Water pressure

[n/a29]

id="left">I have a question about water pressure. I have a new home that is less than 1 year old in which I have low water pressure at the outside faucets. Inside pressure seems to be ok. I know there are ways to beef up the pressure with resevoirs/pumps/etc. but I am wondering if there is something simple that can be tried first. All the outside faucets seem to be about the same, so there doesn't seem to be any restrictions in one area and all the indoor plumbing seems fine as well.

One thing I have wondered...Can anti-siphon type faucets cause a drop in pressure? I know that may be a silly question. If so, please forgive me. I just can't think of a reasonable explanation for a drop in pressure at just the outside faucets. I have not actually put a pressure guage on any of the faucets yet, as I do not have a guage yet. Lets just say I can pee with more pressure than my outside faucets' pressure provides through a spray nozzle. [!]

Any advise or info is appreciated...


Dan

[hausdok]

Hi,

If it were an older home, I'd say it sounds like the stems leading to those faucets are occluded with rust. You get less buildup in your main lines and branch lines to baths, kitchen and laundry because water runs through them all the time and scours them. The sillcock stems sit most of the time, building up a layer of crud in them.

However, you've got a newer home and that shouldn't be happening. Here's a somewhat hare-brained idea, shut off the isolation valve inside the basement, remove the new sillcock and then open up the isolation valve to blow out any debris that got into the pipe during the installation process and then reinstall it.

The other day, I was reading somewhere (Plumbing & Mechanical mag maybe) where a fellow plugged some lines with bread to prevent them from dripping and then forgot that he'd done it. When he was called back to the home later to diagnose the lack of water volume and removed the sillcocks he found them partly clogged with the bread.

Whenever I inspect a home, new or old, I'll remove aerators from faucets and then run the water for about 30 seconds or so to flush the crud out of the lines, so I can get a true idea of volume available. With older homes and galvanized pipe, it can be quite an eye opener for the client to see the amount of rust, scale and even sand that gets flushed out of the system. With new homes, bits of teflon tape, black oxide, pieces of plastic, solder, sawdust, drywall muck and even flux get flushed out of the system. New or old, the aerators usually have to be rinsed out.

I'd bet that you either have an obstruction or those frost-free bibs are assembled or installed wrong.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[RobC]

Have you tried tracing the lines back to a main shut off valve, perhaps in the furnace room.

I sounds like you have a common blockage at a header perhaps.

Mike,

Would you stop giving away all my plumbing secrets.

I make good plumbing bread with bread.[]

[hausdok]

Oops, Sorry[:I]

OT - OF!!!

M.

[RobC]

Mike it's kind of like fishing

I wonder who's going to ask the question?

Not the old guys, that's for sure.[:-jump]