# very low county water pressure



## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

our pressure is 25psi. and the water company is telling me they have no idea how to fix it. im calling cow hocky on that one but anyway.

I am thinking our washer and other appliances are not working well do to this. how can I install a holding tank and a pressure booster and have it be on solar?

called roto rooter for a quote and they say they have no idea what Im talking about?? is this harder than what I think?


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

What does the wter company say is the problem? 
But no, my neighbor has one. You might want to call a well person rather than just a plumber. Such things are common with wells and springs, etc.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

How long have you had county water? Was the pressure always that low? Ask the water company if there's a pressure regulator on your line.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Go to any decent hardware store and tell them you want a booster tank and pump... if they're any good, they'll set you up with every part needed.

I've priced tank/pumps for as little as ~$100, good ones for ~$200... plus the fittings.

I only have around 8 to 10psi, and my washing machine and hw heater work just fine. Not enough pressure for the ice machine in the fancy freezer... so we're still using trays.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

I had 15 psi when they first turned the county water on. It's about a quarter mile uphill from the meter to the house. They use pressure regulators at the meters to avoid damage to folks' pipes inside their houses. Depending on where you're located you could get 100+ psi in the house without the regulator. They took the one off of my line. I get 50-60psi now.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

The pressure regulators do get gunked up and not work right. Had that happen to me once. The holding tank and pressure booster are a nice way to go. You can get a 60 gal poly tank for a sprayer, add a float valve water intake and pipe to a harbor freight pressure booster, all for less than $300.

Clothes and dish washers can usually handle low pressure OK. Sink sprayers and pulsing showerheads not so much.


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

I do not have a regulator. the company know I have no pressure and they ( the girl inside) said they have no idea how to fix it. I have had them out just this last week to change the meter and see if there was anything I can do. it is a 5yr old house and yes we have had this from the start. 

the severe drought made it so mush worse. we had a trickle to shower in at night. never mind using outdoor faucets to water it will barely make one work. 

they checked the pressure when everyone was gone to work so I know it drops when everyone is home and watering. the weekends and nights are the worst. I can not run a pressure washer and I do think it ate my ice maker but who knows it was 4yrs old and a dedicated icemaker.


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

talked to a plumber who said it would take several thousands to get the set up working. :Bawling: 

Just for parts I estimated around 800-1000.00 for a 100gal+ tank and a good pump and sundry parts. the electrical and pump house is another story.


I guess I need to learn concrete and masonry work to build the housing.we go from 115f in the summer to -30 in the winter so I am baffled as to how to design a pump house.


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

I may be confused, but it sounds like you are having more trouble with low *flow* than pressure.

As others mentioned above, 25 psi is not all that low.

Is it possible that there is a clog in your main house line or a valve in the system is not open all the way (main shut off valve at the meter or another one inside the house or basement)?

Rather than check the pressure off the main water line, check the flow rate.


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## Phil V. (May 31, 2013)

This something new to me. I never heard of county water. I have my own well where I live. Just curious about it. That's all.


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## swamp man (Dec 25, 2005)

K.B. said:


> I may be confused, but it sounds like you are having more trouble with low *flow* than pressure.
> 
> As others mentioned above, 25 psi is not all that low.
> 
> ...


Good call, definitely something to look at. I run into this while installing sprinkler systems pretty often. A small amount of water can be delivered at reasonable pressure, but it's still not much water and will make for a crummy shower or whathaveyou. I would start by asking the water company what size water main feeds your meter. Do you have neighbors you can ask if they have similar issues? First step is to determine if you have adequate water coming into the meter or if the problem is on your side of the meter.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Have the water company do a flow test AND a pressure test. They will remove your meter and install a pipe to run water. They will either use buckets to check flow for 1 minute or install a flow meter. If flow is good then they can check pressure at a faucet, both with no water running and with a downstream faucet running. Check at several places to get a better idea if a whole system problem. The AWWA (American water works association) says a utility needs a minimum of 20 lbs to any and all customers. 20 works, just have to get use to it. If you have 20, other neighbors at a higher elevation will have less. Check with a neighboe that is at a higher elevation than you to see if they have a complaint. 

You can make your own test gauge, You need a female hose fitting adapter to IP (iron pipe) 1/4 inch works but usually you can not find one less than 1/2. You need a T, a valve or faucet and a water pressure gauge. Put 1 fitting into each side of the T. Attach the hose fitting to an outside faucet at the front of the house, turn on the valve, run some water then close the valve, check pressure. Now go to a faucet further down the line (kitchen sink, bath tub or a faucet in rear yard, turn it on and go check pressure at gauge. 

