Pressure Issue

[nick.hauer]

I’ll try my best to keep this brief but detailed. Two weeks ago I had my water heater and water softener replaced for age. The install all seemed typical, pressure code in my city is 80 PSI max, which I was told by technician I was right at. I chose to still have a pressure reduction valve installed that caps pressure at 75 psi on my main in, tech said I wouldn’t notice a pressure drop. My water pressure for my master bathroom was ALWAYS fantastic……until now.

I have a handle for the walk in shower that operates basically as a 3/4 turn type from cold to hot. Before installation of the new equipment I could turn that handle about halfway up to start feeling the warm water and turn it up gradually to feel warmer water during the course of a shower. Now I have to turn it almost all the way maxed out to even start feeling the warm water. The other odd thing is my pressure has dropped noticeably to the shower since the installation and at some point when I turn the water warmer you can physically see and feel the pressure drop even more.

I’ve changed the shower head once, cleaned and put back the original one once, bumped up and gauged my main line pressure back to just under 80. Nothing helps. Not sure what is going on. Company that installed said there may be an issue with mixing valve but that’s all they could offer. Any ideas? Anything I omitted let me know and thanks for any input.

 

[Jeff H Young]

its not because of having a regulator it could be debris got in the valve, kinked flex lines at heater maybe ? shut off valve not fully open? on the main or water heater, plugged up regulator thats a few possibilities oh yea bad regulator some how defective

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

For troubleshooting, you could put a garden hose thread pressure gauge on a laundry tap or the drain for the water heater.

Your garden hose spigots may branch off before the PRV. That could provide more testing points if the weather is warm enough.

You could also put the softener into bypass for a bit to see how the indicated pressure is affected by that while you run the shower/tub.

 

[Slomoola]

Does your shower mixing valve have some anti scald feature in it?

80 psi is a bit much. I would drop to no higher than 60 psi. If your house is like mine, old, my copper is reaching it's 50 year life span limits. Had 4 under slab leaks so far.

Possible but doubt you have 80psi AT the shower mixing valve. If so your city water or well is way over 80 psi I would think.

 

[nick.hauer]

I’m not sure about the anti scalding, the other odd thing is my showers which i now say plural are either too hot or too cold there seems to be no middle ground. So it’s effecting both bathrooms in similar fashion. We have to dial way up to get to warm water and when you go back down even slightly it’s cold.

 

[Jeff H Young]

well you wont get a single answer that says that 100 percent you need to do this one thing and its all fixed. youll have to work thgrough some of these issues now you say both bathrooms and its not pressure but temp . Someone either you or a plumber needs to investigate

 

[nick.hauer]

well you wont get a single answer that says that 100 percent you need to do this one thing and its all fixed. youll have to work thgrough some of these issues now you say both bathrooms and its not pressure but temp . Someone either you or a plumber needs to investigate

Yup, agreed. It’s just odd that it happened right after new wh and softener were installed. I agree tho it’s definitely beyond what I can figure out.

 

[Slomoola]

I’m not sure about the anti scalding, the other odd thing is my showers which i now say plural are either too hot or too cold there seems to be no middle ground. So it’s effecting both bathrooms in similar fashion. We have to dial way up to get to warm water and when you go back down even slightly it’s cold.

It's winter time and the ground water is colder now. You need to increase the hot water temp to compensate. In the summer you can turn it way down compared to the winter setting.

 

[Slomoola]

Some shower valves have anti scald features.

You can always take a garden hose and sample straight off the hot water tank drain. Measure the temp with a candy thermometer. Check temp AT shower, same deal.

Do you have a mixing valve or booster pump maybe? Tries to keep hot water quicker at each faucet?

 

[DirtyJerz]

Have you checked the thermostat on the new water heater? the default is 120, your old one was probably set to something higher. in the winter i crank mine up as the heater is in the basement and with colder ground water and no insulation on the pipes, losses are real.

your own testing indicates this isn't a water pressure issue so i would stop chasing that and bring the pressure back down.