Water Pressure
 

Hello to all,

My house does not have sufficient water prussure and I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to adjust the pressure valve at the main inline to the house or can this valve be adjusted. Are there any laws for the regulation of water pressure to a residential home. The valve is in the basement

Thanks in advance

sefness

Sefness, is the house old or new? If it is old and you have galvanized plumbing, it is likely that you have rust in the pipes.

Do you know what kind of pipes you have? Options :

steel (magnet sticks)

copper - color of a penny, magnet will not stick

plastic, usually white.

Welcome Sterling:
To my knowledge there are no laws on how much water pressure you may have. We typically strive for at least 30psig and try to limit it to 60psig. If you turn it up to 100 or more you risk damage to your fixtures and fittings. Very few houses have the pressure adjustment available, you are very blessed.
Glenn

In my area we have a few companies who specialize in restoring water pressure by using a special machine that sucks the rust build-up out of the pipes. They use it at the faucet and it often works pretty well. Only downside is that the rust eventually builds back up, so it has to be done ever couple of years or so. The company I deal with is called 'Pressure Pro' and they charge about $100 per faucet.

Another issue could be a long horizontal run of old galvanized pipe, such as in the basement coming from the main valve. If that is rusted it should be replaced. I've often seen when the pipes "look" perfectly fine, but when taken apart you could barely see through them because of the rust blockage.

Just some thoughts.

In my former 40 year old house, this was the case. I removed a 1/2" galvanized pipe and found the center hole less than the size of a pencil, due to rust build up.