In the past year we bought a house that’s about 30 years old. We have had a few minor things upgraded or fixed in the plumbing. I also just got a new water heater to replace a 20 year old one. On two separate occasions involving a plumber (different plumbing companies) the plumbers have both stated my pressure is too high (100-105psi) and I need to install a pressure reducing valve.
I like my water pressure, and I’d imagine the house was built with this higher pressure in mind. It is all copper piping. I read the new building codes changed in the 2000’s to 80psi or less, but this house predates that.
To those who know plumbing, do I really need to care about this?

I've always heard that the ideal pressure was in the 60 - 70 psi range.

Research says 50-70 in the home with 60 being optimal.

Wonder if the house never had a PRV or if the previous owners
wanted more water pressure and had it removed.

Either way, you have two different plumbers advising you of the exact same thing, might want to heed their advice.... 100 from what I can discern is the street pressure from the city for keeping delivery pressure up for all homes.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Research says 50-70 in the home with 60 being optimal.

Wonder if the house never had a PRV or if the previous owners
wanted more water pressure and had it removed.

Seems that none of the houses in this neighborhood had them installed originally, so I can reasonably assume ours didn’t have one.

Also regarding 2 plumber’s opinions: the first plumber was giving me estimates, and seemed to be just trying to make a bunch of money off of me, I had zero confidence in him, so I did not hire him for any work. The second plumber installed the water heater. He mentioned the pressure, but was rather nonchalant about it. He said I should consider doing it at some point, but was not acting like it was an urgent need. So I turned to my friends here at SF, as well as trying to read up on the internet and see what the deal really is.

I've lived in my house for 40 years and never knew the PRV was a maintenance item. Checked pressure for the first time ever and it was 105. A new PRV is ordered. The only sign of high pressure I've ever noticed is a sporadic lavatory faucet drip with a new faucet.

Ordered a Watts PRV on Amazon and it turns out it is coming from Canada and may take 3 weeks to get here.

Be aware that new gizmos may have a max pressure rating below 100psi. Things like water filters, water softener, etc. Especially anything with a plastic housing.

We had a whole-house filter system fail while we were away camping out of cell phone coverage, of course. The plastic housing split and it did a lot of damage. It turned out to be a known failure-prone product. The insurance company hired a forensic engineering company who analyzed it. The engineer told me he'd seen several of the exact unit fail the same way.

Anyhow, that filter was rated at 120psi iirc. Our regulator was set at less than 100psi and tested good.

That same model number filter now has a lower max pressure rating, which iirc is 80psi.

Long story to relate that a pressure regulator set below 100psi is a smart idea.

quote:

Originally posted by Mutiny:

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Research says 50-70 in the home with 60 being optimal.

Wonder if the house never had a PRV or if the previous owners
wanted more water pressure and had it removed.

Seems that none of the houses in this neighborhood had them installed originally, so I can reasonably assume ours didn’t have one.

Our home is the same age, and there isn't a PRV on it either that I can find, we do have a pressure back fill valve for the sprinkler system though to prevent backflow, I have had to rebuild it twice in those 30 years, most likely due to the higher pressure and hard water here.

My inlet pressure is about 120 psi. I step it down to 60 psi.

Do you get any hammering of your pipes? Like when the toilets shut off when they're full?

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
My inlet pressure is about 120 psi. I step it down to 60 psi.

Do you get any hammering of your pipes? Like when the toilets shut off when they're full?

I don’t notice any water hammer effect.

I have installed 3 new toilets along with some bathroom renovations, but the other bathrooms and toilets I have left alone with their older fixtures.

Mine in set for 55 psi. Ive replced the pressure valve twice in 22 years (bought a pressure meter the second time, about $20)

High pressure will stress the pipes and joints eventually resulting in leaking (how i found my pressure valve failed both times)

I had the pressure reducing valve at my house go bad shortly after I bought the house. It roached two toilet fill valves, the water inlet valve on the refrigerator, and two sink faucets before I realized what the problem was.

The pressure I set the new one to is 45 psi.

House is roughly 22 years old now. It's all copper in the crawlspace but then CPVC up to the fixtures.

My water pressure was high. Sprinkler system was making crazy noises. I had a new PRV installed and the water pressure adjusted. I don't really notice anything that different at the fixtures and the sprinkler system quit with the freaking hammering noise.

I'm looking into getting municipal water to my house and have been talking to a plumber about what's involved. He said he'll put in a pressure reduction valve as well as an expansion tank. The PRV should be set to 60psi but is one way thus will prevent any water from back filling to the line. But that creates a problem after using hot water because as the tank heats up the cold water, it expands building pressure in the house plumbing, often tripping the water heater's pop-off valve or causing other problems, which is the reason for the expansion tank.

I'm putting an expansion tank on my water heater inlet line, I think my new PRV will bleed any house pressure over 2 psi higher than municipal system back into the municipal system.

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:
I'm putting an expansion tank on my water heater inlet line, I think my new PRV will bleed any house pressure over 2 psi higher than municipal system back into the municipal system.

Does your municipality require a backflow preventer on the supply? I was told the the reason for the need for the expansion tank was because of the backflow preventer not allow pressure to go back into the supply.

I may have stated it incorrectly. Maybe not the PRV itself but the required check valve is what makes an expansion tank necessary.

Couldn't you gate down on the valve, to reduce pressure on the intake? I have a ball valve on my water heater and installed it with Shark-Bite fittings. I also have a valve on the house so I can gate that as well if need be. The SB fittings can take a lot of pressure before failing and I have them all over my house and many family members have the same.

Partially closing a gate or ball valve will reduce flow, not pressure. All that will do is reduce the speed at which the pressure builds back up once you turn off whatever device you were using.

A WH manufacture may not honor a warranty if pressure is too high - from Lochnivar:
This warranty shall apply only when the heater is:
• owned by the original purchaser;
• installed for indoor operation only;
• used at temperatures not exceeding the maximum
calibrated setting of its thermostat;
• used at water pressure not exceeding the working pressure shown on the heater;
• filled with potable water, free to circulate at all times