Water Pressure & Valves in San Jose, CA
Water pressure problems come in two flavors, and both cost you money. Too little, and showers are miserable and fixtures take forever. Too much (anything over 80 PSI) and every valve, supply line, and appliance in the house wears out early. High pressure is the hidden cause behind many "random" leaks.
The fix usually lives at one small device: the pressure regulator (PRV) where water enters your home. Regulators wear out in 10 to 15 years, and San Jose’s hillside pressure zones, such as Almaden, Santa Teresa and the east foothills, often run high. We test your static pressure, replace failed regulators, and set the system to a healthy 55 to 65 PSI.
While we are at it, we replace seized shut-off valves and crusty hose bibs, which nobody thinks about until the day they need them to turn.
When people call us about this
- Banging or knocking pipes (water hammer)
- Supply lines or toilet valves failing repeatedly
- Pressure that surges hot-cold in the shower
- Trickling flow at fixtures far from the street
- Main shut-off valve that will not turn or weeps when used
Questions we get asked
What should my home’s water pressure be?+
Somewhere in the fifties or sixties is the range most houses are happiest at. What matters is knowing yours, and a gauge that screws onto any hose bib costs less than takeout and tells you in ten seconds. Too little and every shower is a disappointment. Too much is the one people miss, because it does not announce itself. It just shortens the working life of every valve, supply line, toilet fill valve and appliance hose in the building. If you are well up in the eighties or beyond, the regulator has either failed or was never set properly, and everything downstream is paying for it.
Why is my pressure suddenly high after years of being fine?+
Because the pressure regulator on your house has almost certainly failed. It is a mechanical part with a diaphragm and a spring inside it, it works constantly, and it wears out. Ten to fifteen years is a normal life, and plenty of houses are well past that on their original one. When it goes, street pressure comes through unrestricted, and street pressure in the foothill zones around Almaden, Santa Teresa, Berryessa and Alum Rock can be considerably more than a house is built for. The tell is usually noise and a run of small failures: pipes banging when an appliance shuts off, and toilet valves or supply hoses giving up in quick succession.
Can you fix low pressure in just one fixture?+
Usually, and it is normally a small job. One weak fixture with the rest of the house fine is nearly always the aerator on the end of the tap packed with mineral scale, a worn cartridge inside the valve, or an angle stop under the sink that somebody left half closed years ago. The aerator you can check yourself in two minutes: unscrew it and look. Whole-house low pressure is a different question with a different list of causes: a regulator that has failed closed, a partly shut main valve, galvanized supply that has rusted closed from the inside, or a leak between the meter and the house. Work out which of the two you have before spending anything.
Further reading: Why Your Water Pressure Is Wrong, and What Actually Fixes It and Hard Water in San Jose: What It Does to Your Pipes and Fixtures.
Describe it to us and we will tell you what it is.
Phone consultations do not cost anything. If it turns out to be something you can sort out yourself, we will say so.
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Water Pressure & Valves across the South Bay
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