My house sits about 50' above the street, at the end of a 700' driveway. My water pressure valve is fully opened at the street and in my basement, but I get VERY poor water pressure.

Is there anything I can do to Boost it?

Here is a picture looking down the driveway. The waterline is buried on the left side of the driveway. There are two ravines on either side..
2022-01-16 09.04.06 by Dave Steier, on Flickr

(Not a plumber, but I do work with fluids under pressure.)
Whose water? Your own well, or public utility? If the latter, the problem is most likely on their end. You could also have a blockage, e.g., tree roots, in your pipe.

Whatever system you are on, it's a lot of work to pump water up over that height and distance.

lots of unknowns. but sounds like a booster pump package (jet pump and pressure tank combo) is the answer.

There may not be a " problem " . You may just be a victim of physics . Has the water pressure ever been better than it is now ? Has there been any new construction in the area ?

It's public water.

What pressure is at the point of delivery from the public water agency? Shouldn't it be in the 30-50 PSI range? Then determine what it is at the end source. It may be a victim of physics.

I had a similar situation - a little more elevation, a little less distance. But basically pressure at the house is less than pressure at the regulator streetside.

The recommendation to me was a pump at the house. But never got around to it - I just live w/ the lower pressure (around 50psi); previous house had 80+ psi. I was used to vigorous showers.

Grundfos makes a line of pumps specifically for this. I know of customers in a nearby water district who have installed these and are happy though I have no direct experience with them.

https://product-selection.grun...la/scala1?tab=models

https://product-selection.grun...la/scala2?tab=models

So you have a couple of issues here. You're going to loose roughly 25# of pressure just in elevation. Second is the friction loss over 700'. There are many variables that would have to be calculated, but you could be loosing a lot of pressure just in the length of your line.

Maybe someone makes an inline pressure booster?

If it’s public water supply, there’s a regulation valve before it branches to your meter and supply. It may be throttled down to the normal residential PSI 35-65 so it doesn’t destroy stuff in your house.

You may call the water company and see if they can increase the pressure due to the distance from the meter and being 50’ above the meter. They may not be able to do that because of the size of your supply line. If so you may want to have a storage tank and booster pump installed close to your house where the incoming water is stored into a tank and then a pump boosting the pressure.

I’m not a plumber.

quote:

Originally posted by topherh:
Grundfos makes a line of pumps specifically for this. I know of customers in a nearby water district who have installed these and are happy though I have no direct experience with them.

https://product-selection.grun...la/scala1?tab=models

https://product-selection.grun...la/scala2?tab=models

Thanks!

Having replaced our on/off well pump with a VFD pump all I can say is the extra cost was well worth it. More consistent water pressure, much lower electric bill, doesn't tax the backup generator on startup in the least.

I'm going to side with others and say it's a city problem. If your house is below the level of the local water tower then pressure shouldn't be an issue. It is possible you have a blockage or other issue between the street and your house. A pressure test at each end would quickly determine if that is the issue or not.

Are you certain your problem is low pressure? Often the problem is low volume which is caused by say 1/2" piping rather than 3/4", or old pipe which has had corrosion buildup over the years constricting flow.

No, I'm not sure what pipe was used. The house is about 30 years old. I know it is iron pipe coming into the house and looks to be 3/4".

RK

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
If it’s public water supply, there’s a regulation valve before it branches to your meter and supply. It may be throttled down to the normal residential PSI 35-65 so it doesn’t destroy stuff in your house.

You may call the water company and see if they can increase the pressure due to the distance from the meter and being 50’ above the meter. They may not be able to do that because of the size of your supply line. If so you may want to have a storage tank and booster pump installed close to your house where the incoming water is stored into a tank and then a pump boosting the pressure.

I’m not a plumber.

This is exactly the steps I would recommend.

Several years ago we built a home for a client who bought the lot before we got involved. When we went to turn the water on there was only 35psi. Long story short, we contacted the public water authority and found that lot was sold with the notice that there wasn’t adequate pressure so we ended up putting a booster pump in (at an additional charge) and everything was great. He had “forgotten” about the document he signed until we showed him a copy from the utility…

I worked for a municipal water utility for 12 years. The water service does not have valves in the lines that regulate pressure. They do not regulate the pressure leaving the system. When I needed to find the water pressure, I hoked up a flow device to the close fire hydrant and calculated the flow from there. A lot of towns color code the top bonnet of the hydrants that tell you what the approximate pressure is. Blue is the best flow, orange was the worst. Water lines do build up crud in the pipes. I have seem 8" lines reduced to a 4" flow due to buildup. That is why the utilities flush the system twice a year. If possible I would flush out your service line until the water flows clear and faster flow. As others have said, a booster pump could help you get better flow. I have friend in Georgia that have the same problem. They are near the end of the water system, have probably an 100' elevation and an 800' driveway. I recommended a booster pump for them, they decided to live with the low pressure.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
I worked for a municipal water utility for 12 years. The water service does not have valves in the lines that regulate pressure. They do not regulate the pressure leaving the system. When I needed to find the water pressure, I hoked up a flow device to the close fire hydrant and calculated the flow from there. A lot of towns color code the top bonnet of the hydrants that tell you what the approximate pressure is. Blue is the best flow, orange was the worst. Water lines do build up crud in the pipes. I have seem 8" lines reduced to a 4" flow due to buildup. That is why the utilities flush the system twice a year. If possible I would flush out your service line until the water flows clear and faster flow. As others have said, a booster pump could help you get better flow. I have friend in Georgia that have the same problem. They are near the end of the water system, have probably an 100' elevation and an 800' driveway. I recommended a booster pump for them, they decided to live with the low pressure.

Thanks rtquig, and everyone else. Looks like I'll be looking for a booster pump!

THREAD DRIfT - hydrant colors

A LONG time ago when I was working we would take a few guys on our brush truck to water down the parking area for the big air show. This prevented dust but also reduced the risk of fires as the parking area was a big field and was a nice PR gig for the department.

The old brush truck was mostly hand built and the tank fill was a 4" PVC pipe mounted horizontally. In the station you stuck a hose in there to fill. In the field a 2 1/2 line with a straight tip nozzle attached to a hydrant or engine would fill you pretty quick. Ok, stage is set...

First time to re-fill and working with a higher raking guy not used to our district. He orders us to use a blue hydrant on a corner. I knew this was not a city hydrant but a private hydrant for the big manufacturing facility. He ignored my warning and proceeded to hook up to the hydrant to fill. I remember saying "I wouldn't do that" as he called for water.

Well, that hydrant had 3x the pressure of a normal hydrant and next thing I knew he was on his back doing everything he could to manage that nozzle shooting a water stream 75' straight up. Not only did he soak himself, the rig, and make a muddy mess, he set off a water flow alarm which triggered a full response, which he then got to explain.

No "Told you..." necessary that day

My church is about 500 feet off the road and we discovered that the previous owners had to run a 2" water line beside the 1" line that originally ran to the building from the street.... the engineers at the fellowship determined this was done to get adequate water pressure. I think the tank and pump idea listed above is a better idea.