Ask Me Help Desk - Water Pressure. Sucks

Hello Out There!

Ive moved into a house about a month ago, and the water pressure is horrible!
It will take a good 5 - 10 minutes to fill a bath tub because the water coming out is short of a drizzle, the shower head (new / replaced)... well lets just say there is more pressure coming out of the eves trough when it rains.

I have cleaned / removed the airgators (sorry spelling is off) from the washroom sink, kitchen sink (replaced with a spray head). I removed the faucet off the tub to see if maybe there was a blockage in the pipe, nope. I am unable to remove the tap because its one of those combined taps (has hot / cold controls in one tap).

like this one

The kitchen sink, still little pressure, but we can get a decent spray from the spray head on the faucet some times..

There is a tap out side, and it gets all right pressure.

Now some information on the house.

We are on well water, the pump is in the house (in the crawl space) I am told that there is a pressure tank down there as well ( I have not verified this, I have been down in the crawl space to replace an inline filter, I did see a blue tank down there - a bit bigger than a propane cylinder, but I never physically inspected it.)

The piping throughout the crawlspace is 1/2" pex.

When cleaning out the airigators I managed to clean some sediment from the screens. (could this be a blockage IN the lines?)

The well it self is about 50 feet from the house.

I have installed a brand new hot water tank, (and the pressure to it sucks as well).

So, any ideas how to get the pressure up - can you turn it up on the tank? OR am I basically stuck with the pressure Ive got?

- My parents are on well water (different location) but they have awesome pressure (also have copper pipes) - does the piping make a difference?

Thanks in advance guys.

SB

Two thoughts:

1. You will have to find the pressure tank and locate the pressure gauge which should be somewhere close to it. Turn on a faucet, see how low the pressure drops before the pump cuts in, then how high it goes before it cuts off. Get back with that info. You will also need to locate the switch. This is a small grey box with electrical wiring going both in and out.

2. Are you saying that the feed from the tank to the house is 1/2"? If so, then that is problem #1. Your problem might be more volume than it is pressure.

Tank waterlogged or diaphram is shot. May also be a pressure switch problem or the pump is getting tired. This is some info you should talk to a wellman or plumber in person about.

If the bladder tan k was shot the pump would run every time you drew a glass of water.

Quote:

So, any ideas how to get the pressure up - can you turn it up on the tank? OR am I basically stuck with the pressure Ive got?

You have shut off the power, locate the control box, (see image) and pull the cover off(see image). And you will see two spring loaded bolts secured with nylon nuts. One tall, one short. To increase the cut in pressure, turn the nut on the tall bolt down. To increase the cut out pressure,(that's the one that will give you more pressure) turn the nut on the short bolt down. This should give you the additional pressure you desire. Good luck Tom