Dealing With Low Pressure - Wisler Plumbing & Air

It’s very annoying when you get in the shower and you have to deal with low pressure. There’s a wide range of causes, and it largely depends on whether you use city/municipal water or you have your own well system.

If you have a well system and the pump hasn’t been replaced in a long time, it might not be able to produce the water pressure that you want. It could also be because you’re simply asking for more water than the well can produce. If the water simply isn’t there, you’re going to have low pressure.

Poor water quality in the well can cause problems, too. If there’s a lot of iron in the water, it can build up inside the pipes and reduce their diameter. That will result in a reduced amount of water. If you have any type of filter on a well system or municipal system, it needs to be changed on a regular basis. If not, there might be a buildup of sediment or debris that restricts water flow.

For municipal water supplies, the municipality may simply not be delivering that much pressure. In our area they’re only required to deliver 20 psi. That’s fairly low pressure — if you’ve moved into the area from another location that had much higher water pressure, you’ll see a large difference in your experience. To solve the issue, you can add some sort of booster system to increase the pressure.

Another common thing we see for both types of systems is inadequate piping size inside the house due to improper installation. Plumbing code states a minimum size, but we’ve found that this doesn’t really provide enough water for a large request of water. The minimum size just can’t deliver enough water to meet larger needs.

If you have a home that was built in the 1930s through 1960s, there’s a good chance that you have galvanized piping. Galvanized piping rusts on the inside, and that rust builds up over the years. It’s very similar to a clogged artery, so it will restrict water flow and reduce pressure.

If you have any of these issues resulting in low pressure in your home, solutions include booster pump systems, replacement of pipes, replacing an old pump, and dealing with water quality. In some cases you can treat the water before it gets into your house. In other cases, you’ll have to deal with it after it gets into your house.

To find out which solution is best for your home, just contact us online, check us out on Facebook, or give us a call at (540) 483-9382. We’ll determine what’s causing the low pressure get it resolved in no time.