[Lemon001]

My wife and I just bought our home with a well. The water pressure is so bad in the second bathroom (furthest from the well pump) that our two kids have not yet used their shower/tub and have used only the master bathroom (closest water to the well pump). The pressure in the kithchen faucet (second closest to well pump) is acceptable for cold water, but non-existent for hot water. The hot water heater is (according to the previous owner) only a couple of years old.

What should we be looking for to fix this problem? Do we need to hire a plumber to do a "diagnostic check" like we do with the mechanic and our car?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[ballengerb1]

Before we get into fixing I have some questions. Did you have a home inspector, what did he say? Didn't you notice this problem before you bought? Did the home come with a warrantty, was it bought through a real estate agent? All these questions could lead us to having someone else pay for the work, its going to get expensive.

[Lemon001]

Hello. To answer your questions:

Yes, we had a home inspection. Unfortunately the purchase was an "as is" situation. It's my understanding this means any problems belong to us. We got a decent deal (minus whatever it costs to fix these problems) so we figure we can deal with the issue of poor water pressure.

The home inspector was hired for the purpose of making sure the house wouldn't blow down in the first hurricane... we live in South Florida. He never mentioned the water pressure in his report. As I understand it a home inspection is not a warranty of the qualtiy of the home, just a report that certain things work.

Any info you have is very much appreciated.

Thanks.
John

[ballengerb1]

You are correct, a home inspection is not a warranty but if the inspector says something is OK and it is clearly not OK he does have some liability. Ask him why he failed to tell you about the bum plumbing. Anyway, lets get started at the tank, tell me the pressure in the tank, you'd like 45-50 psi. Go to the first closest faucet and test the pressure and then open the faucet. If pressure is still as good as at the tank but the flow is down your pipes are likely corroded, tell me what they are made of, I'm guessing galvanized.

[Lemon001]

Hello, and thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions. Now's the part where you get to laugh and make fun of the new homeowner who neglected to look at the supply line (not sure if that's the right description) and make sure there wasn't a kink in it. Guess what? There's a kink in the supply line. I replaced it and have really good pressure in the kitchen now.

Moving on to what could be causing the problem with the pressure in the second bathroom. The faucet is good, but the tub/shower is bad. If the pressure in the faucet is good (closer to the main pump) but the pressure in the tub is bad, logic tells me the problem has to be in the wall between those two. Does that make sense? Is it possible that simply replacing the fixtures in the tub/shower will allow for better pressure? I don't know what the pipes are made of. Does it help to know the house was built in 1980? I know the line I connected the new supply line to is copper. I'll look into the tank pressure and see what I can figure out about the pressure there.

I'll let you know what I'm able to figure out.

Thanks again for taking the time to help.

John

[hkstroud]

Remove the shower head and see what kind of pressure/flow you have there.