Hi All. Thanks in advance for any suggestions that you can make.
Here's the story with as much details as I can think of to add. I'm hoping for any ideas on what to do/try next as I am stumped and the plumbing company that has looked at this is as well.
Central texas area. City water supply. We just got out of the worst low temperature storm in probably 30 years.
I did not have any busted pipes luckily. Most around here were not that lucky.
Anyway, a few weeks back I noticed that the water pressure inside the house seemed a bit down. Not unusable, but still low. I had gone out to turn on the lawn irrigation system and check out all the heads and such and when I turned the first zone on I knew immediately that I was having a big problem. Heads took awhile to pop up and had maybe 1/2 the spray distance. So, go to check the pressure at a hose bib. 42psi. Normally I run the pressure at 75-78psi. I need right around that just to get the farthest sprinkler zones to run good.
Ok, well, try to adjust the PRV right? any adjustment on the screw up or down did nothing to raise or lower the pressure at all. So at this point I'm pretty sure I have a problem with the PRV and need to replace it. I've had to have it replaced before that fixed a different problem (105psi with little flow) so figured that was probably it.
Had the PRV replaced and no change at this point.
So now I'm trying to figure out what else could possibly be the problem.
Calling the water company is of no use. If I'm getting 40psi their job is done.
So I started by checking the water pressure every hour or less on the weekend and found that
it does go back up to 75-80 and holds for random amounts of time. Sometimes half a day,
sometimes just an hour then goes back to 42. although I did see it go to about 55 a couple times.
When the pressure is at 75-80, I can adjust the PRV like I normally should be able to.
Anytime it is lower, it will not adjust, up or down.
I thought maybe I could chart the time of day that the pressure is up/down but it turns out
that it is random. With random durations of up/down in pressure.
Just because it is free to do, I thought maybe it could be a pocket of air somewhere moving around
creating a choke point so I turned on all the faucets/bibbs/showers/etc for awhile to see if that would
give me any clues or possible fix the problem. No dice no change.
I started leaning on it being something with the city supply until two days ago I got home from
work and checked the pressure and it was up to 78, so I figured for now to take advantage of that
and run one of the further out sprinkler zones that won't run properly with the lower pressure.
I ran it for maybe 40 minutes no problem. Then had to pause it to go get something from that section
of the yard. Had it off for maybe 2-3 minutes and turned it back on. sprinklers wouldn't pop up.
Went to check the pressure. Back to 42. I'm thinking this piece of information most likely resolves the
water company from being the problem.
Could the backflow preventer have anything to do with this? I have one of the Zurn double check valves.
The problem is noticed not just in the sprinkler system, but in all faucets/showers/baths. It is definitely
system wide. Our water tower for the neighborhood is maybe a block and a half away. Talking with some of the neighbors, they are not seeing any problems right now. I do have a water softener. It is functioning normally.
I can answer any questions anyone may have or find an answer if I don't have it.
Here's the story with as much details as I can think of to add. I'm hoping for any ideas on what to do/try next as I am stumped and the plumbing company that has looked at this is as well.
Central texas area. City water supply. We just got out of the worst low temperature storm in probably 30 years.
I did not have any busted pipes luckily. Most around here were not that lucky.
Anyway, a few weeks back I noticed that the water pressure inside the house seemed a bit down. Not unusable, but still low. I had gone out to turn on the lawn irrigation system and check out all the heads and such and when I turned the first zone on I knew immediately that I was having a big problem. Heads took awhile to pop up and had maybe 1/2 the spray distance. So, go to check the pressure at a hose bib. 42psi. Normally I run the pressure at 75-78psi. I need right around that just to get the farthest sprinkler zones to run good.
Ok, well, try to adjust the PRV right? any adjustment on the screw up or down did nothing to raise or lower the pressure at all. So at this point I'm pretty sure I have a problem with the PRV and need to replace it. I've had to have it replaced before that fixed a different problem (105psi with little flow) so figured that was probably it.
Had the PRV replaced and no change at this point.
So now I'm trying to figure out what else could possibly be the problem.
Calling the water company is of no use. If I'm getting 40psi their job is done.
So I started by checking the water pressure every hour or less on the weekend and found that
it does go back up to 75-80 and holds for random amounts of time. Sometimes half a day,
sometimes just an hour then goes back to 42. although I did see it go to about 55 a couple times.
When the pressure is at 75-80, I can adjust the PRV like I normally should be able to.
Anytime it is lower, it will not adjust, up or down.
I thought maybe I could chart the time of day that the pressure is up/down but it turns out
that it is random. With random durations of up/down in pressure.
Just because it is free to do, I thought maybe it could be a pocket of air somewhere moving around
creating a choke point so I turned on all the faucets/bibbs/showers/etc for awhile to see if that would
give me any clues or possible fix the problem. No dice no change.
I started leaning on it being something with the city supply until two days ago I got home from
work and checked the pressure and it was up to 78, so I figured for now to take advantage of that
and run one of the further out sprinkler zones that won't run properly with the lower pressure.
I ran it for maybe 40 minutes no problem. Then had to pause it to go get something from that section
of the yard. Had it off for maybe 2-3 minutes and turned it back on. sprinklers wouldn't pop up.
Went to check the pressure. Back to 42. I'm thinking this piece of information most likely resolves the
water company from being the problem.
Could the backflow preventer have anything to do with this? I have one of the Zurn double check valves.
The problem is noticed not just in the sprinkler system, but in all faucets/showers/baths. It is definitely
system wide. Our water tower for the neighborhood is maybe a block and a half away. Talking with some of the neighbors, they are not seeing any problems right now. I do have a water softener. It is functioning normally.
I can answer any questions anyone may have or find an answer if I don't have it.