95 PSI inside the house; blew of the hose that feeds the hot water heater.
The plumber dug down four feet next to the meter trying to find the pipe that feeds the house without finding it.
The house is on a slope. Living space is on the ground in front, two stories in the rear.
The game room, garage and laundry room are above ground in the back, and underground in the front. Plumbing is copper pipe in the game room slab, feeding the living area above with copper in the walls.
The house is fed water in the game room concrete slab.
It appears that during construction, the water pipe from the meter to the house was placed eight feet underground.
Where is the pressure regulator?
Are you sure you have one? I haven’t ever seen one in a residential single-family dwelling. I have seen them in tall, hi-rise apartment buildings, but not in homes. I would expect the water pressure to be regulated by the water utility company.
My Wife suggested that. The house is sixty years old.
Water pressure was 80 PSI downstairs, measured at an aquarium filter. Now it is 95 to 110.
You may want to contact your water utility to see if they can do anything.
Never heard of one for a house either. You really need to talk to the water utility.
Are you guys plumbers? I intend no offense. The plumber at work thought there should be one, and they are sold at Home Despot and such stores.
Our town water department had a project that increased water pressure for the whole town because half the town had low pressure. So a lot of homeowners had to buy and install pressure regulators. At our own cost.
So you would prefer to pay to have that installed instead of having the water utility do it? They may have no idea that the pressure is that high and could indicate a problem they need to know about. If it turns out you need to supply your own regulator they’ll tell you.
I am not a plumber. I have owned my own home since 1990 and lived in three different houses since then supplied by three different water utilities. Prior to that, my father taught me a lot of plumbing (although he was a DIYer, too) on the houses we lived in when I was a minor. Your location may be different, though, which is why you would need to contact your utility.
Also, the utility at least wants to know where such devices are. In an old house they may not have a record, if there is a regulator, but it’s worth checking with them.
Even if there is one, it seems it would have been easier (and still is easier now) to just install a new one rather to spend countless hours looking for the other one. He could tear up your entire front yard looking for it, or spend 25 minutes installing one in your basement where it’ll be accessible to everyone forever.
My house has a pressure regulator on it for similar reasons - the water pressure coming from the street is too high. It’s a two-story residential home.
In my case, it is inside one of the walls of my garage, near where the water line enters the house. The previous owners had to cut out the sheet rock to find and replace it once, and they left the sheet rock off so that it could be easily accessed for the next time.
In the end, this is the kind of thing I would leave up to the judgment of the plumber. Maybe get a second opinion if you’re not confident that the first guy knows how to handle this.
105 PSI splits brass fitting on hoses.
I’ll call the utility Monday.
Thanks, everyone.
Some people here seem to have some misconceptions.
Pressure regulators are not an uncommon fixture. They are often refereed to as PRV valves. The nature of a municipal supply in an area with multiple elevations requires some homes, particularly those at lower elevations end up with higher than average pressure.
The city supply can’t change the pressure at an individual house, or more correctly they aren’t willing to and don’t.
The cities goal is to maintain a constant pressure on the system. This is the reason for water towers and strategically placed pumping stations. It’s a lot of math to achieve this goal every foot of pipe has friction loss that will vary depending on demand. New modeling makes it easier to achieve along with variable frequency motors that can scale to exact demand. Less modernized systems see more pressure fluctuation as demand changes. If everyone is watering their lawn at the same time the system may see a pressure drop because it can’t keep up.
It’s completely possible your home doesn’t have a PRV valve. Rather than digging up the property trying to find one, I’d just install a new one at the meter. If you have complications after that then go back to the hunt.
The apartment tower places may need the regulator after about 6 floors down from the top … because they have their own water tank on the top… so 6 floors down and it gets to 100 PSI …
So too your regular home is fed from a water tank, but its up on the hill …now where that tank is for some reason too high above you, you get higher pressure…
We can’t find a pipe leaving the meter. I guess we need to dig all around the meter. The water company spray painted where the pipes are, but they ain’t there, at least four feet deep.
I’m not quite following this. The pipe leaving the meter is ATTACHED to the meter. Surely the plumber could just follow that pipe as he digs?
–Mark
Are you looking at the meter or a transmitter? The supply pipe goes straight through the meter. That’s how they work, they measure water going through them. If your plumber is looking at a meter and can’t find the supply line I’m rather concerned about his competence.
In some cases where the meter is too far below ground to send a good signal they will run a wire off the meter to a transmitter. If all you can see is a transmitter you follow the wire back to the meter.
That’s nuts. A Watts LF009 rpz valve or similar is what you need. Any competent plumber can doc the correct model. What’s your service line size?
I assume by that you’re saying that the meter is out in your yard somewhere?
But even so, it doesn’t matter, just put have him put the pressure regulator in the house wherever the water first enters. That’s really where it should be. It’s a device that will need some maintenance over the years so it needs to be somewhere accessible. So, like I said earlier, install one right where the water comes in and stop worrying about trying to figure out where the old one is (or if it even exists).
Personally, I wouldn’t let him spend another hour of his time (at how much per hour) digging up your yard) before he installs $100 regulator. If it solves the problem (and it should) great. If not, then go from there.