Moved into a new subdivision recently and the city inlet water comes into the garage with branch off to water heater with psi gauge on it showing. What should the psi be~ going into the house? Avg. and max limit.

In the subdivision we built in Whackyland, the city wanted 40 lbs minimum, and the limit was 60 lbs. with some regulator device setting.

I ordinarily would not have known this detail, but when we finished the lots, the plumbing contractor got a good deal on 3/4” pipe running from the meter to the house, and used that instead of the 1/2” specified in the approved plan, which upon inspection drew some negative attention.

In my experience, we look for no more than 60psi. If you have less coming from the utility, not too much can be done passively.

More than 90 psi is going to start beating the hell out of almost anything that uses water in the house, all the way to simple items like faucets and showerheads.

Almost nobody likes a weak shower. But, if you've got a lot of water pressure it might be worth checking to see if it's not too much.

Cues beyond a strong shower and robust law sprinkler would be premature parts failure in major appliances, etc. It's worst for any high efficiency water heaters or boilers.

I did a house in Cambridge once where it was 180psi off the street...

Much of the Silicon Valley area is 90 psi or there abouts. I don’t know why. Those massaging shower heads actually hurt.

Loved those 90 psi + showers, little did I know how much damage was being done.

Failed to properly understand what should have been my first clue that I had a problem.

Bought one of those sprinkle tractors that ride on the hose.

When the tractor hit the end of it's path it stopped the water, until the hose blew.

Blamed it on the hose.

Not a bad idea to check your pressure every now and then.
Water pressure gauges are cheap.

Pressure regulators right at the water supply for a home are new and fangled, relatively speaking. Most homes I work in don't have them, because most homes I would in are from before ~1980.

We check it and install them when needed, but it can't hurt to put one in, the city/town may not tell you what they're doing to the water supply. Most people don't install them as any precaution, and I've done new services where they turned it down even when suggested. To each their own, I guess.

When I go to a sealed combustion boiler, I'll add one.

Pressure regulators right at the water supply for a home are new and fangled, and can fail.

That's what happened to us.
We ended up replacing the pressure regulator, toilet innards, valves, and surge tank.

$10 for the gauge, a quick and easy check can possibly save you some money.

What gets me is that my water supply company doesn’t understand that, because my regulator at curbside is about 150 feet linearly and about 50 feet vertically away from the house, I think I see about a 10+ psi drop. I adjust the regulator so I see 60 psi at the house valve. And they keep adjusting back down.

I got it set on the gauge to 64#. Water sprinkler not that good but could be the long length of the hose. It's in the garage.

Pressure in town here and surrounding areas vary widely from 40 psi on the hilly areas to 140 psi in parts lowest from the reservoir.

My personal well is set to turn on at 60 and off at 90 as I like a good shower. I have not had to repair a faucet in the last 20 years since we built.

quote:

Originally posted by wreckdiver:
Pressure in town here and surrounding areas vary widely from 40 psi on the hilly areas to 140 psi in parts lowest from the reservoir.

My personal well is set to turn on at 60 and off at 90 as I like a good shower. I have not had to repair a faucet in the last 20 years since we built.

House we redid a few years ago had town water. They required a back flow preventer and recommended a pressure reducer. Street pressure was 85psi, IIRC, so we set it back to 60psi and all has been well since.

Well pump at my house is set for 45psi cut in; 65psi cut out.

quote:

Originally posted by kimber1911:
Pressure regulators right at the water supply for a home are new and fangled, and can fail.

That's what happened to us.
We ended up replacing the pressure regulator, toilet innards, valves, and surge tank.

$10 for the gauge, a quick and easy check can possibly save you some money.

Yeah, but just check the pressure periodically, to see if it needs to be adjusted or replaced.

We used to buy regulators by the case to retrofit houses as the city upgraded it's system of water towers neighborhood by neighborhood. They tried to keep their main line limited to 100 PSI, never saw more than 110. Some people just ran at that! Not a good idea. Personally I like about 50 to 60.

We sometimes put the regulator at or under the house and would give the the owner the option to leave one outside faucet on the high pressure side of the regulator for washing cars or filing a pool or etc. Any main line in half decent condition will hold 100 PSI easy.

Where I live now the pressure sux. Just 1/4 mile further down the road the city has a booster on the main line. I average ~30 PSI static and have seen it as low as 22 or 23. Their water tank is made of wood, and over 75 years old and It isn' elevated, it sits on the ground on a small hill. The local water dept. engineer got concerned when I told him I had seen less than 25 PSI, he told me that by law they had to maintain 20 PSI min at the meter. He also said they had no objections to homeowners installing their own booster pump with the only stipulation being they require an automatic low pressure cut off to shut off the pump in the event of an interruption of water service. I'm considering it.

Water pressure is .433 psi per vertical foot. The water coming into my house is 150 psi. I have a gauge before and after the pressure reducer. I step it down to 55 psi. We have big elevation changes here, that's why the pressure is so high for me.

Thanks for the replies.