Adjuster Home Water Pressure - No Regulator Valve In House

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Jiffster

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My house was built in 2004. I recently ran hot/cold lines to a laundry tub I installed in my basement. After doing this I noticed the water pressure was higher than it was before. This was noticed mainly when taking a shower (2nd floor). The water was coming out with more force and if we turned the water a little more towards hot, there was pipe rumbling.

I read up on adjusting the water pressure and everything pointed to adjusting the pressure regulator valve. The problem is, we don't seem to have one.

I turned the shutoff valve that is installed just past the meter (in the basement) and lowered the pressure just a bit.

Is this method OK?

Should there have been a regulator valve in my home?

Appreciate any advice.
 

hj

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Closing the valve reduces the volume and SOMETIMES the dynamic pressure. but we do not know enough about your situation to tell if you need a PRV or not.
 

Reach4

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Understood. Is there anything I could provide that would better help you to understand my situation?
1. PSI numbers. Gauges are cheap.
2. Can you identify the area of where the rumbling comes from?
 

Jadnashua

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The simple act of trying to throttle the water flow with some shutoff valve designs can cause noises. Many of them are not designed for that purpose and should only be fully opened or closed. If the valve is defective, the washer can vibrate as well. If the pipes are not sized properly for the flow you are asking of them, there can be some noises (and those can, over time, actually erode holes in the pipe!).

Adding some new water lines should have had nothing to do with increasing pressure at the original locations, but if the main house shutoff was not fully opened before, and after the work, you opened it fully, that could increase the volume available, and that might seem to be more pressure. Pressure in a closed system is pretty constant (except for gravity influences), think soda straw verses fire hose, but once you ask it to deliver water, what comes out can be quite different in volume, but the pressure will be the same!
 

Jiffster

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Pressure measured ~98 PSI. Hope this pic helps.

The meter to the left is for sprinkler system.

image.jpeg
 

Reach4

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Interesting. I don't know if you would be better to put a PRV in the sprinkler water path or not. If your sprinkler system is tuned nicely now, I would think not. But I don't know what the max pressure rating of that stuff is. For regular things, the PSI should not exceed 80, but people who have non-bypass PRVs often get 150 PSI, at which the water heater T+P valve releases water. That is what alerts them that they need thermal expansion tank, or the one they have needs replacing.

There is a recent thread where somebody put in a Watts LF25AUB-Z3 PRV. It is reasonably priced, and has the "bypass" feature that seems attractive to me. That may allow you to not have a thermal expansion tank. That user was having pressure problems, and there was no tap to let him measure the pressure fairly closely after the PRV. So there was no resolution as to where the drop was occurring.

Somebody may have a good idea as to where to locate the PRV. I think it should be after the meter, so that vertical looks good to me... except there would need to be some spacing from the stud. So somebody with experience may have a good idea.
 

Jadnashua

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A prv is generally installed after your meter. Depending on where you live, you may not always be allowed to play with the piping before the meter. Now, whether you decide to do it before the sprinkler system might depend on talking to the manufacturer...they are likely not rated for more than code max.

The whole idea of installing a prv is to keep your water pressure from spiking. Without an expansion tank, it will ALWAYS rise to the street pressure or slightly above each time the WH runs if there's a bypass, and higher if it does not, so why bother with the extra complication? Each time you open a faucet, you'll get a spurt of high pressure water. It'll dissipate very quickly as pipes aren't very elastic! Code requires the home's interior pressure to be <=80psi, so in your situation, you should install both a prv and an expansion tank to keep the pressure stable and not stress the piping and valves in the house. A very good reason to shut the water off to the washing machine when not using it, but valve seals and faucet supply lines can have a problem with higher pressure, too. Also note that water pressure from the utility can and often does vary during the day as usage patterns change. It can peak at night when few are using water and they may raise it to refill the water towers.
 

Jadnashua

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Sounds like I might need to hire a plumber.
It all depends on your skill levels. In some places, like say Massachusetts, it's illegal for anyone to do ANY plumbing unless they have a proper license, even on your own home. Lots of people ignore that like exceeding the speed limit, but it's still illegal. If you don't have the tools, buying them might end up costing more than the plumber, and learning the skill required does take a bit of practice. Then, you have to decide what your time is worth doing it.
 
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