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FLtaurus · Nov 5, 2006, 08:59 AM

I suddenly lost almost all water pressure in the entire house. While doing a load of laundry, about halfway through, the washer could not pull enough cold water. I switched to hot and it pulled fine from the hot water heater tank. Immediately after, all of the faucets would only trickle. The showers held onto pressure longer, but also dropped. The one in the master also had some type of deposits in the water. Blackish, larger than a grain of dirt. Toilets take about 20 minutes to fill after bring flushed.

I'm a first-time homeowner (moved in a moth ago) so any suggestions or info would be great. I know that I will have to have some one come out, but I am trying to not go in blind. Here a few things about the house, if any of them help:
Built in 58
Copper pipes
City water/sewage (closed, no customer service, but no reports of work in the area, neighbors across the street are fine, not sure about next door)
Inspection turned up no problems in the plumbing
Sprinklers on well are fine

Fr_Chuck · Nov 5, 2006, 09:22 AM

You need to check under the house ( crawl space or basement and make sure you don't have a major leak there.
You can also go to the water meter and see if it is spinning like crazy showing you are using water. ( that will tell you that there is a leak)
When you have everything in the house shut off

If you have a seroius leak shut off the water at your main and their should be an emergancy number for the water deaprtment in the phone book.

That would be my first step.

iamgrowler · Nov 5, 2006, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by FLtaurus

I suddenly lost almost all water pressure in the entire house. While doing a load of laundry, about halfway through, the washer could not pull enough cold water. I switched to hot and it pulled fine from the hot water heater tank. Immediately after, all of the faucets would only trickle. The showers held onto pressure longer, but also dropped. The one in the master also had some type of deposits in the water. Blackish, larger than a grain of dirt. Toilets take about 20 minutes to fill after bring flushed.

I'm a first-time homeowner (moved in a moth ago) so any suggestions or info would be great. I know that I will have to have some one come out, but I am trying to not go in blind. Here a few things about the house, if any of them help:
Built in 58
Copper pipes
City water/sewage (closed, no customer service, but no reports of work in the area, neighbors across the street are fine, not sure about next door)
Inspection turned up no problems in the plumbing
Sprinklers on well are fine

Sounds like a major leak in the underground water line.

Check your water meter to see if the little dial is moving rapidly.

If it is, then shut the meter off and call your water services emergency number.

FLtaurus · Nov 5, 2006, 10:22 AM

Thanks for getting back to me. I checked the water meter outside and if it is moving at all it's doing it so slow that I can't tell. I watched it for several minutes and it didn't budge. Is it possible for there to be a leak on the city's side without it affecting my neighbors? I also checked the outside spigot and that dropped pressure as well.

wildcatgirl · Nov 5, 2006, 10:26 AM

Its possible that the line is severed somewhere from the main line to your meter. Call your city's water pump station or rural water company. They should be able to send someone out to check the problem.

speedball1 · Nov 5, 2006, 10:52 AM

Also, do you have a PRV, (Pressure Regulating Valve) installed?

FLtaurus · Nov 5, 2006, 11:56 AM

After looking that up, I still have no idea if I have a PRV. Not as far as I know. If it has anything to do with the city, chances are slim.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, all.

Morganite · Nov 5, 2006, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by FLtaurus

I suddenly lost almost all water pressure in the entire house. While doing a load of laundry, about halfway through, the washer could not pull enough cold water. I switched to hot and it pulled fine from the hot water heater tank. Immediately after, all of the faucets would only trickle. The showers held onto pressure longer, but also dropped. The one in the master also had some type of deposits in the water. Blackish, larger than a grain of dirt. Toilets take about 20 minutes to fill after bring flushed.

I'm a first-time homeowner (moved in a moth ago) so any suggestions or info would be great. I know that I will have to have some one come out, but I am trying to not go in blind. Here a few things about the house, if any of them help:
Built in 58
Copper pipes
City water/sewage (closed, no customer service, but no reports of work in the area, neighbors across the street are fine, not sure about next door)
Inspection turned up no problems in the plumbing
Sprinklers on well are fine

Sudden drops are the result of a major leak or else a sudden blockage.

Check for leaks, and see if you can split a joint closest to the mains inlet to the house and see if that is flowing, or if it is in the outside line, or further in the house beyond the inlet pipe.

Blockages in water mains pipelines are rare, but can happen.

M:)

FLtaurus · Nov 6, 2006, 08:11 AM

Ok, the city says no issues on their end, that the meter readers check for any every month.

Would a water softener cause a drop in the entire house? The city's customer service said most pressure problems lie with them, but she hadn't heard of one affecting the entire house. I know at inspection time the softener had zero salt in it and I do not know how long it had been like that.

Is it possible to have a leak some where in the pipes if the meter is not moving at all when everything is off? I am such a plumbing illiterate that I am afraid of touching anything, so the flow in pipes myself kind of freaks me out.

labman · Nov 6, 2006, 09:35 AM

Originally Posted by FLtaurus

After looking that up, I still have no idea if I have a PRV. Not as far as I know. If it has anything to do with the city, chances are slim.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, all.

If you have gas, go look at the meter. It should have a pressure regulator just before the meter. It is a flat round thing with a bulge in the center on one side. Now, start at where the water comes into the house, and look for something vaguely like it. Could also be outside at the meter. Post back if so, and wait for Tom's instructions.

Does the water softener have a bypass? Newer ones have it built in near where the water line connects. Older installations have a line connecting the inlet and outlet with a valve in it. Opening that valve allows water to bypass the softener.

Is it a loss of pressure or flow? Open a tap and hold your thumb over it. Does it slowly build pressure to push your thumb away? If so, it is not a major leak.

That leaves some foreign object getting into your water line and getting caught, blocking the flow. Often some lime that broke off a line. Could be anywhere from where your line tees of the city main to the last elbow or tee where your lines divide up inside the house. Post back on some other things before we start talking about opening lines.

FLtaurus · Nov 6, 2006, 10:54 AM

I don't have gas, and I didn't see anything resembling a PRV anywhere by the meter or anywhere coming into the house.

I did the test with my thumb over the faucet and I could feel the pressure building, so I am reassured about that.

The water softener is old. I called the company and they said that it had been installed in 93 and they had not serviced it since. They told me that it could be caused by the softener, they had seen it happen before. Looking at it, I see the in/out pipes going into the softener and it does say bypass, but there is no valve on the actual softener. On the two pipes going in and put there are knobs on each of those further down, closer to the wall. Does that sound right? If I turn off the correct one should that cause it to bypass automatically? I'm waiting for a call back from the company to possibly have them out today, but if that should tell me if it is the softener I'll try it beforehand.

Thank you, everyone, for the help! I swear after this I am buying whatever plumbing books I can get hold of. It's the one area I am completely at a loss.

speedball1 · Nov 6, 2006, 11:35 AM

You ask about a softener bypass if there is a lever built in to the softener turn it to bypass. If there are three valves ,( see image) on the pipes above here's how they work.
Close off valves one and three and open up valve number two. Good luck

FLtaurus · Nov 6, 2006, 03:24 PM

Thank you!! It was the softener, the basket-thingy in the cylinder had cracked from not being able to work properly, all the chlorine build up. Followed that by cleaning faucets and flushing the gunk out and I am almost good as new. Looks like the only casualty may be the curved faucet, but we'll have to see once I get it off and see how bad it is, but considering what it could have been I think I made out OK.

Thank you all (or y'all for fellow southerners) sooo much! It was so helpful to not have to be completely blind. I was so afraid of getting some one in here and not knowing anything and now I don't have to worry about that. Getting a new water softener, not nearly as intimidating. I am super grateful.