Found a new drip. Causes?

[DIYer101]

I just found a small drip near the water meter, wondering if you have any suggestions. I'll probably get a plumber out but that may be next week.

I never noticed the drip until the sprinklers got winterized. I left the drain to the sprinkler line open, put a bucket down there, and checked back to find that this new drip is now happening. You can see a little corrosion, so I don't know if it's BRAND new or not.

FYI my house's pressure is 75 PSI. The sprinkler drain is dripping more than I would expect (it's been 2 days and the bucket has maybe 1/2 inch of water in it). Earlier today I heard a squirting noise, and went down to see the sprinkler drain dripping a bit more than usual.

Is this a water pressure problem? Is tightening the nut enough to stop the drip on the water meter, and maybe the sprinkler drain is supposed to leak a little water?

Thank you as always.

 

[Reach4]

On the valve, is the leak from the inside of the spout, as it looks? Or is it dripping from the shaft and following down so that it looks like it is from the spout.

For the spout itself, I would try replacing the washer. For the shaft, I would replace the packing.

On that meter connection, is it actually dripping? If not, you could just ignore that. If it is dripping, I think I would try 1/8 turn.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[DIYer101]

Yes, the meter connection is dripping (I guess I really have 2 drips - not just one). I may try tightening.

The spout is dripping, although I left it open. What concerns me is how the water is getting through the closed ball valve.

 

[Reach4]

Could that water from the open spigot be residual water from the other piping downstream? Or is the drip rate not slowing with time.

 

[DIYer101]

Possibly, but it really shouldn't be. The sprinkler guy blew the system back into the house and should have gotten all of that out (or gravity would have gotten the rest over the last 2 days I assume?).

The drip hasn't slowed over the last 2 days.

Good news: so they had a plumber available to come out today and looks like somebody can get on this today.

 

[CountryBumkin]

Possibly, but it really shouldn't be. The sprinkler guy blew the system back into the house and should have gotten all of that out (or gravity would have gotten the rest over the last 2 days I assume?).

The drip hasn't slowed over the last 2 days.

Good news: so they had a plumber available to come out today and looks like somebody can get on this today.

I hope you don't end up paying for a service call ($100?) just to tighten the fitting 1/8 turn. I would try to tighten it myself - first, before calling someone out.

 

[DIYer101]

Thanks, yes it's $100 basically to get the guy to show up. With 2 leaks, I had him come, and we basically replaced what was there from the 1940's or 50's (several extra spigots and "pipes to nowhere" and the water meter was no longer in use).

I had him install a pressure-reducing valve since he was cutting into the pipes anyway so I'm telling myself I saved $100 in the future. The city has been increasing pressure, and I suspect there are occasional surges, so that's one less thing to worry about. Maybe in another thread I'll ask how to increase the pressure because I miss that high pressure...

 

[Reach4]

The city has been increasing pressure, and I suspect there are occasional surges, so that's one less thing to worry about. Maybe in another thread I'll ask how to increase the pressure because I miss that high pressure...

1. What is the make and model of the PRV?
2. Did he install a thermal expansion tank?
3. What was the water pressure that caused you to add the PRV?
4. Was that high water pressure there even when you were using water, or did that only happen when you had not been using water for a while?

 

[DIYer101]

1. Photo is below...
2. The hot water heater has one, and he adjusted it (that's the part I'm really not sure how to do). The boiler also has one, but I don't think he did anything with that?
3. Pressure was 75 and we went down to 50 (I just said what do you have at your house...)
4. Pressure was pretty much steady at 75. I'd had it tested before, and when I was installing drip irrigation I tested again, and it was never lower than that at the hose bib.

I was under the impression that faucets and other stuff might not like to go much higher than 75. I could probably live with 65 or 70...

 

[Reach4]

Everything is OK below 80.

http://media.wattswater.com/1910200.pdf is the manual. The big hex head is the adjustment and the nut under that is the locking nut.

Regulator is factory preset to 50psi (344 kPa) in a static condition. To adjust pressure setting, loosen the lock nut and turn the adjusting bolt clockwise to increase pressure, ....​

And fortunately this PRV has a bypass, so you will not need a thermal expansion tank presuming the water meter does not have a check valve. Since your pressure never rose above 80 as far as you know, your water meter probably does not have a check valve.

 

[DIYer101]

Interesting, thanks. So it sounds like I just loosen the hex head and go out to the hose bib to check where I'm at (then loosen/tighten some more until I'm where I want to be)?

If I figure out how to adjust the expansion tank on the water heater, is that an extra-safe thing to do? Or is that completely unnecessary/unhelpful?

 

[Reach4]

Interesting, thanks. So it sounds like I just loosen the hex head and go out to the hose bib to check where I'm at (then loosen/tighten some more until I'm where I want to be)?

If I figure out how to adjust the expansion tank on the water heater, is that an extra-safe thing to do? Or is that completely unnecessary/unhelpful?

Loosen the locknut, and then tighten the bolt to raise the setting. When adjusting the PRV, dribble some water from a faucet. You could hook the pressure gauge to the WH drain temporarily, if that is handier.

To set the precharge, with the water pressure =0, set the air pressure to the regular water pressure or a little higher. That maximizes how much water the tank could suck up.

 

[DIYer101]

Thanks, I'm hoping to do this today. Does the boiler expansion tank need to be done as well?

I don't think the plumber did that one (but I'm not sure) so it might still be wherever it was before. I ask partly because I think the boiler is letting out some overflow water and I think that's a new thing since he came and lowered the pressure. It's hard to get to the boiler's overflow pipe but I'm testing with some pieces of toilet paper (see if they get wet) to verify.

Thanks again.

 

[DIYer101]

This is done, thanks again. Doing some reading it seems that the boiler does not get adjusted in this case because it's a closed system with its own pressure.

I normally trust the plumber, but it seems that the pressure was way low (40ish?) and the expansion tank was still quite high (well above 50). From what I've read, it sounds like there won't be any explosions if he/I got it wrong, but the pressure release could go off a bunch (and the expansion tank could fail early). I'm watching for signs of water.

Thanks again.

 

[Reach4]

I normally trust the plumber, but it seems that the pressure was way low (40ish?) and the expansion tank was still quite high (well above 50). From what I've read, it sounds like there won't be any explosions if he/I got it wrong, but the pressure release could go off a bunch (and the expansion tank could fail early). I'm watching for signs of water.

It is OK to have the expansion tank precharge at say 70 while the PRV is set lower, maybe 50. The purpose is to provide expansion if the water pressure is too high, and not to worry about whether the pressure goes from 50 to 60. The pressure relief part of the temperature and pressure relief valve on the water heater is set to release at a nominal 150 PSI.

Since you like higher pressure, turn it up. I would not have had a PRV installed, myself. Do they have water towers in your area? Besides serving as water storage, they also help regulate the pressure. In your case, I think I would set the water pressure to 60 and the air precharge to 62 plus or minus 2. Yet 6o and 70 would be OK too. The tank will be normally empty. Knock on the tank to know what it sounds like empty. If the tank later fails, you can knock on the tank and tell that it is full of water.

 

[DIYer101]

I don't have 3 teenagers taking 20 minute showers, so higher pressure is definitely better. I'm not sure if there are water towers here. I'm relatively new to this town and haven't seen one, but that doesn't mean it's not there. There are plenty of hills around to put a reservoir in or hide tanks behind. Thanks again for everything.