Water Pressure - Where to look for problems

Brett,

Water softeners introduce a pressure loss. If yours is plumbed like mine, every indoor facuet and shower comes through the softener. You can get water softeners with larger valves to address this.

Also, how old is the house? What kind of pipes? I believe the old steel pipes can get kind of sluggish with age, whereas copper doesn't.

Ed

Brett,

Sounds like a fairly typical automatic watering system. Your local Home Depot will probably have a display board set up to show you how these are set up.

Also sounds like it's been neglected. To figure out what goes where, turn on the valves manually one at a time and leave them on long enough to see where wet spots develop. (There is usually screw or handle on the top of the valve that allows manual operation). Once you find a wet spot, dig down till you find what's there... a spray or whatever, and fix/replace it. Chances are the Rainbird control box is OK. You can probably get a users manual at a Rainbird Web site.

Ed

"> Also, re the sprinkler system, there is a box in the ground that

Jag,

The house has no water softener system. The water is not hard in this area, actually tastes and smells good. The house is less then 15 years old and I would GUESS it has PVC and/or copper pipes. I've never seen new houses built with the steel pipes in this area.

Can the county test the pressure at the curb?

Thanks B man

Thanks, I'll try that.

Also the wires are connected with plain wire screws. It seems a poor choice for outdoors and below ground. Is this the usual choice?

BM

Brad. Turn all water using fixtures off and test pressure at a hose bibb outside. You can get a pressure gauge that has a female hose connection. Then turn faucets on abd see if the pressure drops. If pressure remains nearly the same, the problems are in the fixtures

Stretch