Does anyone know how to fix the water pressure in my house?

Question

The water pressure in my house is really low. It has been fine but all of a sudden the whole house is low. I don't have a well or anything like that. I've tried cleaning out the filters in the faucets but that didn't help. Any idea what could be causing this and how to fix it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

I would say, like has been mentioned, check with your neighbors first. If all's well with them, then something else that you can check yourself is if there's any gross leaks in the piping. Go to your water meter and flip the lid open to reveal the dial. There should be a little triangle on that dial, and when water is flowing it will spin around - the greater the flow, the faster it will spin. If all the faucets & fixtures are turned off inside the house, along with all the hoses and sprinklers, etc. outside, then that little triangle should be absolutely still. If on the other hand, it's spinning fast, then there's a leak somewhere. If there's a leak, you'll want to know it's location. To isolate the house from the equation, you can shut off the valve at the house - if the triangle's still turning, then the leak's between the meter and the house - assuming the shut off valve at the house is shutting off completely, that is. If on the other hand, the triangle's stopped turning, then the leak's after the shut off valve at the house, not between the meter and the house. If you've determined that the leak is between the meter and the house, there might be a separate shut off valve for the exterior piping for your sprinklers, etc. if you can locate that valve, try turning it off - then if the triangle's stopped turning then the leak's after that valve. If you've determined that the leak's in that sprinkler piping, then you could keep it turned off temporarily, to improve the water pressure inside the house (and to save water) until it can be repaired. If you've determined that there's no leak anywhere in the system, then the cause of your decreased water pressure is elsewhere. One possibility is that, if you have a pressure reducing (regulator) valve, its inlet screen could be partially clogged or its pressure reducing mechanism has failed. In any case, for a problem like this, unless your neighbors are having the same problems, you need a good plumber - I would reccomend going to Angie's List and find a highly rated plumber in your area. Good luck!

Answer 2

There are lots of things that could be wrong. It could be your landlord not wanting you to use so much water. It could be a bad valve coming into the house. It could be pressure or lines coming into the house. It could be old piping in the house. It could be clogged strainers in the fixtures in the house. Start with the simple things you can do. Look at the strainers screwed to the spouts in your sinks. If you open them up and they are clogged they you will have to do the same for the shower. This may provide some relief. They clog whenever water is turned off and then on again because debris in the lines moves to the strainers. In many shower heads there is a flow restrictor. Sometimes it can be removed to give more flow. You have to unscrew the shower head and if it can be removed it looks like a disk with a small hole in the middle. If you can see the piping and it is copper, brass, or plastic (pex) then you will not have clogged lines but if the lines are zinc coated (galvanized) it is likely that the supply lines are reduced in diameter on the inside substantially reducing the water flow. Increasing pressure may help the flow but you may not have this option. The usual fix is to replace galvanized pipes. Your water may be supplied in several ways gravity flow from a tank outside is fairly outmoded now. Usually the water is supplied by pressure from a well through a pump, a regulator, and pressure tank, through municipal supply at high pressure that goes through a pressure regulator to be reduced in your home, or through municipal supply without any pressure regulator. You house supply should be delivered at 40 to 60 psi. You could check this with a pressure gage attached to a fitting to your outside hose connection or an inside system drain. Several of the incoming pressure issues might be resolved by the municipality and if you discover that your pressure is substandard then you might give them a call. In my area there are no municipal regulators. The system is old in an East coast large city and I have seen incoming pressure as low as 10 psi. in some areas. Even when they say the standard is 30psi this is often not enough to reach 3ed floor showers. The fix is to install a pressure pump to increase pressure. But sometimes the problem is that the supply line from the city pipes to the house is bad and needs to be replaced. The pump is a way to work around this that is sometimes less costly. Sometimes the house supply line is replaced and increased in size. If the incoming water has a regulator then this or even the incoming valve could be bad. Many incoming valves are known as "gate valves" and these have a tendency to jam in the closed or open position. It would take a plumber to diagnose and repair the problem. The last type of incoming water supply is from well water. That is where you have a pressure tank in the basement and a pump and a regulator. As you said you were in a City and the the problem was with them I will leave this discussion aside for another question.

Answer 3

Good you checked the areators. Check the main line shut off valve going into your house. Make sure it is on all the way. if work is being done to the citys main lines, you could have gotten some debris in your main line. Check everything that you can get water from inside and outside your house. If your pressure is consistantly low, i would look for something in your lines from the meter all the way to the first manifold of your houses system. More houses on the line will drop pressure but unless the load on the line has substantually increased, you shouldnt notice that much of a difference. You need to do some trial and error investigating. follow the pressure problem from where it starts to where you find a fixture or hose bibb that seems ok. Sometimes your main valve will get debris or built up hard water particles in it and cause this problem too. good luck.

Answer 4

You need to check with your neighbors if they have seen the same thing. If so, contact your utility.

If not, call a plumber.

You were on the right track by checking your faucet screens first. If you have a whole house filter, that would be next. But I can't think of anything elde that would cause such an immediate drop in pressure from city water (and staying low) that is internal to your house. Rust, buildup and the like are usually slow.

Answer 5

Accepting that you don't have a broken main and the piping in your house isn't corroded shut, sometimes City systems lose pressure after large building cycles. More houses equals a decrease in pressure. If your city says it will increase infrastructure(don't hold your breath) you may be able to wait it out. There is a fairly simple, yet not inexpensive, fix. You will have to install an inline pressure tank. You can buy them in various sizes and levels of pressure(35psi-70psi). Most people will say that I am crazy. I lived in South Jersey for a while and our city pressure went down to 30 psi due mainly to a new county courthouse and new construction. I was used to 45psi and wanted the same thing. I got it with a holding and pressure tank in my basement. It made my life wonderful as I love my morning shower. It isn't cheap. It cost me $1,200 in 1994. It was a significant selling point when we moved as our city's pressure problems were well known.

Answer 6

Look outside, probably in front of your house, where the water line comes into your house. There should be a faucet there that controls water flow into your house. Make sure it is turned all the way on. If that doesn't work, call your water company.

Answer 7

In order for all the houses in your neighborhood to have enough water at a constant pressure the supply water line has a very high pressure and there is a pressure regulator at each house. I don't know about your supplier but in our area the regulator belongs to the home owner and is their responsibility to maintain. These regulators have moving parts and are subject to fail. It should be connected to the outlet side of your water meter and in some (maybe most) cases is buried beside your meter. You can search "home water pressure regulators" and some helpful sites will come up. One of them is: http://www.atlantisplumbing.com/Regulators.htm ...Good Luck...

Answer 8

Most homes have a pressure regulator on the incoming supply line,this regulator may be bad or just needs adjustment,rarely a valve goes bad and peices of it falls into the pipe.Call your water supplier to see if they will come out and check your pressure to your meter.A plumber would be able to help you.

Answer 9

It's not likely this is something you can fix. You need to contact whoever supplies your water (state, county, whatever) and tell them about the problem. You could have a water main leak near your house that's causing the problem.

Answer 10

if all water supplies are up all the way such as sink s and shower then you need a new pump its shot
water pump