Drop in Water Pressure

[likethesoup]

I just bought my first home and it has a well and septic system. When I was looking at the house I tried the water pressure to be sure it was okay. I ran the sink, flushed the toilet and turned on the shower and everything was fine. The well and septic were inspected and as far as they knew everything was fine. I moved in about 5 days ago and have noticed every day I get less and less water pressure. Is there a way to fix this? I am also about to re-do the kitchen. It currently does not have a water line to the fridge or a dishwasher but I hope to be adding them. So, 2 baths, washer, dishwasher, kitchen sink and fridge would be my water usage for a 3 person household. Right now you can barely flush a toilet and wash your hands at the same time!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[Eric in North TX]

You might check and see if the system has a filter.

[Toller]

Well pumps are set for the desired pressure. First thing to do is look to see what it is set at. Mine is 40psi, which is rather less than most municipal supplies. Don't honestly know if it could be set higher; it is old and I haven't wanted to mess with it.

If the gauge at the pressure tank is reading a reasonable level, you must see why it is not getting through. You probably have filters, and they might need to be replaced. I had a problem with pressure, until I cleaned out the faucet and shower head. They were full of little bits of debris. I hate to think what is in there that I don't know about.

Anyhow, those are the easy things. If those are fine, it gets much more expensive.

[Art]

There are lots of things to learn about wells if you never had one before. Like others said you probably have a filter in the line that needs to be changed. On mine, the small pipe that the switch sat on would often get gunked up. If the switch doesn't feel the pressure it won't turn on and off properly.