buenasuerte
New Member
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
Ok....this is a long explanation, please bear with me:
We are on an old gravity-fed system (well and large above ground holding tank)that is shared by 4 households on one rural road. The line drops in elevation from the tank across the street and then supplies the houses first from the lowest elevation and then on up the road, with a slight elevation gain as the line progresses. We are third in line in this system and none of us has had terrific water pressure for as long as we have lived here. Most of us have grown used to this and have been fine with it, but one neighbor, the last in line, now uses the house as a rental and, understandably, wants increased pressure for the renters. The owner prior to the current one was actually the one to install the pressurization system as a matter of "improving" it for resale. After installing some sort of pressurization method (I have no idea what), our water pressure was instantly reduced a good part of the time to nearly zero (they watered their lawn almost constantly the first couple months). After making the neighbor aware of the situation, and following the advice of plumber friend that he should have had a "holding tank" installed, he listened, did a bit of research and we were told that he was going to install a tank of some sort. I have read up on pressure tanks since then, but at the time, I knew nothing about how pressurization worked, so my explanation here of exactly what was installed probably won't make much sense, but my understanding was that initially he was somehow drawing water directly into his house and pressurizing it....I don't know how.... and only later did he learn that a tank, or maybe it was simply a larger tank?, should have been installed, which, whatever change he made, it worked, and our water pressure improved right away.
Ok, so he sold the house several years back and another owner is in the picture. Our water pressure is the same as it has always been....usually, but occasionally...and with more and more frequency over the last year or so, our water pressure will cut out for around 45 seconds at a time, both hot and cold....first to almost nothing and then to maybe half our normal pressure. It seems to be getting worse over the last several months. One time we had the neighbor on the phone and asked if the pressure tank was kicking on right then and it coincided exactly with our drop in water pressure.
So...since this neighbor rents the home out as a vacation rental in the summer there is a great motivation to have the best water pressure possible. I understand that. We have asked repeatedly for the owner to get the system checked because it still appears to us to be what is negatively impacting our water pressure. We still don't mind the "normal" lower pressure that we have always had, but the cutting out is getting quite annoying...especially when showering.....brrrr. The owner claims to have received assurance from several people that it could not be the system that is causing our problems. Our pressure drops seem to happen almost always when someone is home next door. When no one is there for several days, there is usually no drop in pressure, although this has happened on occasion, and the owner mentioned recently that they had a small leak somewhere. The coincidence explanation seems a bit unlikely to me, but...I could be convinced otherwise if someone who really knows about such things has a better explanation. Our pressure is consistent except for these 45 second intervals that occur at various times through the day.
Does anyone have any idea if it really could be the neighbor's system which is causing a drop in our pressure? And if so, is there a simple way to determine where the problem is? If not, what could the problem be in our own system since we are completely gravity fed and have no pumps or electricity (other than hot water heaters) involved? We have a large house and have experienced the same pattern of a drop in pressure (severe drop, followed by about half pressure for about 45 seconds, then back to "normal" pressure) from many different spigots/faucets/showerheads. Finally, if this IS the neighbor's issue and they will not address it, if WE install our own pressure tank, will this restore consistant water pressure for us?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for any thoughts you might have.
We are on an old gravity-fed system (well and large above ground holding tank)that is shared by 4 households on one rural road. The line drops in elevation from the tank across the street and then supplies the houses first from the lowest elevation and then on up the road, with a slight elevation gain as the line progresses. We are third in line in this system and none of us has had terrific water pressure for as long as we have lived here. Most of us have grown used to this and have been fine with it, but one neighbor, the last in line, now uses the house as a rental and, understandably, wants increased pressure for the renters. The owner prior to the current one was actually the one to install the pressurization system as a matter of "improving" it for resale. After installing some sort of pressurization method (I have no idea what), our water pressure was instantly reduced a good part of the time to nearly zero (they watered their lawn almost constantly the first couple months). After making the neighbor aware of the situation, and following the advice of plumber friend that he should have had a "holding tank" installed, he listened, did a bit of research and we were told that he was going to install a tank of some sort. I have read up on pressure tanks since then, but at the time, I knew nothing about how pressurization worked, so my explanation here of exactly what was installed probably won't make much sense, but my understanding was that initially he was somehow drawing water directly into his house and pressurizing it....I don't know how.... and only later did he learn that a tank, or maybe it was simply a larger tank?, should have been installed, which, whatever change he made, it worked, and our water pressure improved right away.
Ok, so he sold the house several years back and another owner is in the picture. Our water pressure is the same as it has always been....usually, but occasionally...and with more and more frequency over the last year or so, our water pressure will cut out for around 45 seconds at a time, both hot and cold....first to almost nothing and then to maybe half our normal pressure. It seems to be getting worse over the last several months. One time we had the neighbor on the phone and asked if the pressure tank was kicking on right then and it coincided exactly with our drop in water pressure.
So...since this neighbor rents the home out as a vacation rental in the summer there is a great motivation to have the best water pressure possible. I understand that. We have asked repeatedly for the owner to get the system checked because it still appears to us to be what is negatively impacting our water pressure. We still don't mind the "normal" lower pressure that we have always had, but the cutting out is getting quite annoying...especially when showering.....brrrr. The owner claims to have received assurance from several people that it could not be the system that is causing our problems. Our pressure drops seem to happen almost always when someone is home next door. When no one is there for several days, there is usually no drop in pressure, although this has happened on occasion, and the owner mentioned recently that they had a small leak somewhere. The coincidence explanation seems a bit unlikely to me, but...I could be convinced otherwise if someone who really knows about such things has a better explanation. Our pressure is consistent except for these 45 second intervals that occur at various times through the day.
Does anyone have any idea if it really could be the neighbor's system which is causing a drop in our pressure? And if so, is there a simple way to determine where the problem is? If not, what could the problem be in our own system since we are completely gravity fed and have no pumps or electricity (other than hot water heaters) involved? We have a large house and have experienced the same pattern of a drop in pressure (severe drop, followed by about half pressure for about 45 seconds, then back to "normal" pressure) from many different spigots/faucets/showerheads. Finally, if this IS the neighbor's issue and they will not address it, if WE install our own pressure tank, will this restore consistant water pressure for us?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for any thoughts you might have.