Low water pressure from city supply

Hello, this is my first post as I just found this forum earlier today. I have been browsing through the various forums for the better part of the evening and have found quite a bit of very useful information. After seeing what a wealth of knowledge this site is I thought I would try to mine a bit of it. I have had a problem with the water pressure in my home being low since moving in. As a general rule the only time I have adequate (and I use that term very loosely) is in the middle of the night. For instance during the summer if I am out watering the lawn in the evening I get a loss of pressure from one of my neighbors turning on a faucet or their washing machine. I have checked to insure that the water meter is opened fully and have also contacted the city but it seems that I am stuck with the pressure that I receive. Recently while browsing online I came across a pump that is attached to the supply line just after the water meter. The details of the pump stated that it would increase my water pressure by up to 40psi. I wanted to find out if anyone has had any experience with this type of pump and what results they may have seen. I am wanting to remodel and update both my kitchen and bath as well as install a custom walk in shower with multiple heads. But with the water pressure that I am dealing with now I know I would never be satisfied.

If anyone out there has any experience with this type of pump or might have any other ideas as to what I could do to increase my pressure I would be ever so grateful for their help.

I don't know where you are located but most municipalities are required by law to supply a minimum pressure to homes, so you may want to check and see if it is at their minimum, reguardllss of what they are telling you.

Aside from that you would need a pump and storage tank. Once you start using water and the tanks storage capacity was used up at the pressure you had it set for, it would drop down again. You can't increase the flow/pressure from the street.

pump

These systems are used quite frequently. The downside is that your increased pressure, and therefore volume may come at the expense of your neighbors. If you are taking your nice shower and the pump comes on to maintain the pressure, your neighbor's pressure could drop dramatically as your pump pulls the water out of the main.

I have seen this problem in small non-municipal public water systems where a developer put in dinky little poly pipes as a distribution system. If that is the case, there is no real solution to the neighborhood problem.

Another situation is where the ancient pipes have become tuberculated (filled with rust and carbonates) to the point where there is a 1" bore in a 6" pipe. Again, the only solution is to replace the pipe.

If the water supplier doesn't fix the problem, there are a couple of things that you could do.

First, install a good size bladder tank, maybe 80 gallons actual volume, with a check valve on your incoming line. That will maintain pressure if adequate pressure is intermittently available and will supply you with good pressure when you have more demand than the pipes will supply. It will also have little effect on your neighbors. The tank should be precharged to the minimum pressure that will meet your needs, maybe 20 to 25 psi.

If the tank is not adequate, then you could add a small booster pump with a pressure switch, treating the water supply as you would if it were a well.

The problem with any kind of pump on a public distribution system is that it can pull the pressure below atmospheric pressure and create a hazard. If there is a leak in the pipe it could suck in contaminated ground water which could contaminate the whole system. It would probably not be permitted by the water supplier.

If I were going to install a pump, I would probably use an inexpensive jet pump to keep things simple. Even a 1/2 HP shallow well jet pump should be a great improvement over your current situation.

The pump will probably pull the water pressure down to make your neighbors miserable.