Water supply and meter question

[krik]

Hi all -

I'm trying to figure out whether and how I should change my water supply setup. See two pics below: the main supply w/ shutoff and the water meter setup. Couple things on my mind:

- I have only about 50 PSI, and am worried that feeding four bathrooms through a 3/4" supply will be insufficient (currently expanding from three to four, although previous use really was only two of the three bathrooms - I have an opportunity to change all of the individual bathroom water lines so I can get it right).
- I'd like to install whatever check valve setup is required by code here (still figuring that out), and I don't want to have to do that twice if it ends up I need to upsize things. Also want to see whether I'd then have to have the meter changed out.

Any thoughts? Any tests I could do even before the bath 3 and 4 are complete?

Thanks

 

[krik]

Reviving an old thread to see if someone has thoughts on this.

Essentially, it seems the incoming water line has a reducer to 3/4". But it also looks like different materials. What's your guess on incoming supply line size?

And any experience with this style water meter and its effect on flow/pressure? I'd ask the water utility, but I'm not sure whether I can get someone knowledgeable enough on the line for that.

Thanks!

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

A chart for fixture units.
A typical four bath home is in the high 30's. You can see that larger pipe past the 3/4" meter makes a huge difference.

 

[krik]

A typical four bath home is in the high 30's. You can see that larger pipe past the 3/4" meter makes a huge difference.

Makes sense. Does it look like I have a 1" or greater supply coming in from the street? If so, it also seems to make sense to ask the water utility for a larger meter?

 

[Reach4]

Makes sense. Does it look like I have a 1" or greater supply coming in from the street? If so, it also seems to make sense to ask the water utility for a larger meter?

It depends. Since the water utility usually charges more monthly with a bigger meter, for most people there is not sufficient reason to ask for a bigger meter if you are at all frugal. Bigger pipes before and after do not trigger a monthly charge.

Rather than ask somebody to tell you how big your incoming pipe is, measure it. If you don't have a digital caliper, I suggest you get one.

If you don't care to or you want answer sooner, run a string around the pipe, and mark the string. Then take the distance between the marks on the string, and divide by 3.14.

 

[krik]

Rather than ask somebody to tell you how big your incoming pipe is, measure it. If you don't have a digital caliper, I suggest you get one.

My bad for not asking the question clearly enough. The pipe after the shutoff valve is 3/4". The what appears to be not copper pipe coming through the wall is obviously a lot bigger, but I didn't want to assume. For what it's worth, that one measures about 1.66" OD. Would this perhaps be 1 1/4" galvanized steel? If so, it's also not clear to me how restrictive that 5/8" meter setup with all the bends is.

 

[Reach4]

Would this perhaps be 1 1/4" galvanized steel?

Yes.

Expect maybe 7 psi drop at 20 gpm, which is a very large flow. http://www.ejprescott.com/media/reference/WaterMeterSelGuidR-21.pdf

A pressure gauge would let you measure the pressure drop.

Try filling 2 tubs at once at about 5 gpm each.