Ask Me Help Desk - Water pressure and leaks

Hello! I live in a 13th century palazzo that has been divided into different apartments. The woman who owns the building is very old, and although she is wealthy, she is also extremely cheap. A lot of the wiring and plumbing is very, very old and shoddy to boot.

My big problem is this: the water pressure in our apartment is really crappy. There are water stains signifying leaks in about 5 or 6 different places in the bathroom. They have been there for years, and they keep growing. I have asked some of our neighbors if they have water pressure problems, and they said it's fine.

I keep telling my boyfriend to bring the issue up with the landlord. However, since we pay a great price for this apartment because my boyfriend has lived here for 15 years, he is afraid that the landlord will decide that if she has to invest in new plumbing, she will also find an excuse not to renew our lease so she can get someone else for the apartment who will pay premium rent rates. Despite the crappy plumbing and wiring, it's a really, really beautiful place.

I don't know if he's right or not, but I was wondering if anyone has any idea whether there are DIY things I could do to fix this problem instead.

All information is greatly appreciated!

I think your real problem is actually water volume, not pressure. Here is why: water pressure is pretty much the same throughout the entire plumbing system in the building. It may be adequate but because your pipes are old and clogged they don't allow full volume of water through. As the old pipes are slowly enclosing with rust they will reduce water flow (volume) through the system. When you open your faucet, it doesn't get enough water flow through the spout giving you impression there is not enough pressure. Supply is diminished while demand is high.

Depending where you are ( in States ), your water pressure should be around 45 to 55 psi on average. If we need to increase water flow through undersized ( or clogged ) pipes, we simply increase pressure . In your case, you have to be very careful because your plumbing system was put in by Titus. That's because by increasing water pressure you will put too much stress on your ancient plumbing system and pipes will probably burst.

As a renter in this house, there is not too much for you to do. Just keep your shower heads and aerators clean and enjoy the romantic place.

Oh, did you say you are in Florence ? Some people would kill to live there regardless of water pressure ! :D Good luck..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milo Dolezal

I think your real problem is actually water volume, not pressure. Here is why: water pressure is pretty much the same throughout the entire plumbing system in the building. It may be adequate but because your pipes are old and clogged they don't allow full volume of water through. As the old pipes are slowly enclosing with rust they will reduce water flow (volume) through the system. When you open your faucet, it doesn't get enough water flow through the spout giving you impression there is not enough pressure. Supply is diminished while demand is high.

Depending where you are ( in States ), your water pressure should be around 45 to 55 psi on average. If we need to increase water flow through undersized ( or clogged ) pipes, we simply increase pressure to compensate for inadequate size of ( or clogged ) pipes. In your case, you have to be very careful because your plumbing system was put in by Titus. That's because by increasing water pressure you will put too much stress on your ancient plumbing system and pipes will probably burst.

As a renter in this house, there is not too much for you to do. Just keep your shower heads and aerators clean and enjoy the romantic place.

Oh, did you say you are in Florence ? Some people would kill to live there ! :D Good luck...!

Your description makes a lot of sense, and it sounds right to me. We just replaced the shower head, and that seems to have helped a little. You're right! There's just not enough water coming through the pipes. The kitchen gets more water coming from the faucet, but the bathroom sink and shower are awful. We are in florence, and I know what a luxury it is to live here; it really is beautiful... and delicious. ;)

I don't know if this question should be posted here or not, but I'm going to try. We are welcome to make all the repairs we want. Replacing all the bathroom pipes would obviously be a poor investment on our part. How much could something like that cost in the states (as in basic range)? As I explained earlier, my italian boyfriend has been in this apartment for 15 years, and I have been joining him for more than 5. when the water heater broke, I was sure that, as renters, the old water heater should have been replaced by the landlord. My boyfriend said that this was wrong; since he had been living here for so long, it was his responsibility to buy and install the new water heater (if we wanted to continue using hot water, which we most certainly did). Is this typical? At least in the states?

Here in States, ( at least in my area ) it is Landlord's responsibility to replace hot water heater. Not renter's. In fact, w/o hot water, your apartment would be missing one of the basic necessities and could be declared inhabitable. I am sure this may not be exactly true in Italy. I know from my own experience that many of my EU friends paint their apartments themselves, pay for carpet replacement using their own funds, as well as they pay for small house repairs - because they do not want to "....bug..." the Owner. It is unheard off in the US.

Repiping one apartment in an apartment building full of other apartments does not really make sense. Your apartment is part of a large system and unless you repipe the whole building - your new plumbing would accomplish very little, if anything. Since you have your own w/h, you could, perhaps, repipe hot water side only. That would help a bit but not as much as you would expect. Even if you have new pipes in your apartment, they will still receive water via old, rusty, pipes not making your dilemma noticeably better.

As far as the cost goes... it depends on material used and your geo-locality. In my area, we use copper or PEX materials in repipes. Copper is now very expensive but still choice of many. Usually, average family house repipe may run you between 4K ( 1 bathroom, kitchen, laundry, w/h, 2 hose valves, water service with full manifold ) to about 10K + cost of fixing the walls. Cost of an apartment repipe would be proportional to that. If I am not mistaken, you can use PVC in EU which would bring down the final cost quite a bit.

Hope that will help...