Hello All,

I am new to this community and am impressed with the amount of knowledge out there. So here is my situation:

I have a well and the current main line and water feeds are all 1/5 inch copper. When someone is in the shower you literally cannot even touch a faucet. The water pressure and temperature is immediately affected. I would like to neutralize this situation. There is a main line that runs the lengh of the house pretty much in the basement. That feeds the 1st floor bathroom, the 2 2nd floor bathrooms as well as the kitchen. I am thinking I should swap out all the 1/2 inch copper with 5/8 or 3/4 pex using sharkbites as connectors. Is this something I should do or is there something else I should consider?

My upstairs (2nd floor) is completely gutted at the moment, but will soon be put back together. Currently there is one bathroom, but I am going to put another bathroom in back to back with the current one. I am thinking I will share the main vent/drain pipe for drainage between the two. Will this pose a problem?

Also, if I run the main water feed lines up to the first bathroom can I use that as a main feed for both bathroom to deliver water to the sinks and showers?

Thanks!

Randy

Hi Randy...

I think the real issue here is going to be VOLUME... not pressure... although I am sure it looks like it is a reduction in pressure when someone is using the shower and someone else uses a fixture... ;) 1/2' pipe simply doesn't have the volume of water available to feed multiple 1/2" fixtures!

What size pipe comes into the house...? It must be larger than 1/2".. Here, I would have you increase the pipe size to 3/4" minimum and then run that full size into the hot water heating system and then run 3/4" PEX hot and cold water pipes upstairs to the (2) bathrooms.

Otherwise, you could install a MANIBLOC distribution box in the basement and send separate feeds up to every fixture from there... see picture. When designed with properly sized feeds this system really controls volume very well!

I think you need to start at increasing the size of the main from the beginning...

Let me know what you think...

MARK