Had a neighbor say he had a pipe burst and cause a flood in his house and the plumber said his water pressure was too high. I checked mine after hearing this and it reads about 95 psi, which from my Google searching and YouTube video watching is too high. Apparently I need a pressure regulator and an expansion tank to treat this, but my new construction home (2002) has never shown any ill effects and I don't want to screw up the nice shower (if reducing the pressure would give a weak shower flow), but I also know it's better for ones appliances and such. Anyone had these issues before?
There may be a regulator on the meter itself. I had the opposite issue with my house, and a phone call to the water company fixed it the next day. Give them a call and see if they will turn it down a bit, I think normal range is 60 to 70 psi iirc.
I don't know if I have high water pressure, but local code has changed in the last couple of years so that I had to have a pressure tank installed when the water heater was replaced...I figured it was just another way to pad the bill.
I have a10 year old house. There's a pressure reducing valve just past where the water line comes into my house. Turn the screw to adjust pressure in house. It looks like this:
I've never heard of pressure tanks for people who have city water.... Seems odd. Guess it'd work the same as those of us who have well water though...
They are talking about an expansion tank. The system becomes a closed system with the installation of either a check valve or pressure reducing valve and it could cause a problem when thermal expansion occurs. Pretty standard anymore.
So crank it up if your pipes can handle it! I want a pressure increase but that would take adding a pump in line to our system
That doesn't mean you meet current code. When your water heater heats up water the pressure in the domestic system increases. The possibility exists that if the pressure relief valve on the water heater fails and the pressure becomes too high the domestic water system can explode. Google exploding water heater if you want to see what it looks like. It can be bad news.
An adjustable pressure reducing valve at the meter is the best way to go. Or you can install one in a small valve box after the meter if you have an outdoor spigot which splits off from your service main before the pipe enters the house. If you install the prv after the split, then you can retain full pressure for this outdoor spigot, which can be nice. Small diameter copper and hdpe pipe can handle hundreds of pounds of pressure generally, and high pressure is very unlikely to cause a leak on its own. Your appliances don't like the high pressure at all though. Higher static pressure in your plumbing system can lead to leaks down the road from the pipe moving and rubbing on studs, etc when you suddenly turn on and off water and the water hammer moves the pipes in the wall slightly. A lower static pressure will reduce / eliminate this. God help you if you have water pipes embedded in the slab.
I modified an underperforming shower head in my last house. Standard water pressure is sufficient to get a ridiculous shower!
I have all the faucets in our office building bathroom set up so the outlet screen is just tight enough no one notices. Allow me to take them off to bypass the stupid eco flow control in them and actually get enough water to wash my hands.
