinkering around with every valve, pressure checks and just down right cussing I've finally found out what was causing the water pressure problem I'd had. I'm embarrassed to say I overlooked an "obvious" part of the system and never even thought about it causing the problem. The water softener! Remembering I'd "not" had that one thing looked at, I called the company that installed it 14 years ago figuring I'm probably going to need to replace it. Tech came out, inspected it, found the problem and said it didn't need to be replaced, just needed some parts replaced. So instead of having to pay who knows how much for a whole new system, just a couple hundred dollars and 45 minutes of his time and all is well.
 
Well it was good of you to come back and share the problem/solution with us.
It so often happens that an original poster leaves and never comes back with an update or notice of resolution.
Thanks.
 
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