I have an apartment house with one upper and one lower apt. It is probably 70 years old. If only one faucet is turned on in either apartment, the pressure is fine. However, if the lady downstairs is running a faucet, or her washing machine, and I turn on a faucet upstairs, there is a trickle of water. I put a gauge on an outside faucet and it showed 60 psi. I did that and ran upstairs to turn on a faucet and the gauge still showed 40 psi. The faucet was on the opposite side of the house where the main line comes in.
The lady that lives downstairs said that if a faucet is on upstairs and she turns on a faucet, she has no pressure. So it is both apartments. She used to live upstairs before moving downstairs and said that it has always been like that. I didn't realize how bad it was until this past week when I was upstairs painting and cleaning. The tenants that were living upstairs had complained about the water pressure, but were behind a couple months in rent, so I figured they would be gone before I could figure out what to do, and was right. I would really like to get it sorted out before I rent the upstairs.
I was ready to pay to have the line to the main dug up and replaced. A Home Depot plumbing guy suggested the gauge. From what I understand, 60 psi is pretty good.
I thought that maybe the inside pipes may be corroded. But if that were the case, I would think that the pressure would stink all the time, not just when more than one faucet is turned on.
I checked all the valves in the basement to make sure they were fully open. I could not find a regulator near the meter (like my house has). I don't know if that is because it is older(?). I don't see any leaks anywhere.
So, does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do. My plumber said we could replace the pipes that feed the downstairs apartment to see if that would help (before going through the expense of replacing those for the upstairs at the higher cost). I don't know that doing that will help either because, again, I would think that the pressure would be awful even if just one faucet was open.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks!
The lady that lives downstairs said that if a faucet is on upstairs and she turns on a faucet, she has no pressure. So it is both apartments. She used to live upstairs before moving downstairs and said that it has always been like that. I didn't realize how bad it was until this past week when I was upstairs painting and cleaning. The tenants that were living upstairs had complained about the water pressure, but were behind a couple months in rent, so I figured they would be gone before I could figure out what to do, and was right. I would really like to get it sorted out before I rent the upstairs.
I was ready to pay to have the line to the main dug up and replaced. A Home Depot plumbing guy suggested the gauge. From what I understand, 60 psi is pretty good.
I thought that maybe the inside pipes may be corroded. But if that were the case, I would think that the pressure would stink all the time, not just when more than one faucet is turned on.
I checked all the valves in the basement to make sure they were fully open. I could not find a regulator near the meter (like my house has). I don't know if that is because it is older(?). I don't see any leaks anywhere.
So, does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do. My plumber said we could replace the pipes that feed the downstairs apartment to see if that would help (before going through the expense of replacing those for the upstairs at the higher cost). I don't know that doing that will help either because, again, I would think that the pressure would be awful even if just one faucet was open.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks!