Need help and info on low water presurre in house after replacing all lines,I am lost

[john03834]

ok, heres what I have: I have a 3 bedroom step ranch, its has 3/4" piping coming from the street into the main meter,typical house set back from street in suburb. With nothing turned on I have 62psi on the gauge inside the house near the hot water heater
(1) kitchen sink,
(2) full bath(sink,toliet and shower/tub combo),
(1) 1/2 bath(toliet, and sink)
(1) washer
(1)dishwasher
(1) utility sink
>>Here's my problem. I am not getting good water pressure at the sinks or showers. I turn on more than 1 it comes out slow at sinks or tubs, just not good pressure, or if shower is on and someone turns washer or sink the pressure drops bad.

>I was told by a plumber to replace all of the 3/4" copper with 1" copper right out of the meter for everything, than where a fixture was, install a 1"x1" to 3/4" T then install 3/4" pipe for small run up towards the fixture then install a reducer fitting to 1/2" line for fixture.

Can anyone or someone tell me if this is correct or what is the problem, and if this is just a complete mess. What would be the proper sizes to run to get my pressure where it supposed to be and correct I have no clue if he told me the correct info or not, doesn't seem to be working like I thought it would. Any info on what sizes to run or what the correct copper lines to run would be great. Any help would be great, and helpful.
Thanks John

 

[hj]

Not enough information. IF you installed the piping the way you indicate, and IF it was all copper tubing, then you should not have that problem. But we would have to do our own diagnosis and check the "dynamic" pressure at various points to give an answer to your problem. I would NEVER advise a DIYer as to how to repipe his house, one, because I would have no control over whether he did it the way I told him or not, and two, there would be no advantage to me to give him the information in the first place, (I am NOT that altruistic).

 

[Sponsor]

 

[john03834]

its all copper tubing, except the line coming in the house from the street under the house, that's steel pipe.

 

[hj]

In that case, you did NOT "change all the piping", and the steel pipe COULD be your problem, but, again, without dynamic pressure testing we cannot tell you WHERE the loss is occurring.

 

[john03834]

I do have a water gauge hooked up on the utility sink that telles me pressure, its in line(in the system), its not hooked up to the faucet, its soldered in . To measure the dynamic pressure, could I use that and turn on each fixture, see what the reading is and keep going to each one to find the loss?

 

[Jadnashua]

An old steel 3/4" line could easily be rusted enough to be functionally equivalent to a 1/4-3/8" line or less. You may need to replace the line from the street with something better to resolve your problem.

 

[john03834]

ok thanks for the info

 

[RRW]

How was the pressure before you replaced the piping?

 

[Jadnashua]

Keep in mind that static pressure (i.e., no water flow) will be the same regardless of the size of the line. But, if the supply line is restricted, your dynamic pressure will drop considerably. Think soda straw verses a fire hose...either one will pass water but you'll quickly exceed the capacity of the soda straw with any normal demand.

 

[hj]

That gauge will tell you the dynamic pressure AT THAT SINK, but NOT what it is at each fixture as you open the faucets. IF there is an obstruction before the gauge, it will indicate it, but NOT anything after the gauge. Dynamic pressure has to be measured at each faucet to give an accurate picture of what is happening, and WHERE it is happening.

 

[Jastori]

Most likely the problem is with your supply (steel pipe from street), not the copper piping in your house. I would test the flow volume just after the water meter. Disconnect here, and see how many gallons per minute you can get out of your supply (estimate with a big bucket or similar). If you can't get decent volume (5+ gallons / minute) just after the water meter, you will never get good volume at your fixtures, regardless of how your house is piped.