Low Water Pressure no longer! Help!!

[MemRefreshABC]

Hi Techist Friends. Does anyone know why a person would have low water pressure for years and than suddenly stop working alltogether? Is it possible that there is a broken water line or possibly the pump stopped working?

 

[Joe C]

Are you on city water that gets supplied to you or do you have your own well on your property?
If your on city water then it sounds like your water line could be plugged up with sediments. call your city/local township water dept to have them check it for you.
If your on your own well then yup...check the pump/pressure switch/expansion tank to see if they are operating like they should be.

 

[MemRefreshABC]

Are you on city water that gets supplied to you or do you have your own well on your property?
If your on city water then it sounds like your water line could be plugged up with sediments. call your city/local township water dept to have them check it for you.
If your on your own well then yup...check the pump/pressure switch/expansion tank to see if they are operating like they should be.

Thank you for responding Joe. It is a private well in a sub- rural area. I was thinking the same regardig the sediment. My husband checked it and determined that somone shut our water off by mistake. We suspect our new neighbors thought our well was theirs and forgot to turn it back on. The water pressure for the hot water appears weaker than the cold water side. We have extremely low pressure even after my husband turned our water back on.

 

[Joe C]

You should have a pressure gauge on the outlet side of your pump. It should be between 40 to 60 psi. Run you water to see where the pressure is when you pump kicks on and where it is when it kick off and make a note of that. You can check the pressure in your expansion tank (which should be about 40 psi) with an accurate tire gauge. There should be what they call a schrader valve on top of your expansion tank (this is what the pump usually sits on top of) Check the pressure and if water comes out of the valve when you try to check it with a tire gauge then the bladder inside the expansion tank has failed. Most pressure switches can be adjusted for the cut-in and cut-out pressures but if you or your hubby are technically challenged in that area you might want to get a well company out there to set those points.
Note: I used to have an old style of pump when I lived in the country where the pump was inside the house but many newer places have the pump in the well pipe coming up from the ground and you won't see the pump per se, but you should still have the expansion tank and pressure gauge and pressure switch within the house.

 

[PP Mguire]

My husband checked it and determined that somone shut our water off by mistake. We suspect our new neighbors thought our well was theirs and forgot to turn it back on.

If you have your own well, then that tank Joe mentioned should be on YOUR property. Nobody should be fiddling with that to turn it off "by mistake". If there is one well for a subset of neighbors on one piece of land and somebody turned that off then it would be off for everybody unless the pressure valve and meter is close to the well for each individual house. If this is a community well ran by a company that you pay monthly for service, then they need to come out and find out why your pressure is so low. Everything Joe has said is under the assumption you have your OWN well on your own property. If this is a non-company owned community well you need to talk to your neighbors that all use this well for a plan of action.

 

[MemRefreshABC]

If you have your own well, then that tank Joe mentioned should be on YOUR property. Nobody should be fiddling with that to turn it off "by mistake". If there is one well for a subset of neighbors on one piece of land and somebody turned that off then it would be off for everybody unless the pressure valve and meter is close to the well for each individual house. If this is a community well ran by a company that you pay monthly for service, then they need to come out and find out why your pressure is so low. Everything Joe has said is under the assumption you have your OWN well on your own property. If this is a non-company owned community well you need to talk to your neighbors that all use this well for a plan of action.

The well is on my own property but we dont own it. We own our own home but not the well. It is our land owner's responsibility I think. I will have to check into this further. There are other residents in the area that have a well by their property. Everyone in the area has extremely low water pressure.

 

[MemRefreshABC]

You should have a pressure gauge on the outlet side of your pump. It should be between 40 to 60 psi. Run you water to see where the pressure is when you pump kicks on and where it is when it kick off and make a note of that. You can check the pressure in your expansion tank (which should be about 40 psi) with an accurate tire gauge. There should be what they call a schrader valve on top of your expansion tank (this is what the pump usually sits on top of) Check the pressure and if water comes out of the valve when you try to check it with a tire gauge then the bladder inside the expansion tank has failed. Most pressure switches can be adjusted for the cut-in and cut-out pressures but if you or your hubby are technically challenged in that area you might want to get a well company out there to set those points.
Note: I used to have an old style of pump when I lived in the country where the pump was inside the house but many newer places have the pump in the well pipe coming up from the ground and you won't see the pump per se, but you should still have the expansion tank and pressure gauge and pressure switch within the house.

We dont have any technical experience in this area. Only our land owner has access to that area. We have an inexperienced land owner that took over and the water pressure was low ever since the previous land owner sold the land. I dont think the land owner knew what he was getting himself into. He struggles with low water pressure as well. Thank you so much Joe for your helpful suggestions and feedback.

 

[PP Mguire]

The well is on my own property but we dont own it. We own our own home but not the well. It is our land owner's responsibility I think. I will have to check into this further. There are other residents in the area that have a well by their property. Everyone in the area has extremely low water pressure.

Are y'all renters? Mobile home? There's a good chance the reservoir under the ground might be getting dry too. If everybody has their own well on their property then turning yours off wasn't a mistake. Yours should be yours.

 

[Joe C]

Are y'all renters? Mobile home? There's a good chance the reservoir under the ground might be getting dry too. If everybody has their own well on their property then turning yours off wasn't a mistake. Yours should be yours.

Area has everything to do with water.
Up here in Mich you can be anywhere in this state and always be within 1 mile of a water way (think of Mich as a gigantic swamp) I've been to the southwest U.S. and water supply does suck. It sounds like that where ever MemrefreshABC lives, they need to speak to whom is in charge of their water supply, If their management is clueless as I get that impression then they aught to call in a pro for there entire community to fix this water issue.

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[PP Mguire]

This is where my knowledge of the subject gets sketchy, but as far as I know if your reserve underground is getting dry you can either move your well or try to dig deeper. They probably need scans to be done if that's really the case. I don't quite understand their setup but from the sounds of things, it sounds like everybody started having pressure issues and some asshole turned theirs off to see if their pressure goes back up.