These Tips to Increase Your Home's Water Pressure

WHEN SHOWERHEADS IN YOUR HOME ARE WEAK, water dribbles out of faucets, and the washing machine takes forever to fill, the problem could be low water pressure

- Joseph Truini

This is a relatively common plumbing problem that can be caused by any number of things, ranging from clogged pipes in a municipal water system to worn-out components in a private water well. Here are a few simple tests you can run to get to the bottom of the problem.

Water-Pressure Test // To quickly and accurately calculate the water pressure in your home, purchase a pressure gauge, which will run you about $10. Tighten the gauge's female-threaded fitting onto an outdoor garden-hose faucet. Check to make sure that all the valves closest to the water meter are fully opened (in the case of a well system, this would be valves closest to the home's pressure tank). Next, open the hose faucet all the way, and read the water pressure on the gauge's needle dial. Any reading that's less than about 40 pounds of pressure per square inch (PSI) is considered low water pressure. For most homes, 50 PSI is ideal.

Check the Flow Rate // Water flow is measured as a rate. If the demand for water exceeds the amount that the system can supply, then it may seem as if your home has low water pressure, when that might not be the case.