View Full Version : How can I measure my water pressure at the toilet?
JammyDH
04-15-2005, 12:19 PM
I'm wanting to determine the water pressure at my toilet and I'm wondering what is the easiest way to do this.
I've heard about a method where you time how much water goes into a bucket over a certain period of time, but I don't have any details about it. And that method doesn't seem like it would be a good measurement since you have the time that you are turning on and off the water that would mess up your full pressure test...
Any help would be great!
Jammy
RioHyde
04-15-2005, 01:30 PM
You'd measure the pressure at a hosebib or laundry tub faucet using a screw-on type pressure gauge available at any plumbing supply house as well as most home improvement centers. Water pressure will be the same throughout the house including at the toilet. What you've described would measure water volume; not pressure.
JammyDH
04-15-2005, 02:10 PM
Thank you.
Why are you concerned about the pressure at the toilet? The pressure for the flushing is created by the water in the tank and has nothing to do with the pressure in the pipes.
kurte
04-16-2005, 02:55 PM
http://www.terrylove.com/images/toto_cst854_inside_tank.jpg
Why are you concerned about the pressure at the toilet? The pressure for the flushing is created by the water in the tank and has nothing to do with the pressure in the pipes.
I just installed a new pressure relief valve on my incoming water line, my old one was shot and was allowing 130psi in my house ( and had been for quite some time), the new one I put in was factory set at 50psi, everything seems to be working fine since I installed the new valve, except the Toto toilet in the master bath did not seem to flush as well as before, so I adjusted the valve to 60psi, well I took a hell of a dump in the Toto and loaded it up with toilet paper, it did not flush completly the frist time so had to flush it again, that is the first time I have ever had to double flush that Toto, So i am thinking I should turn the Valve up a little higher. the other 2 toilets in house seem to work fine, they are older toilets that use more water, not the new low water toilets ( or what ever you call them)
Unless they are "pressure assisted" flush type which use the line pressure to prime the accumulator tank, the house pressure has nothing to do with the flushing pressure.
master plumber mark
04-16-2005, 06:26 PM
The next time you take a "hell of a dump"
break it up with a stick before flushing.
JammyDH
04-16-2005, 11:30 PM
I have a toilet that is acting up and I have had 2 different plumbers tell me I need a new toilet. They both came to the same conclusion, that the enamel on the inside of my 40 year old toilet is old and paper and stuff we are flushing down it are sticking to the sides and that is why it gets stopped up.
So I asked on this board on recommendations for a toilet under $200 and have decided to purchase a Toto Dalton.
But then a friend of my mother-in-law, who happened to do some plumbing like 40 years ago, told my wife that he thinks it isn't the toilet that is the problem. He thinks it is the water pressure at the toilet that is causing the toilet to stop up.
So before my wife will let me buy the new toilet she wants me to test the water pressure.
RioHyde
04-17-2005, 12:17 AM
You can test the water pressure but it doesnt have a thing to do with your 40 year old toilet flushing or not. Think about how the toilet works. The water in the tank ISNT under house pressure and that tank full of water is what dumps into the bowl.
Just because someone may have done "some plumbing" at some point doesnt make them a plumber. What your MIL's friend is telling you is bunk.