I think I have same problem with salt in tank how did you loosen the salt and is it in bucket you pour salt into or what? Thanks

Can you bypass the filters? Or, check the water flow and pressure before the filters. You need to realize there are two different things, pressure and volume. See if you can bypass the filters and see what kind of volume you have and what the pressure is. The problem could be at the filters.

Thanks for the reply! Yes I can bypass the filters I have a water hose straight from the T bar at the water bladder tank. I will figure out the volume next

Tommie Heath, do you have a mixing valve that controls the temperature so it doesn’t get too hot? Do you have pressure balance valves on your tub and shower valves? Possibly, you have a separate water supply for your home and a separate water supply for the spigot. You need to ask your county water system about this problem. It could be the mixing valve or pressure balance valve causing the problem.

TheAnimaster, turn your pressure regulator down to between 60-65 lbs. The way to do that is to turn the hex nut outward to lower your water pressure. When you install an expansion tank, they only have a life of about 5 yrs. There are two sizes of expansion tanks. The smaller size is for 30-40 gallon heaters and the larger size for 50 and above. If you can’t get the T&P valve near a drain, run it outside. Remember Florida has nice sunny weather🌞

If your house is on a pressure regulator, it probably has gone bad. When they go bad, it results in either high or low pressure. If there is a filter located near the inlet water supply, check that to see if you need a new cartridge. If it’s only the hot water running slow, check the inlet and outlet on the water heater. If you have a water softener, bypass it by using the bypass valves and see if the pressure improves.

I did this to mine awhile back. Definitely made a difference

@TaylorBechtol, it could be the main supply line coming to the house or it could be the piping size in the house that might not be large enough. Another thing to check is the regulator if you have one. They can go bad and cause either low pressure or high pressure.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber Thanks! I will look into those! I didn't consider the regulator (though now that you say it, that makes sense)

Jim F, maybe a bladder tank might work, but I’m not positive. I’ve run into that situation in the mountains here where the houses have a booster pump with a bladder tank. Your situation is very different. If you could put in a galvanized storage tank in the attic, that would create pressure. Problem is, you have very cold weather unless you have a heated attic. Another suggestion is to buy a generator. You’re stumping this old bird!

You can install a check valve that bypasses the pump so the low pressure city water will flow around the pump when there is no electricity. Where I live in Mexico, 30 psi is excellent water pressure as most homes use a gravity feed from a tank on the roof.

First thing I would check is to see how many gallons of water the well pump can produce. You’re telling me you have good flow on the hot water piping but not on the cold. You might have a restriction on the cold water line somewhere. When they turned the water on to the house originally, they probably only turned the cold on and someone didn’t flush the well properly, causing too much sand in the pipes. That can be fixed by the plumber, hopefully easy enough.

I recommend you replace the presser regulator. I’ve had that problem before and it ended up being the regulator. Glad you like our videos.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber thanks for your reply, yes I’m replacing it this week.👍🏽

@RichOutdoors, remove the hot and cold supply lines to the heater. Check to see if the supply lines are blocked, if they are, replace them. Check the inlet and outlet nipples on the top of the heater. If rusted shut,use a screwdriver and hammer to chisel out the rust. If rust falls into the tank, don’t worry about it. Reinstall the supply lines and see if you have pressure on the hot water. P.S. make sure you turn off the water supply to the heater and relieve the pressure by opening a hot water faucet before you begin.

The line that feeds your house is called the service line. The curb stop is where the city turns your water on and off. If there is a meter located right there at the curb stop, the city is responsible for the meter and you are responsible for the service line to your house. If the meter is located in the house, you are still responsible for the curb stop to the house. If the service line is an old galvanized line, then you should replace it. If it’s a 3/4” copper line or a PVC water line, you might have a problem with a valve, like a gate valve or ball valve, that might need to be replaced. Use the process of elimination to figure this out.

Bryan Colahan, either you have the cold water inlet or the hot water outlet plugged with rust. Remove the connections to the water heater and clean the pipe nipples with a large screwdriver. I hope this solves your problem. Thank you for watching.

Glenn Russell, are you on a well or municipal water system? If on a municipal system, check with the water department.

Thank you!! It was just the cold side,which was only feeding in with 1/2in so I re- piped it to 3/4.

@josecenteno 4910, first thing to check is the pressure on the street side of the regulator and the size of the supply pipe. ( Hopefully it’s 3/4” pipe). Check the pressure on the house side of the regulator by putting a pressure gauge on the drain at the bottom of the water heater. You want to make sure all your supply valves are wide open, even the main shut off at the house. Don’t rule out, even with your new house, that the pressure regulator is not good. If you turn on the water and get instant pressure and then it quits, that will tell you that your regulator is bad.

You probably have a blockage on the inlet or outlet connections on the water heater. If they are copper flexible connections, disconnect them, take a screwdriver and clean them out. Do the same thing for the connections on top of the water heater. Don’t worry if the debris falls into the water heater. The first thing you need to do is…..turn off the water supply to the heater or turn the water off supplying the house. Open up a hot water faucet to relieve the pressure at the heater. Clean the connections. Usually when you have no hot water or low water pressure, the problem is that the connections to the heater are blocked with rust.

brian warren, sounds to me like they might have hooked the water softener up backwards. When you clean the aerators, do you notice little amber colored beads in the debris? When the tub spout is on, do you notice debris in the bottom of the tub? If there is debris and dirt in the pipes, get the plumber back to fix it. When a well driller puts in a well, he flushes the well until it flows clean. One other test to try is to bypass the water softener and then see what kind of water flow you have. I really think it’s the water softener that was installed backwards and that’s bad news. Good luck.

