Your Homes Water Pressure

People love the feel of strong pressure from their shower or faucets.

Let’s talk first about high water pressure in your home.

If you notice that strange things are happening in your home that are not normal. Toilets start to ghost flush or run, pipes are clunking or banging, or you notice that the pressure from a faucet is stronger than normal. You probably have high water pressure.

The water comes into your home through a water meter from the city, through a shutoff valve and hopefully a pressure regulator into the water piping in the floors, ceilings, walls of your home. The piping and fixtures in your home do not like high water pressure. Bad things happen with high water pressure.

A water pressure regulator is like the heart in your body. The heart regulates pressure throughout your body; just like a water pressure regulator regulates the pressure in the water system of your home. If you have high blood pressure, bad things happen to your body. The same is true with a bad water pressure regulator.

Your water pressure regulator is normally in the garage or just outside the house. The regulator is a brass cone shaped devise.

How do I know my water pressure regulator is bad? Go to your local hardware store and buy a water pressure gauge. Go to a hose bib/spigot that you know is after the pressure regulator; back of the home is best. Screw on the gauge, open the bib/spigot and read the pressure reading. The pressure reading should not be higher than 80PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch). If you have a high reading your regulator is bad and should be replaced.

The city water district must have higher pressure and volume to supply neighborhoods, therefore it is not uncommon to see 115 to 150 Psi coming into a house when the regulator is bad, or a regulator was never installed.

If you have high water pressure get it repaired today. Most of the floods or major leaks in a home are the result of high-water pressure.