Posted: 4/4/2011 10:10:09 AM EDT
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My wife and I bought our home in 2005, first house and were on a tight budget being only 25 y/o at the time. Since we have done a little remodeling here and there and this year have enough in savings to redo our master bath. We have battled pressure issues since we moved in but kinda of grew used to the low pressure. The issue is now with the remodel, we want to use a couple nicer shower heads in our shower and I know the pressure/volume will be an issue so its time to fix that. Currently I have a well about 75ft deep. IIRC 3/4" or 1" coming in to the storage tank. Off the tank it is 3/4" for about 8ft up and then its 1/2" both hot and cold for main lines and its a tee fitting at every fixture. Our shower is the last on the 1/2 run upstairs. I want to run 3/4" as long as I can and up to the master bath shower if possible. I figure using 3/4" pex main lines and using a tee to 1/2" at each fixture like now would be a great improvement in volume/pressure. I want to upgrade using the pex material but had 2 questions about it. 1: I have read that utilizing a manifold system is good, problem is I only see 3/4" in and 1/2" out lines on all of them. Will I accomplish the higher pressure/volume I am after using this system over my proposed change over to 3/4" main lines with a tee at every fixture like I want. 2: I need to plumb into my furnace for the hot water, it is a hot water on demand system and the cold is plumbed into it, then out of it is the main hot water line for the house. How close can the pex be plumbed to the furnace with out a problem? I can use 3/4" copper if need be to do the furnace plumbing if I have to. Thanks in advance for the assistance. |
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First, how much static pressure comes into your house? Second, right at the water entrance to your house, what does the dynamic pressure drop to if you turn on a shower? Those are important to know before you start buying or cutting pipe.
If the real problem is either the pressure available from the mains, or the flow restrictions in the pipe leading into your house, etc., then no amount of upgrades in interior pipes will overcome that. Before you start spending money, you need to get to the root of the problem, to save yourself time and dollars. There are plenty of other places that flow restrictions can come into play. As just one example, even the pressure regulator (if you have one) can be a significant factor. In my house, moving from a 3/4" unit to a 1.25" unit greatly increased flow (and hence, reduced the drop in dynamic pressure) when using multiple faucets. |
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If the problem was just the pipe sizes, then you would only be experiencing the issues when other fixtures are running. 1/2 inch lines in and of themselves will not cause low pressure issues.
do you have a filter on that line, or a water softener? I like using manifolds, in whats called a home run system. 1/2 inch line, from the manifold to the fixture, with no joints in between, fed by a 1" manifold. The problem with 1/2 inch line is a matter of volume capable of being delivered, and in copper (and to a lesser extent, pex), the velocity of that water. I don't get what your asking in question 2. If by furnace you mean, on demand, or tankless water heater, your codes may vary, but here in WI, we can connect directly to it, but I never do, on a tankless, I'll always install an arrangement of valves to facilitate de-scaling the heat exchanger. like this 
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Are your well pump and tank operating properly? If the pressure drops off as soon as you open a faucet in the house, then you do not have sufficient air in your water tank. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, take some time to research how a well water system works and most of your problems will probably go away.
There is no reason for for your system to not be delivering 45-50 psi pressure if it is working properly. |
Thanks guys. I did begin to upgrade my plumbing delivery lines to 3/4 pex. I re did the copper on my furnace tankless coil to 3/4 also including the mixing valve. It is going ok. I originally bought the 100' rolls of pex tubing blue and red, but that shit is like memory material and I cant for the life of me get it to stay relatively straight after a cut so I went and bought 10' straight pipe from the depot and and using that now. The pieces I need are not longer then that so there is no seems that would not be there using the roll stuff. PM me if your interested in some pex tubing Before I started this though I did some research on the well system as stated above and found my tank bladder pressures to be very low, around 5psi. I read that this pressure should be just under the cut in pressure set by your switch so I set mine to 35 psi. My cut in pressure is set at 40 psi. This made a difference a huge difference. My shower feels like some of the hotels I stay at.  The upgrade to 3/4 inch could not have waited much longer now that I am doing it. The couple pieces of cold water line that I have removed so far was 1/2 copper, and is so britle that it is breaking by me just tightening the tubing cutter wheel. It is very green and corroded internally. I may be doing more plumbing then I had thought though if the rest of the tubing looks this bad. The hot side is not like this though. I also added a whole home filter in line just beyond the water storage tank. I hope it helps with some of the sediment build up. |