Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Water Pressure Sucks! Anyone else?
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May 4, 2011 at 4:01 pm #598817
dyn99ParticipantCan anyone provide feedback on your water pressure/flow in West Seattle?
We recently found that we’re only getting 7 gallons per minute of flow off our meter (and about 38 PSI of pressure off our internal plumbing), and have contacted Seattle Public Utilities to see if we have a defective meter so we can increase flow.
Apparently, our neighborhood is only served by a 1.5″ water main. Both the city and plumbing contractor said that it would be customary to have a 4″ main under modern standards. However, the main servicing our neighborhood is probably close to 100 years old, as that’s when the neighborhood’s development started.
As we have a newer 1″ water line from our meter to our house, and the low flow was measured directly off main line to our house, 2 ft. from the meter. The problem is either caused by the undersized water main, or a defective meter.
Anyone else have similar issues? Have you succeeded in getting the city to upgrade the water main/meter? If so, how did you do it/who did you contact?
Does anyone know if there’s any truth to the claim that the city’s pumps are inadequate to provide water to the tops of the higher hills in Seattle? We were told that if you were located on the top of a hill in Seattle, your water pressure sucked, and if you were at the bottom, you had great pressure. The source was not the most reliable, so I question the truth in the statement.
Any feedback would be helpful.
May 4, 2011 at 4:17 pm #723726
WednesdayMemberIt might be helpful to know what WS neighborhood you are in. We live in Seaview in a 100 yr old house and have never felt the need to measure our water pressure.
May 4, 2011 at 4:22 pm #723727
dyn99ParticipantGenesee Hill. House is 102 years old.
May 4, 2011 at 5:11 pm #723728
CMPParticipantI had great water pressure living near the Alaska Junction on California, but I was in an apartment building so that could have been why. The building was constructed in the 1920’s however.
My sister’s home at the top of Gatewood (two blocks from the water towers at Myrtle) had terrible water pressure when she first bought her home. After years of trying to figure out how to increase the pressure, I believe my brother-in-law had to dig out their water line from the street to the house to replace it. They did this a few years ago and I can’t say with certainty that was exactly what they did (I’m a renter and pay little attention to the joys of home-ownership), but it worked and the water pressure improved significantly. I hope you find a solution, having low water pressure is frustrating!
May 4, 2011 at 5:26 pm #723729
dyn99ParticipantWe had the same issue – a very old galvanized water line that we were sure had corroded and was the problem. And it was corroded, but it didn’t solve the problem when we replaced it.
So this is definitely on the city’s end…I can only imagine how difficult it will be to get them to fix it, however.
I’m guessing the city won’t want to tear up our street and replace the water line in it. Even if they should.
May 4, 2011 at 6:03 pm #723730
TDeParticipantBehind the Alaska St Junction… we have great water pressure.
May 4, 2011 at 7:39 pm #723731
karenParticipantWe are on 18th SW. We had really good pressure until they worked on the water lines a couple of months ago. Then the pressure dropped significantly. We reported it to SPU and they came out to measure. Our reading was 50 PSI at the street and he said that was fine.
Still, it takes forever to fill a pot of water and there’s not enough pressure to run the siphon for the fish tank.
Next step is to look at the line coming into the house.
May 4, 2011 at 8:31 pm #723732
BigRedMemberWe live on 29th in Westwood. Our pressure SUCKS BIG TIME!!! I was thinking it has gotten worse in the last few months, but I wasn’t sure if I was just growing impatient. Guess we should call the city. I can barely clean the dishes in the sink!
May 4, 2011 at 9:03 pm #723733
dyn99ParticipantSo another item to add to the list to check…
The line that feeds our house off the main is reduced to 1/2″ or less through an old galvanized pipe. Then our meter is only 5/8″, so our flow is restricted to less than 1/2″.
So they may be able to fix it…and it might even not cost anything! We’ll see…
May 4, 2011 at 11:09 pm #723734
KenParticipantI have a useless comment for the record.
I now have good water pressure and have to use a reducer to keep from blowing out my soaker hoses and irrigation stuff.
But before the Highpoint rebuild, when the city and SHA collaborated on rebuilding my street for an experiment (new water main, new sewer, and a porous pavement nearly 4 feet thick) we had terrible pressure from a corroded galvinized 1/2 inch 50 year old line that ran to a meter 400 feet southwest so was read by SPU on another block.
I ditched to the new meter in front of the house when they offered no fee hookups to those of us who had an unusable street for 7 months and had the plumber who did the hookup replace the supply lines to the bath and water heater.
My water hose will fire a stream completely over the house now.
A 1.5 main should still generate a good bit of pressure but every house on your street should not water the yard at the same time.
May 4, 2011 at 11:24 pm #723735
dyn99ParticipantI’m jealous. I’m tired of being able to pee harder than my shower or faucets deliver water.
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