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Under Pressure: What It Means When You Have Too Much or Too Little Indoor Water Pressure

Most homeowners probably think water pressure is something that just comes with the home. When my family moved into a mid-century home in Provo, we quickly discovered the water pressure was really high and just assumed it was a harmless feature of the house. Besides, it was great for filling pots quickly and enjoying a high-pressured, exfoliating shower. However, what we didn’t realize was that this high pressure was actually really hard on our pipes and appliances. In this post, I’m going to be talking about water pressure, how it works, and what you can do if yours is either too high or too low.

There are technical ways of checking the water pressure in your home but one of the easiest signs that you have too much pressure in your plumbing system is that water seems to gush out of your faucets at, well, high pressure. You might also notice leaks from different fixtures in the home, like multiple dripping faucets. In our home, nearly all of the faucets leaked.

Another clue would be if you turn on the kitchen faucet, for example, and the faucet jumps or moves--or, if you turn on the faucet and the water comes out really hard and fast for half a second and then slows down. This could be a sign of high water pressure that isn’t being regulated. You could also hear a knocking or thunking sound coming from inside the plumbing when you turn on the faucet--another sign that the pressure is too high and is putting strain on the pipes and plumbing leading to your sink.

1.  WHY IS HIGH WATER PRESSURE BAD?

As I mentioned, there might be reasons why people enjoy high water pressure. However, what you can’t see is that the perceived convenience of high water pressure is actually causing a lot of trouble around the house. For example, the pressure causes small pinholes to form in your pipes that start as small leaks but can lead to much larger ones. It also wears down the seals and o-rings in your plumbing system, faucets, and toilets. Additionally, the pressure puts undue stress on appliances like the washer, dishwasher, and water heater, shortening their lifespans. Regulating the water pressure in your home protects your pipes, your appliances, and your fixtures.


2.  SO WHAT CAUSES HIGH WATER PRESSURE AND HOW DO YOU REGULATE IT?

The Pressure Regulating Valve (PRV) can be found right above your home’s main shutoff valve and is the part responsible for regulating water pressure in your system’s plumbing. Click here to watch a video helping you find your home’s water shutoff valve. As its name suggests, it regulates pressure as water comes into your home from the city line. It has a rubber bladder that activates when the pressure is high, ensuring that water within the closed system of your home is at a consistent psi.

Throughout the US, code states that water must be kept below 80lbs of pressure. Therefore, all the fixtures in your house are engineered to operate at that pressure. Because o-rings can fail and water can be abrasive at these pressures, anything over that point needs a regulator. However, many homes built before the 90s--and even during the 90s--were built without PRVs to keep the pressure in check. It hadn’t been put into code yet. So, if you live in an older home, there’s a possibility that your home doesn’t have a PRV, just as we discovered ours didn’t.

However, just because you have a PRV, this doesn’t mean it’s fully doing its job. PRV valves can last anywhere from 6 to 12 years, depending on how much sediment is in your water, as well as how much pressure you have coming into your house. Sometimes they can become stopped up by sediment and need to be cleaned out or replaced. The bladder inside can potentially calcify and fail as well. When the PRV valve fails, you will notice that either the valve failed in an open position, resulting in high pressure, or a semi-closed position, resulting in low volume and water pressure.


3.  WHAT IF THE WATER PRESSURE IN YOUR HOME IS TOO LOW?

This problem is another one that’s easy to spot. If you put your faucets on full blast but the water comes out slowly, you’ve likely got a low pressure problem in your house. Fortunately, this problem is more of an annoyance than a hazard to your appliances. However, as far as your indoor plumbing goes, it could be evidence of problems lurking in your pipes or, as mentioned above, it could mean you have a failed PRV. Whether it’s a blockage or a leak in the pipe, if the water is coming out too slowly, you should probably get your plumbing inspected by a licensed plumber. They can identify where the slowdown might be occurring and help you figure out how to fix it.

Importantly, the PRV can reduce pressure but there’s no way for a PRV to increase pressure. The water pressure from your city’s lines is the highest your water pressure can go. However, technically if your pressure is lower, having a PRV isn’t a bad idea anyway. City pressure can change as there is new development or improvements to city lines, etc. But high pressure in the lines is trouble, making a PRV pretty much essential to any home.


4.  HOW DO YOU TEST YOUR WATER PRESSURE?

You need a gauge to test whether you are getting either too much or not enough water pressure. Attach it to a faucet close to the water meter and make sure the system pressure isn’t exceeding 80psi. You can also measure it at the water heater. It’s important to check it at different times, as pressure can fluctuate throughout the day. You’ll also want to turn on multiple faucets in the house to see if the pressure changes as other faucets are opened. You’ll want to do this with another person so one can be monitoring the gauge while the other is turning on a faucet elsewhere. Once the pressure gauge regulates, turn the water off and check what .psi the pressure climbs back up to. Be sure to watch it for a while. A drop in pressure of 5-15 degrees when the faucet is opened is considered a normal flow. As long as it goes down at a normal rate, you’re fine. If you shut the water off and the needle jumps and bounces around, you either don’t have a PRV or it has failed.


If you find that you have consistently high pressure, you’ll want to either install a PRV or replace an existing PRV that may have worn out. Call a licensed plumber to help with installation; your plumber will also set the valve to operate effectively under that 80psi limit.

