Did you know water pressure greater than 80psi can literally ruin your appliances and fixtures including water heaters and faucets? Water pressure in your home is similar to high blood pressure that puts stress on other body parts and may lead to severe health issues if left untreated for a longer period of time. The issue is identifying high water pressure inside your home or office isn’t as easy as it may sound. Generally, homeowners don’t realize they have high water pressure and how dangerous can it be for the entire home’s plumbing system due to this negligence.
Identify Signs of High Water Pressure
If you’re experiencing problems like leaking faucets or running toilets, you should immediately call a plumber to inspect your water pressure. Also, banging pipes and short life of your home appliances are other significant signs that there’s something wrong with your water pressure.
Causes of High Water Pressure
Your municipal water supplier is certainly the biggest cause of high water pressure. Also, living near a hydrant can increase the water flow into your home as hydrants generally need more water pressure. No matter what causes high water pressure inside your home, the only thing within your control is to identify the issue and fix it as soon as you can to avoid other plumbing problems.
How Can High Water Pressure Impact Your Home’s Plumbing System?
High water pressure can cause a myriad of plumbing problems in your home. Some of them include:
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The shorter lifespan of your expensive home appliances
Do you know that energy-efficient smart washing machine you just bought from your last paycheck? High water pressure can significantly reduce the lifespan of your expensive appliances and you’ll be replacing them sooner than you think. Also, high water pressure can harm your fixtures like faucets and toilets.
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Hefty utility bills due to more water usage
With high water pressure, your faucets waste more water than usual. All of that obviously adds up with the passage of time. If you’re living in an area where you have to pay for your water usage, high water pressure can definitely end up costing you more.
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Severe damage to pipelines and joints
Water is so powerful that it can literally ruin your pipelines and pipe joints if left untreated for a longer period of time. The flow and stoppage of high water pressure in pipes even cause more damage which may also lead to water leakage and can cause black mold.
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Increased risk of exploding, especially if you have outdated heaters installed in your home
As we all know when you heat up the water, it expands. Generally, present-day water heaters come with a self-adjustment feature that takes on the additional volume without much difficulty and obviously they’re safer to use. However, if you have outmoded heaters installed in your home, they can get severely affected by heater water pressure and can even explode.
How to Fix High Water Pressure Issues?
Check Water Pressure
One of the best ways to check the water pressure inside your home is to invest in a water pressure test gauge. This tool is readily available in your local home improvement stores and using it is also a no-brainer. Simply, fasten the device to your drain connection or a faucet. In case you read anything under 69 psi, leave it as it is for at least 48 hours to check if the pressure increases.
Invest in a Regulator
Installing a water pressure regulator also known as the ‘pressure regulator valve’ is highly suggested by the professionals as it helps keep the water pressure in control. This regulator is fixed on the supply line next to the shut-off valve. Generally, homes constructed after 2002 have it installed by default, as it is mandatory now to have them fixed after that year.
Remember, the typical life of a normal water pressure regulator is not more than 12 years. So you must get them checked and replaced if the previous one fails to deliver the desired results.
Water pressure inside your home is something you should take really seriously and sort out before it’s too late to reverse the damage.
