On 7/31/2014 1:47 PM, N8N wrote:
Hi all,

Friend's house, complaint is that it is literally impossible to use more than one appliance or faucet at any time due to low water pressure. Asked me if I had any ideas, I said I'd look at it. Finally dug out a pressure gauge and stopped by with it. What I found was that the resting pressure is 90 PSI at the base of the water heater tank, but it drops to about 20 PSI when the clothes washer is filling and it fills very slowly. This seems to indicate to me that there is a massive restriction somewhere upstream of the water heater. My best guess is that it is actually between the street and the house, but that is just a guess as I cannot visually inspect all of the water lines between the main shutoff and the water heater (it's not near an outside wall) nor do I have any idea in what condition they are inside. Just to include as much info as possible, I suspect the house was built in the late 60's or early 70's and all the visible plumbing is copper. I see no evidence of a pr
essure reducing valve or backflow preventer anywhere.

Is there anything that I can do to confirm/deny my suspicions, or is it time to simply "let the pros handle it"?

thanks

nate

Does he have the same problem with an outside water faucet? Put a hose
on the hot water tank drain. Run other end outside and turn the drain
faucet on.

If both give full stream, then the problem is the water heater outlet.

If only outside has full stream, get a new water heater.

Paul, KD7HB