When you do your inspections and check your water pressure do you turn on all the water in the whole house, then see how the water pressure is. I have a seller, who had their house inspected, and the inspector turned on all the water in the house, and said the water pressure was awful. If you turn on 4 sinks, a huge whirlpool, 2 showers and a waterhose at one time, wouldn't that kill the water pressure? Should they have all been able to run at one time just fine? I'm not a plumber, or an inspector, but was/is this really how they always check water pressure in a home inspection?

If it is municipality supplied water, the municipality's water system is designed to provide a certain water pressure at the home's water meter. (about 60 psi)

A well system should have a pressure tank that maintains a certain pressure as well.

The water pressure provided by the city or by a well system is not designed to provide that pressure when multiple faucets are opened simultaneously.

I also do home inspections and the way I check water pressure is to turn on a faucet, the shower and then flush the toilet. I look to see if their is a signaficant drop in the amount of water flow that could cause scolding of someone in the shower. You can also go to http://www.nachi.org and see if there is anything on their site that may help you out.

I was just asking because I thought turning all those things on, at one time was a little overkill. I mean realistically do you run the diswasher, the water hose, 5 sinks, 1 whirlpool, and 2 showers at one time? I thought that was too much to turn on at one time. Of course the buyers now don't think they want to buy the house now, and the inspector won't give me a copy of the report. So, what I've learned from this is: don't do business with that company again.

Pressure is pressure. You cannot test pressure while fixtures and faucets are open. Pressure can be accurately measured only on a closed system. This is referred to as "static" pressure, and it should be in the range of 55 to 75 psi.

Pressure supplied to a residence in excess of 80 psi requires a regulator to reduce static pressure. Municipalities are generally only "required" to supply 40 psi minimum.

The "flow rate" (gallons per minute or GPM) is different. GPM makes the difference between a good system and a poor system, and has little to do with delivery pressure. Checking GPM is beyond the scope of a normal home inspection.

Ditto

Ditto x2


Thomson Alliance

Home Inspectors Inspection Hawaii, Oahu
http://www.thomsonalliance.com
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I would think the buyer has to turn over a copy of the report to verify the problem and then the seller should be allowed to try to remedy the problem if one truly exists.

If the house has old galvanized water pipes they could be corroded which reduces the amount of water flow but not the pressure.

The house was 8 years old, and they hired a plumber to run a camera in there, then gave the tape to the buyers to prove there was not a leak (their realtor insisted there was one, I guess she was a plumber in her past life or something). They also called someone from the city to measure the PSI going into the house from the neighbor, and it was the same as every other house on the street.

A problem my sister had was she bought a house on city water and had no inspector. The person who owned the house before did some plumbing and put the wrong size pipes in and the pressure is low for the whole house. Even with just one spiket on. I don't know why she didn't catch it when she checked the house but she missed it and after hiring a plumber to resolve issue needs new pipes.

Some relocation companies have us go to the highest fixture in the house (usually the shower head on the 2nd floor) and check pressure there.

That is just great but it does not help with flow. As a HUD consultant they are looking for a minimum gallon flow per minute of 3. I think 3gpm is too little and like to see a minimum of 4-5 but this is primarily for a system on a well.

There are many other variables that come into play, some of which are:

Public water. Is there a pressure regulator in the house and is it properly adjusted? Is there a backflow preventer and it is working correctly? Is the pipe into the house the right size

Well water. Type of pump. Age of pump. Depth of well. Water treatment systems in place. Size of pressure tank. Pressure tank adjustments.

This is not all inclusive but gives you an idea of what needs to be looked at.