If your furnace is giving you trouble, Any Hour Services would be happy to help. One of our certified HVAC technicians can diagnose the problem and let you know your options. You can give us a call or schedule an appointment online.
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The prices you are quoted come out of our pricing guide. We have looked at the most common tasks we are asked to perform and figured out the average time to perform the task, the cost of the materials, and the cost associated with running a drain business that is able to stand behind that work.

To calculate the cost of your drain project, your plumber will determine the tasks needed. Each task has a price associated with it, which your plumber will add together to arrive at your total. This method allows us to identify and rule out unnecessary tasks, prioritizing fairness and transparency (while saving you money).

Our pricing method is not influenced by the neighborhood someone lives in but is designed to be fair and transparent. When we designed our pricing guide, we asked ourselves, “What does it take to perform this task?” NOT, “How much can we get a person to pay?” This commitment to honest, clear pricing reflects our respect for our clients.

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When you charge by the hour, you can only give a price after the job is finished. We don’t want you to have to wait until the end of the job to find out how much it costs.

We believe there are too many variables that make “charging by the hour” more of a win for the company than for the homeowner. There are the things that a homeowner has no control over but ends up paying the price for anyway: if a technician has to leave the job to get a part, if technicians work more slowly, if the job takes longer than expected, etc. With “charging by the hour,” there’s no accountability on the plumbing company to have their trucks stocked better, train their technicians better, or run their business more efficiently.

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It costs $269 to inspect your sewer main line with our sewer camera equipment. If you’d like to see what the inside of your sewer line looks like, our sewer supervisors have high-definition cameras to show you a live video of the inside your sewer main line.

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It costs $269 to inspect your sewer main line with our sewer camera equipment. Below you will find a couple internet specials to help you save. If you’d like to see what the inside of your sewer line looks like, our sewer supervisors have hi definition cameras to show you a live video of the inside your sewer main line.

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If you are looking to replace your sewer main line, one of our sewer supervisors will come to your home and inspect your sewer main line with a high-definition camera and show you what options are available. The visit doesn’t cost you anything, so call us if you have questions about replacing your sewer main line.

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No, our drain technicians don’t quote a price until they have seen your drain issue. Once they quote a price, it doesn’t change, no matter how long it takes. At any time you want to add more tasks, your drain technician will let you know how much it would cost to perform the extra work.

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You can pay for the the drain work we perform with cash, check, or any major credit card. We collect, in full, upon completion of the project. If you would like to make monthly payments, we do have many financing options available through 3rd party finance companies, OAC. Your drain technician can talk to you about your options.

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Our pricing is fair and transparent. It’s based on a fixed-price guide that considers the time, materials, and costs of running a reliable home services business. We don’t charge by the hour or inflate prices based on your neighborhood. We ask ourselves, “What does it take to get the job done?,” not “How much can we charge?”

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We prefer to price based on the job and not what other companies charge. Hourly rates can lead to unexpected costs for homeowners, making the final price unpredictable. By pricing the work itself, we make sure you’re only paying for what’s actually needed—keeping things fair and efficient.

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Water heater replacements vary. Often, older units require updates to meet safety standards. Common items missing from many water heaters are flexible gas lines, expansion tanks, earthquake straps, gas sediment trap, upgrade exhaust venting, etc.

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Our phone staff are not licensed plumbers, so they can’t quote prices that would be accurate to your project’s needs. A trained plumber needs to see the job firsthand to give you a clear, upfront price. Quotes over the phone are a guess, and we prefer transparency over uncertainty.

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Ballpark prices can be misleading. Until we see the job, we can’t quote your final estimate accurately. Other companies may give an estimate range, but that often leads to additional costs and surprises later. Instead, we focus on giving you a fair price once a licensed plumber can assess the job properly.

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We have a small dispatch fee to send our plumber to your home. Our plumbers will arrive in a truck stocked with thousands of parts. They’ll have everything they need to start your plumbing project while they’re at your home, unless the situation is unusual. They’ll perform a thorough evaluation of your plumbing system and explain what they’ll need to do to complete the work you called for. They’re not going to charge you by the hour, they will give you a total price, with options, before any of the work begins.

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There are several large plumbing projects that we are willing to show you what options are available and the visit doesn’t cost you anything; basement finishes, water heater install/replacements, water softener installs/replacement, repiping, tankless water heater install/replacement etc. This is not a complete list so call us if you have questions about your project.

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You will pay a little more to get a plumber to your home after hours but they do not charge more for the work you want them to perform. Our prices come directly from our pricing guide. We do not have a different set of plumbing prices for doing work in the evenings or on weekends. The price for the plumbing work you need done will be the same regardless of the time of day.

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No, as long as you live in our service area, our plumbers can come to your home and help. We service homes from North Ogden, South to Nephi. West from the Tooele/Grantsville area, east to the Park City Heber area. Here is a full list of Utah Cities we service.

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No, our plumbers don’t quote a price until they have seen your plumbing project. Once they quote a price, it doesn’t change, no matter how long it takes. At any time, you want to add more tasks to your plumbing project, your plumber will let you know how much it would cost to perform the extra work.

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Yes, in addition to our coupons, we offer senior discounts and military discounts. You can receive 5% off or any special promotions we may be running, whichever is greater. You can ask your plumber to show you your savings.

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You can pay for your plumbing service with cash, check, or any major credit card. We collect, in full, upon completion of the project. If you would like to make monthly payments, we do have many financing options available through 3rd party finance companies, OAC. Your plumber can talk to you about your options when they give you pricing options for the HVAC work you want completed.

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