Do you have a faucet at the front of your house? Even better a yard faucet in the line from the meter to the house? You can check your flow yourself, turn on the faucet, time how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket. Best to turn the faucet on, let run for a few seconds then put bucket under and time it. 1 minute= 5 gals/min. 30 seconds=10gals/min. Come back and let us know what you find out....James


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## rustyshacklefor (Sep 19, 2005)

First, is there a pressure reducing valve? If so, they do go bad after about 5 yrs. If there is one it is also adjustable. If after all this is checked you could just add an inline booster. More than 70 lbs of pressure is detrimental to your faucets. Just a plumbers .02


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

I did some plumbing repairs just recently. Some aged Delta brand faucets and one shower valve was replaced with new Delta components. The faucets and the shower valve installed are to the governments specs and there is a huge difference in the quantity of water delivered when restricted to the government ruling of 2 GPM maximum. I managed to get a low pressure shower head that still is limited to the 2 GPM limit and the users are satisfied.


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## lordoftheweeds (Dec 27, 2012)

I owned some rental properties that had municipal water and the water pressure sucked. There were adjustment valves the water company wouldn't tell anyone about. A friend showed them to me and all you needed was a couple of wrenches and a pressure gauge to up the pressure. Like stated above you need to be careful not to put too much pressure into your system unless you want to break something and flood your house


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## davel745 (Feb 2, 2009)

Get a cistern, A septic tank supplier usually has them. and a Davey Pump. can be found on the internet.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

YOU stated the pressure @ 25 PSI,

Is the pressure constant or near constant, when water is flowing? (gauge on one faucet or in line and is it constant with no water flowing VS with a sink running or other appliance filling, 

WHAT IS YOUR gallons per minuet, how many 5 gallon buckets can you fill in a minuet out of a unrestricted hydrant?

what is your neighbors water pressure? are they level with you, what is there flow rates,

for the most part I do not think lower psi or even flow rates will damage most appliances, it will just longer for them to fill,





If you GPM is above 10 gallons a min one could just use a jet pump, and pressure tank and boost the psi, if that is the maximum pressure one can get, 

you said your on a rise, ever 2.31 feet of rise will reduce your pressure by one pound,

or ever 2.31 drop will add a pound per square inch


most home well systems usually have a low of 20 to 30 and a high of 30 to 50 depending on the pressure switch used, 

ours is in the 25 psi range, most of the time, and I do not see the problem, besides the new flow restricting faucets, are a PIA. 

but first determine if you have a pressure problem or a flow problem, 

MY SIL was complaining about her inlaws when they watered the garden (on the same well system) and she did not lower water pressure so she went to the well pit and cranked up the pressure switch so it would pump up to 80 psi, and shut off at 60, she had pressure if there was not any other water being used, they did not have a pressure problem they had a volume problem, cranking up the pressure did nothing but premature well failure on the pump, and plumbing, as when she watered the garden the pump could only pump 10 gallons a min, and when some one wanted 12 gallons a min, there was greatly reduced pressure, regardless of where the pressure was set to.

you may have a pressure problem and there may be no way to increase it with out raising the water tank that supplies the line, if you have 25psi then the water level is 57 feet higher than you, and the restrictions in the pipe does not help, (over time most all pipe will scale up some) and even distance caused friction that reduces the psi when flowing some.

so the water company may be telling you the way it is, 

but if you do not have 10 gallons of flow, you can not really put a booster pump on the system with problems as there is not enough flow, 

the only way then is to use a cistern that is fill by the water company, via float valve, and then pump out of the cistern for you house hold and possibly a few hydrants, I would put the garden and other out side hydrants on the water company system, (why because you will be pumping water possibly and most likely faster than it can fill the cistern and when the cistern is empty your going to have problems, 

thus thing that could run long enough to empty the cistern would be best left on the water company line, (such as watering the garden filling the stock tanks etc.)., 

sucking air on pumps is hard on the pumps, 

that is my two cents,

My back ground, in the 1980's I was certified and licensed, water and waste water treatment and plant operator for a small village,
Currently
I have two windmills and a submersible pump, and use a jet pump for a booster, with pressure tanks, and my cistern 9000 gallon, I installed it and maintain it all my self, the one windmill pumps horizontally over 1/2 mile besides 300 foot deep. the other is 300 deep and only pumps about 50 feet horizontal to the cistern tank. it has a submersible under the wind mill cylinder,

No I do not know ever thing about all wells and pumps, or water systems,


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

Re read the posts and it sounds like a flow or volume problem, and about the only way to fix the problem on the water companies end is to replace pipe and or install larger pipe. and that could be many, many, miles of pipe, most likely it will not happen any time soon, so here is what I would do, and I would put in a much larger than 100 gallon tank, I listed a 1000 gallon below, and none of the places or parts are recommendations, but examples, not saying you sould not buy from any of the venders listed below, but I do not know them or have used them to recommend them.

