Crazy County Water Pressure

[Dan Lamb]

REPOWEL HIT IT RIGHT ON THE NAIL HEAD , I WORKED IN WATER DEPT FOR 20 years INSTALLING MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF WATER METERS AND INSTALLING BACKFLOW PREVENTERS FOR PROTECTION OF BACKPRESSURE OR BACK SIPHONAGE if yo have 110 lbs plus you should put two PRESSURE REGULATORS IN LINE , WITH A PSI GAUGE DOWNSTREAM OF EACH ONE TO MONITOR IF ONE FAILS AND ALSO STEP UP ONE SIZE BECAUSE THEY CAN EFFECT FLOW NOT PRESSURE, ALSO DID BACK FLOW PREVENTERS , THEY DO NOT REGULATE PRESSURE ALTHOUGH THERE IS A SLIGHT PRESSURE DROP ACROSS EACH CHECK ON INTERNAL MOVING CHECK VALVES , WE HAD 4000 valves in our system ranging from 1/2’’ to 12 ‘’ REQUIRED BY STATE OF CA TO BE TESTED ANNUALLY BY CERTIFIED TESTER , GOOD CONVERSATION ,NOR CAL DAN

 

[turnkey4099]

???? How does one go about that? My only PRV and most residentials have one on the water heater, that and the cold water tank are both under constant pressure. A PRV not under pressure can't do its job. Or am I missing something?

 

[lilranch2001]

???? How does one go about that? My only PRV and most residentials have one on the water heater, that and the cold water tank are both under constant pressure. A PRV not under pressure can't do its job. Or am I missing something?

He is saying isolate the gauge with a valve so its not getting beat up 24/7, only open the valve when you read the gauge, then close it and relieve pressure

 

[Dan Lamb]

???? How does one go about that? My only PRV and most residentials have one on the water heater, that and the cold water tank are both under constant pressure. A PRV not under pressure can't do its job. Or am I missing something?

Ron , you GOT it , a PRV is made to be under constant PRESSURE or how could IT REGULATE THE PRESSURE Dan .

 

[MossRoad]

People are mixing up a Pressure Relief Valve and a gauge.

 

[turnkey4099]

He is saying isolate the gauge with a valve so its not getting beat up 24/7, only open the valve when you read the gauge, then close it and relieve pressure

I KNEW I was missing something. Overlooked the "gauge" My bad.

 

[lilranch2001]

I KNEW I was missing something. Overlooked the "gauge" My bad.

I missed first read, then I re read it and caught it.

 

[Dan Lamb]

Hey Guys , I forgot to mention something . If you install a guage spend a little extra and Get a oil filled guage we used them in our system for decades and they can handle water hammer and alot of abuse , we had some that were up to 250 PSI. They CAN be under PRESSURE constantly . Please don’t buy these cheap $10.00 guage at the hardware store they wont last AS I have replaced dozens over the years .Great Topic Nor Cal Dan

 

[Beltzington]

Addendum

In the interest of full disclosure my neighbor brought the WP gauge back today, when we had hooked it up earlier I did not have my reading glasses and he told me it was 150psi. Looking at the gauge today with my glasses on he obviously misread the gauge. Rechecked my non-regulated pressure and it was 125psi and my regulated was 65psi, almost exactly what it was when I installed a PRV a couple years ago.

Good discussion, I was very surprised to hear some line pressure exceeds 200psi.

 

[Richard]

For all these years living here, I always thought I had (for example) a killer shower.....

Reading this thread made me recall my PSI levels...went to go verify and my pressure gauge is sitting around 40 right now (was covered by something) As I recall, it turns off around 45 psi.

Been working great for us and never had any water issue.

The killer shower..... (gads I love it) is fed by a 3/4" hot and 3/4" cold line. All shower valves & fittings are also 3/4". Water saver washer has been yanked. When I was purchasing/ordering the various parts at the supply house, the gal giggled as she asked me if I was building a car wash...

I can't think of a family member who's used it who hasn't walked out saying it was one of the best showers they've ever had.


Wonder what would happen if I upped the pressure a couple PSI......

 

[lilranch2001]

Orgasmic?

 

[orezok]

Out here in the desert, we have a community well system. The system is designed with pressure zones. When the pressure from the gravity storage tanks reaches 150#, that is the end of the pressure zone and a pressure reducing station is installed on the main. The pressure zone runs right through my property. Until they installed new mains in my area, my pressure was 150#. Since then they reduced it to 140#.

I have a pressure reducer at my meter which reduces the pressure to 80# as its about 750' to my house with a 2" lateral. I also installed a bypass valve at the first regulator so that if I want to, I can have full pressure on my lateral (think fire protection). I installed a 1 1/2" fire riser near the house and have several hundred of feet of 1 1/2 fire hose. With 140# I can cover quite a distance with a proper fire nozzle.

I have a second regulator at the house which reduces it even further to normal domestic pressure.

 

[orezok]

I forgot to mention to those people who claim to have over 150 psi on their system. The T&P on your water heater is set to relieve at 150 PSI so if you really had a higher pressure the T&P would be going off constantly.

 

[turnkey4099]

For all these years living here, I always thought I had (for example) a killer shower.....

Reading this thread made me recall my PSI levels...went to go verify and my pressure gauge is sitting around 40 right now (was covered by something) As I recall, it turns off around 45 psi.

Been working great for us and never had any water issue.

The killer shower..... (gads I love it) is fed by a 3/4" hot and 3/4" cold line. All shower valves & fittings are also 3/4". Water saver washer has been yanked. When I was purchasing/ordering the various parts at the supply house, the gal giggled as she asked me if I was building a car wash...

I can't think of a family member who's used it who hasn't walked out saying it was one of the best showers they've ever had.


Wonder what would happen if I upped the pressure a couple PSI......

The general rule for residential is 40-60 if on a private well and irrigating. 30-50 if not irrigating. I plan to change mine to 40-60 as a 30PSI shower is not very "needley'.

 

[ultrarunner]

35 years managing property and many issues with the water company and the God Like approach... each time I prevailed but it took great effort... like the time a clean up crew turned on the water meter and it registered a couple of hundred gallons in 60 days and I was charge with meter tampering and a $800 fee... I filed a police report and spoke at the water board director meeting and it was quickly cancelled...

Residential 1950's Oakland California neighborhood with 180 lbs. static pressure is common... they say the pressure is needed for fire hydrants in the far reaches of the city...

Really was not a problem in the 1950's as toilets had brass ballcock valves and hardware... also, water heaters did not have TPRV valves so 180 lbs. pressure meant the old garden hose was great at washing down the driveway... it was very hard on cheap garden hoses!!!

When toilet valves started to come in plastic... they would explode in the middle of the night... and mini geysers would erupt...

As folks started to replace their water heaters code required TPRV and the only ones that would work are those that were adjustable... I know a few that would shim with a bronze washer the Relief Valve Spring... one of Dad's neighbors had new heater installed just before vacation saying one less thing to worry about... relief piped to crawl space. Well it ran for week and the crawl space became a pond...

One of my friends had her son install extensive poly irrigation... weekly lines were blowing in the summer... I put on a regulator and no more problem.

My new home has 180 psi with a 1.5" meter... let's just say it can move a lot of water... I used 25 gallons per day over 60 days and the charge was $314.00

No residential has backflow devices unless they happen to have a well... if they do it costs $80 annually for backflow certificate.

New construction has small sphere surge dampers... they help with snap action valves like washing machines.

The hospital is set at 68 psi and never varies and has been rock steady for 25 years... static 68 and dynamic 67.