Plumber Advice: Water Pressure Matters | Conway, SC

3/18/2020

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You always want a level of water pressure that serves your family the best. You don’t want your water pressure to cause problems that need you to call a plumber, as that will just cause problems going forward. The issues can come from both inside and outside your home, especially when a storm hits. Hopefully this gives you a good baseline for what to look for and what a plumber can do to make sure you and your family are satisfied with your water pressure, including keeping you and your plumbing safe.

Problems with Low Water Pressure

The most common complaints about water pressure. You feel like you’re wasting time waiting for you sink to fill to do dishes, or your washing machine takes forever to fill with water meaning laundry takes all weekend to get done. Or if you’re in a shower that has low water pressure you may notice that it takes forever to take a shower. What is causing it and should you contact a professional? It’s not fun to deal with low water pressure but what actually can happen when you have low pressure is not great.

Low water pressure is possibly just an issue with a valve or naturally occurring from your municipal or well water source. If that’s the case there won’t be too much that can be done even with professional help. If it’s something like blocked water pipes however, a plumber should be able to assist.What’s even more concerning are the possible implications to your health. Low water pressure can contribute to bacteria growth in your drinking water, meaning your water quality decreases substantially. It can also lead to water not being able to stay at the valve as you’re trying to turn it on which gets air in your pipes and can increase the odds of your pipes shaking or bursting as they push the air out of the lines, since air is lighter than water. You don’t want that to happen because then you’ll need some very expensive repairs. Air in your lines also allows more contaminants to enter your drinking water.

The good news about low water pressure is that it is a common issue that is fairly easy to diagnose and may not be an expensive repair, depending on the situation. You will always want to contact your plumber first to ensure the job is done properly but in a large portion of cases all it takes is a single visit and diagnosis to determine what is going on. Also, if your water pressure is at an acceptable level for your area even if you think it may be low you can always consider it a cost savings as not as much water will be flowing through your meter, if you have municipal water.

Problems with High Water Pressure

High water pressure is actually something that can happen as well. It is not as common in most situations but when it does occur the damage can be catastrophic. High water pressure is most likely to happen when your well or municipal water system if processing more water than it is meant to, like when the draw areas are flooded. If you’ve lived in Conway, SC for long enough you have probably experienced that. That could mean your water isn’t being treated as much as it should be and bacteria and contaminants in your base water supply aren’t being properly filtered.

Inside your house a plumber will be able to tell you what can be done to help correct high water pressure. But the damage it can cause will probably be the reason why you call. High enough water pressure can overload the pressure rating of your pipes causing ruptures and spills. It can also cause your seals on your faucets or other water attachments to fail leading them to leak. That is quite a trick you won’t want to actually deal with as it will cause you to use more water than you need, costing you at the meter as well for those on municipal services.

Common Professional Fixes for Water Pressure Issues

Your plumber will be able to diagnose any issues with your water pressure and will lead you in the proper direction. In extreme instances where the municipal source won’t increase any more they may recommend a whole house replacement of pipes of a smaller diameter throughout your house. This smaller diameter will mean you are getting less total water through to your appliances or faucets but the pressure will be increased and that may allow your water to be at a pressure you desire. They may also recommend putting in a pressure pump into your house to ensure that pressure is maintained throughout the house, especially if you have water flowing to the upper floors of your house.

As for high water pressure your plumber may have less options available as high water pressure generally won’t be a constant problem in most houses. Usually high water pressure issues will be fixed by a call and agreement with your water provider to get your municipal feed valve turned down. If you have a well, the plumber will likely go access the well pump station and try to adjust the flow that way. You may also get a water pressure restrictor installed in your feed line to try and limit how much water can flow through your meter so you don’t end up spending more on water than you need.

If you are in need of a plumber to deal with water pressure issues in the Conway, SC area reach out to the experts at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing. They are an affordable and on time plumbing service that makes sure they work for you instead of themselves. Check them out at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing today to get started and see what services they can perform for you. You should always expect a plumber to be reliable, friendly, and on time and Benjamin Franklin Plumbing does just that for you every time.