looks like a jet pump and tank would start in the $300 dollar range, (the larger the pressure tank the better for the pumps motor) personally I would not go less than 40 gallon bladder tank, (I have three tanks on my system ranging from 80 down to 40 gallons, one can have more than one pressure tank in a system).
https://www.google.com/search?q=jet...W52wWBioDwCA&ved=0CAsQ_AUoAw&biw=1280&bih=800

a 1000 gallon plastic water tank about start $600 should be able to guy at a farm store. Ideal the tank should be NSF approved, http://www.nsf.org/ which may be hard to find. Basically it means that the tank has been tested and the materials used are compatible for drinking water)
https://www.google.com/search?num=1...j4.4.0....0...1c.1.25.serp..4.0.0.mNr8VvoNyKQ

a quality float valve about $30 would still need a rod and float for the valve, dependin on type under $50
http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Manufa...id=1377372915&sr=8-4&keywords=bob+float+valve
run country water in to the float - 
float in tank-
pump out of tank with jet pump.

put where it *will not freeze* 

(mount the float in such a way that there is a *air gap between the outlet pipe of the float valve and the waters surface*. so if a situation would occur and all pressure is lost, it can not pull cistern water back in to the water supply lines -MAJOR NO NO)

this is basically what I have done but I do not have a float valve on the cistern storage tank as it is filled by windmills, but have used that type of float valve on stock tanks and in the past on plastic tanks similar as in the first link, for filling a field sprayer off of a garden hose, float in tank hooked to garden hose and then transfer pump on 1000 gallon tank,


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

okiemom said:


> talked to a plumber who said it would take several thousands to get the set up working. :Bawling:
> 
> Just for parts I estimated around 800-1000.00 for a 100gal+ tank and a good pump and sundry parts. the electrical and pump house is another story.
> 
> ...



Find another plumber.

All you need is a small booster pump with a small pressure tank. You can buy the whole package at Lowe's ( if you have them out your way, or about any decent Big Box hardware place ) for 300 bucks.












To go solar, add $3,000 or so assuming you want it to work nights and rainy days.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

A booster pump and pressure tank is great if you have the water flow to feed it.

If the flow is not adequate to feed your booster pump, it will run out of water to pump. The pressure tank will hold a few gallons but you're pretty likely to run out of water in the shower if that's all you're relying on.

If the flow from the water company is filling a holding tank such as a cistern, (just an example, doesn't have to be a cistern), you'd have a pretty significant source of water for your booster pump to draw on. Your holding tank could be set up to fill with the city water and shut off when full, independently of what you're using at the moment. 

You could think of it like an extra large toilet tank. A standard toilet needs a fairly large quantity of water very quickly in order to flush. The water flow into the toilet is rarely large enough to provide an adequate flush by itself so the tank on the back will fill, sometimes will little more than a trickle, and shut off when the predetermined level is reached. Then when you need it, "whoosh", a large stream of water at the push of a lever that does what it needs to do. There wouldn't be enough water for constant flusing but most home water uses don't draw large quantities of water continuously. Watering a lawn or garden might be an exception. 

Not sure where you are in your situation but a cistern is not necessarily a bad thing to have even if you have a well or a city water connection. Feeding it rain water through your rain gutters could give you a nice supply of water you don't have to rely on a water company to have available. It would be way less work and money if the water company would get off their behinds and fix the problem. But maybe it's a blessing in disguise that's making you face the possibility that maybe the water company won't be there for you forever and always without fail. It's at least making you explore other options.

Best of luck as you get it figured out.

As fulltime rvers for the past 8+ years, our water system is pretty simple. We have a fresh water holding tank, a small pressure tank and a fresh water pump that does as good of a job with pressure and flow as many homes. The tank size is limited, though, and it needs to be refilled often if we're living out of it. But the technology is just not that unique or unavailable. For a home setup, you might have a bit different equipment but none of it is rocket science. Then again, if you consider doing some 12 volt water pumping, you could very well end up with the same water pump that I have in the rv basement. I think between my pump and pressure tank, I might have $150 in it, and it's an exceptionally good pump. The tank in the rv is something under 100 gallons but I'm sure it wasn't THAT expensive, maybe a few hundred $.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Are you at the end of the water line? 

Do others in the area have the same problem? If not I'd say the problem is either in your house or in the feed line to your house after it comes off the main line. Both would usually be your responsibity and not the water suppliers.

As others have suggested have a flow test done instead of just pressure.

WWW


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

This is very common in old Mexico. Almost every house has a water tank on the roof(concrete houses). The municipal water runs into the tank and it is regulated by a float valve. This insures adequate water and pressure in the house. It doesn't matter how slowly the municipal water is running because the tank acts as a buffer. It was also great during the times when the water was cut off for several days at a time which was pretty common.

So, you may want to consider building a platform and putting a tank on it. It would have the added benefit of not requiring a pump.


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## oneokie (Aug 14, 2009)

Information that would help troubleshoot your pressure woes:

What size is the line that the meter is connected to?
What size are the ports on the meter?
What size is the line from the meter to your house?
How many feet from the meter to the house?
What is the elevation difference between the full level of the water tower and your house?


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## littlebitfarm (Mar 21, 2005)

A public water supply has to maintain 20 PSI per EPA rules. If they don't they have a problem and need to fix it. If the pressure is 21 PSI then you need to get creative.


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