With how much money and effort you put into making sure your water heater works properly, you’d hope that when it comes time to take a warm, comforting shower than you’d be able to take one. Unfortunately, having poor water pressure could prevent you from doing so – or, having one that you’ll actually enjoy.
Unfortunately, water pressure issues are not a rare occurrence when it comes to the home plumbing business. Water pressure issues can also prevent you from using your kitchen sink to clean the dishes; thoroughly wash your hands in the bathroom sink; use the toilet; and many more potential mishaps.
When it happens, what could be causing your water pressure issues, and what should you do about it?
Check for the cause
There are a lot of potential causes for water pressure issues. When troubleshooting, the principle you should follow is to start at the area or areas affected, then work backwards.
First, determine if it’s a house-wide issue or if it’s isolated to a specific area. If the problem is only in one sink, one room or one area of the house, it’s easier to find the problem. For example, if you’re dealing with a one-sink issue, start by removing the aerator – also known as the tip or nose of the faucet – and check to see if it’s clogged with minerals or debris. If it is, then it’s a simple fix at that point.
If you can’t find the issue at the specific source of the low-pressure stream, your next step is the faucet itself. Do whatever you can to look inside the faucet using a flashlight to see if you can find a blockage. If you do, then a simple store-bough faucet cleaner should do the trick.
Advanced issues
If you can’t find the water pressure issue in a specific room or faucet, you’ll need to continue looking through your house’s plumbing system from the source of the problem to the source of your water. Luckily, going through the process of finding the water pressure issue at the source of the problem can help you eventually isolate the issue through process of elimination.
If you’ve exhausted all possible locations in which the water could be clogged, you could eventually land on your suspect pipe or valve. This will make purchasing the right tools and cleaning agents easier. Or, it could even help you explain the problem to a plumbing professional so that they can better estimate what they’ll need to do to fix it before even coming to your location.
Under the pressure
Ready to ensure your plumbing system is producing the water pressure you and your family need? You can contact us to take care of the entire process for you. Set up an appointment today, and learn more about water pressure issues on our Services page.