Low water pressure

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philp

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I've added a laundry sink beside my washer/dryer and a hand basin in a bedroom. I Tee'd off the washer lines and everything seems fine except the pressure out of both new faucets is very low. I removed the hoses for the washer (which is easy and doesn't create any water mess) and checked the pressure and it seems high and normal. All other faucets, showers, etc. are also working as before - no pressure change and I've tested with nothing else running.

Any ideas why both these faucets would have low pressure (both hot and cold)? Both are new faucets, one a standard very simple laundry faucet (Moen) and the other a basic bathroom faucet (Pfister).
 

Jadnashua

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Don't confuse pressure and volume. The pressure would be the same if it was soda straw sized verses a fire hose with no flow. The volume would be radically different (assuming the supply was capable of supplying what is demanded). New vanity faucets are limited to about 2.2gpm flow. A laundry tub and washing machine are unrestricted, so the volume you can get out of them will be quite different than a vanity faucet. WIth a 1/2" line feeding now three things, there isn't enough capacity to let each reach it's full capacity if more than one is on at the same time.
 

philp

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Don't confuse pressure and volume.

Yes sorry I mean flow rate. I shall time the faucets (with nothing else turned on) and report back on the flow. Of course (hopefully) the pressure has not changed.

Surely it makes no difference how many faucets are on the same 1/2" line (in fact every device needing water is on the same 1/2" line - I only have one water main!).
 

Nukeman

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Normally, the line coming into the house will be say 3/4" (most common). From there, several 1/2" branches will come off to feed different fixtures. Yes, it does matter how many fixtures you have on one of these 1/2" branches. How big is the line when it enters the house? If you have a shutoff valve inside the house, that is where you should check.
 

Jadnashua

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There is a maximum velocity you can safely move water through a pipe that varies based on the diameter. On 1/2" copper, it's ends up being around 5-6gpm. Increased pressure will enable higher flow rates, but you end up with damaging the pipe over time through erosion, especially near fittings that cause turbulance.
 

philp

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The line in is 3/4" but drops to 1/2" before it goes through the stop valve and meter. Don't know why - old house, I guess they did things differently then.

How does it matter how many fixtures there are on a branch (or even how many branches there are)? Maybe with this explanation I can spot if I did something wrong.

Here are the flow rates:
Kitchen faucet 2.5 gpm
Main bathroom vanity faucet: 2.5 gpm
Laundry (cold water hose): 2.8 gpm (or higher)
New Laundry faucet: 0.625 gpm
New bedroom vanity: 0.375 gpm

All these are just cold taps with all other water fixtures turned off.
 
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