[viciousstreak]

Hi,
Today my brother and husband installed a new water heater and now there is barely any water pressure (both hot & cold) in the entire house except the basement. Anybody have any ideas?
Thanks.

[ballengerb1]

Since the hot and cold are both giving you low pressure I'm going to take a guess. Ask your husband to close the main again and then re-open the main supply valve, all the way. Sounds too simple but it doesn't cost anything to do.

[viciousstreak]

Thanks for your reply. Just tried that and the water pressure is still very low everywhere except for the basement sink's pressure seems fine.

[doug238]

Typically an older gate valve can wear out and the gate will not retrieve. I wonder if the basement flow is because of gravity and is it as good as it was? If you have old galvanized piping you may have a rust clog at a main valve or a fitting. I have been able to retrieve the gate on older gate valves by turning the water off before the gate valve and releasing the pressure and then pressing down hard as I turned the handle to retrieve the gate. What kind of distribution piping do you have in the home? How old? Have you checked filter screens and areators for debris?