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I have water pressure fluctuations in my house and I can’t tell where they’re coming from.
I replaced the pressure regulator at the main feed into the house, but it’s still happening. Sometimes the pressure builds up in the pipes and when a tap is opened, the water comes out hard, then goes back to normal. Sometimes the pressure is too low. I don’t want to burst any pipes.
I would like to have some idea of what might be causing this, and if it’s something easy, fix it myself and save $75-$100 per hour on a plumber.
Any help?
Replies
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I have water pressure fluctuations in my house and I can't tell where they're coming from.
I replaced the pressure regulator at the main feed into the house, but it's still happening. Sometimes the pressure builds up in the pipes and when a tap is opened, the water comes out hard, then goes back to normal. Sometimes the pressure is too low. I don't want to burst any pipes.
I would like to have some idea of what might be causing this, and if it's something easy, fix it myself and save $75-$100 per hour on a plumber.
Any help?
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Just went through this in our town. We all got city water. You have city water, and the regulator may or may not be a back flow preventer. But they all are supposed to weep pressure back. But for whatever reason, they don't. The pressure can be coming from two sources. 1 - Pressure surges in the main cause pressure to go up in your house, then they go down in the main but the regulator won't let it back - This probably isn't the problem unless the municipality made recent changes. The second cause is the water heater heating up the water, the water expands (or wants to) has no where to go and builds up pressure. We were routinely seeing 160 psi in our system. You may notice the problem is non-existent in the evenings due to all morning showers, etc. If the heater is a problem you have to tee in an expansion tank on the cold water feed line to the water heater. This is a simple affair with a tee, a ball valve and the tank. The tank costs about $30.
-Rob