Water pressure?

[Joe Pelonio]

Maybe you live in a flat area? When i worked there it we had the Oakland and Berkeley Hills. The water flowed from a large reservoir (lake) in the Sierra Mountain foothills by gravity in 3 aqueducts to the Walnut Creek pumping plant, where pumps sent it over the hills to the local treatment plants then it's pumped on to the storage tanks on high ground. From there it flows by gravity to the homes and businesses where it can range from 40-130 psi depending on the pressure zone. Elevations within the area range from sea level to over 600'.

This is why in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire they ran out of water. When the tanks ran dry the power lines to the pumps had burned so they couldn't refill them. (since then they have installed generators at the pumping plants).

[Bonnie Campbell]

Okay, they made it out. They checked the flow without the regulator, it was 110. They had it at 40 with the pressure regulator. So I figured I'd have them boost it to 70. We'll see how that does. Blows something, we'll lower it. But still knocked down by 40 psi with the regulator, so should be good.

[Dennis Peacock]

Good move Bonnie. We have a regulator on our city water because it was peaking around 110PSI at the meter and without the regulator, well, I'm just not so sure that I'd want to be repairing faucets and toilets. We have ours set to 60PSI and this works really well for us.

[Greg Funk]

I think you may be mixing up pressure and flow rate. They aren't the same thing. The flow is more a function of the size of your pipes. You can have high static pressure but low flow if the supply pipes are too small. Houses that have hard water may get calcium build-up inside the pipes which restricts flow. That's also why your fridge takes forever to fill up a cup of water. They often use a tiny 1/4" pipe to supply the fridge and it won't fill as fast as a 1/2" pipe.

Greg

[Bonnie Campbell]

Well, whichever, psi or flow rate, it took three times as long to fill a glass of water from the fridge AFTER the regulator was installed. Now it's only about midway in time. A minute to fill a glass just wasn't acceptable when we have the water dispenser inside the fridge.

[Jim Becker]

I wish I had that problem...I'm contemplating buying a booster pump to "complement" our well!

That said, I agree with the sentiment to start at about 45-50 psi and see how that works out. Crank it to 60 if need be.

[John Newell]

Our town water is 90 psi but we never had anything blow, break or fail prematurely. However, there was no sense tempting fate. We did get some pretty severe hammering every time a valve closed, which isn't good for the plumbing.

[Jason Roehl]

I've got a good friend who is a construction supervisor with the city water department. Static pressure of water is about 0.7psi per foot. So if the top of the water column in the water tower is 100' above your shower head, you would get about 70 psi just behind nozzle, assuming no other restrictions. However, flow rate is determined by pressure and pipe diameter, and as the diameter gets smaller (over a long length of pipe), the pressure can drop due to resistance to flow.

Also, what often will blow pipes and fittings isn't necessarily the pressure itself, but the "water hammer" when something is turned on. After my friend repairs a leak in a water main, they have to crack the upstream valve to allow the main to fill before they open the valve the rest of the way (slowly, of course). What's neat to watch is when they have to do a "Hydrostop"...

[Alan Trout]

Being a home inspector I check water pressure all day long. I found one house that the water pressure was right at 145PSI. It did cause some pretty serious trouble. The T&P valve was dripping at that pressure almost ready to pop. A PEX line pulled off of the water heater and flooded the house. And still no one checked the water pressure till I got there. Pretty much anything under 80PSI is good. On my personal house it is right at 70 to 75PSI and works very well.

When water pressure gets over about 100PSI is when I have seen the most trouble with fixtures.

Good Luck

Alan

[Steve Leverich]

Jason, your friend may have slightly mis-informed you - the actual static pressure of water runs right at 0.43 psi per foot of water column, although in my job as an industrial instrumentation tech we usually refer to it as 27.65 inches of water per pound of pressure. I agree with everything else you wrote though... Steve

[Jason Roehl]

You're right, Steve. It's more likely that I mis-remembered--he told me quite some time ago.

[Lee Schierer]

You can get around that problem as well, though it's not as inexpensive.
If you look at your water meter as a slow flowing well, you can install a booster pump and a air bladder reservoir - just like a well. Then you can have the pressure and flow that you want - for as long as the reservoir holds out. And the booster pump suction might even coax a bit more flow out of the meter.

If there is sufficent city pressure but not enough flow, he may just need to install the air bladder type storage tank. The city pressure will fill the tank over time and the tank will take care of his need for more instantaneous flow. It may take some figuring to get the right size tank to meet the needs. The tank will maintain the pressure in the house during the times of increased demand.

[Ken Garlock]

One would have to be under a pretty tall column of water to get 125 PSI.
Every person I've encountered who had any additional stuff to affect their city water flow were using booster pumps not restriction regulators.


This is a new one for me.

Well Cliff, water weighs 62.4 pounds per cubic foot. Divide by 144, sq in per sq ft, and we get .433333 lbs/sq in, a foot tall. The number of of 1 sq in. columns a foot high, stacked to reach 125 lbs, is 125/.4333 = 288.46 feet. Yes, that is a lot of feet, but not totally absurd. Most water storage towers a built on a hill which in itself will increase the line pressure, and reduce the height of the water tower.

If people in an area are having water pressure problems, they should be leaving their foot prints on the local mayors desk to get the problem fixed.

[Matt Meiser]

If people in an area are having water pressure problems, they should be leaving their foot prints on the local mayors desk to get the problem fixed.

Depends on where you live. Try that in the City of Toledo and the mayor just might beat you up.

[Lee Schierer]

Our fridge water dispenser takes forever to fill a glass now.

Nearly all water dispensers on refrigerators have filters in them. If the filter is clogged, the flow will be significantly reduced. Also they are usually only serviced by 1/4" tubing which means you are going to have to wait a minute or so to fill a 16 oz glass no matter what pressure you have. Quite often the tubing gets pinched when teh appliance is shoved against the wall, restricting water flow.