If you have a pull out spray, take the head off from the hose and make sure there is not a screen in the hose. Check the head to see if there is check valves in the head. Hanns Grohe and Grohe have check valves in the heads. Sometimes there are check valves on the hot and cold supply lines so make sure they’re not blocked. Remove the supply lines from the valve and run the water into a bucket and see how well the water flow and pressure is. If the supply lines are attached to the faucet and can’t be removed, disconnect them from the valve, use a 2 foot piece of solder 1/8” in diameter, and run it up inside the supply tube and lean it out. If you have a long cleaning brush, try that. If it’s a new faucet, water flow is only about one gallon a minute.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber Thank you so much for your response

@michellestudios9593, sounds like they turned off the water supply to the house when they installed the dishwasher. When they turned it back on, they probably turned it on too quickly instead of slowly. First thing you should do is to turn off the water to the dishwasher. Unhook the supply and use a large towel to catch the water from the stop valve. Hook the supply back up. With the toilet problem, I recommend you replace the fill valve. That should eliminate that problem. Hopefully, flushing the angle stop at the dishwasher will solve the noise problem.

@azurecrystalblu5564, I don’t think you’re having problems with your water heater if you have hot water. Do you have two water heaters, one serving one sink and the other serving the second sink? This sounds like a dumb question but I have to ask. Is there a circulating pump? If so, bleed the air out of the circulating line. Check to make sure you have power to the elements and continuity.

You can adjust the water pressure by turn the nut on top of the mushroom cap down and it will increase the pressure. I always set the pressure at 62 pounds. The best place to put the pressure gauge is on the drain on the bottom of the heater. Have one person watch the pressure go up as another person is working on the pressure regulator. If the pressure does not adjust, you need a new regulator. It won’t hurt the piping in the house. Pipe size coming to the house is important. The larger the pipe inside or outside, the more volume of water. Pressure is what you notice while showering.

Did you replace the valve on the inlet side of the water heater? Hopefully, you did. If the old valve is still there, it might not be opening all the way. When you turn on any faucet, do you have high pressure for a few seconds? If you do, you have a blockage on the inlet side or outlet side of the heater. Check to make sure the outlet piping is not blocked too. If the low pressure is only on the hot water, that’s due to the supply to the water heater. Someone did not check to see if the pipes were clear at the water heater. There is nothing wrong with the heater itself.

Did you have high water pressure at one time? Do you have a water softener? If so, bypass the softener and see if there is any change. Do you have a water filter on your main line? If there is a pressure regulator, they don’t last forever. Never trust the City Water Department. Ask your neighbors if their pressure has changed.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber The city came out. It's their problem. There's a leak in the pipes coming into my house from the street

samantha Espinoza, you have what we call electrolysis in either the inlet or outlet of the supply pipes. You should be able to disconnect the pipes and take a large screwdriver and a hammer and make the opening larger into the water heater. It will look like it is rusted shut. If you have what we call dialectic unions ( fitting that goes from copper to iron pipe), disconnect the large nut being careful with the rubber gasket. Clean the debris out of the union. Another connection called flex supply lines are connected with large 3/4” nuts. Disconnect and clean out debris. What causes your problem is a contact of two different metals. There is nothing wrong with your water heater.

Justin Nichols, first thing I would check is the volume of water coming into your home. A good way to do that is to take a hose and fill a five gallon bucket and time it. If it takes a minute to fill the bucket, that means you’re getting five gallons a minute flow which is not very good. I think you should increase your pipe size to 3/4” on the cold to at least the water heater. How was the water pressure before you repiped? Check and make sure that a gate valve is opened all the way. When you turn the handle and it turns continuously, that means the gate valve is broken.

Riffs by Chris, are you saying that you have a 3/4” water main that supplies the house, then reduced to 1/2” for the whole house? Half inch is too small to supply the whole house. If you’re just having a problem with washer and kitchen sink, I would check and see if there are any valves that are half closed. Another thing, disconnect the cold supply line to the kitchen sink, take the supply line and run water into a bucket and turn on the washing machine and see if you water pressure drops then. If it doesn’t, you probably have a bad kitchen faucet. If it does, then you will have to increase the piping.

Sorry, but I relocated to California.

Jacob Morris, I would recommend a large bladder type pressure tank. The brand name I am familiar with and always use is called a Well-X-Trol bladder tank WX-250. It will tell you the pressure in the bladder. You want to change it to two lbs. less than your pressure switch turns off. For example, if the pressure switch turns off at 40 lbs. you want the tank pressure to be at 38 lbs. Before you do this, I would call Well-X and talk to a support person. Sorry you have a stingy well.

Annette Hollander, if you didn’t have a new pressure regulator installed, I would look at removing the shower heads and see if there is any debris on the inlet of the shower head. Remove all the aerators on the faucets and clean them. Once you remove the shower head, turn on the water and see how the pressure is on the cold and hot side. Do the same for the faucets. If they did install a pressure regulator, screw the hex nut on the top of the bell of the regulator clockwise about one full turn and that should increase your pressure.

Gaunjaguy420, let’s find out first if you have a deep or shallow well. If the water is 15’ below the surface, then it is a deep well. Nowadays deep wells have submersible pumps. That means that the pump sits at the bottom of the well. If the well was working fine and then suddenly you had a low water volume, that means something is wrong with the pump or the water level dropped at the well. You may also have a bad well screen on the well casing. Back to your filter, you can remove it and see if you have better water flow. Otherwise, I think you need to call a water well company, not a plumber.

Reedith Graham, try asking her for a quad vente latte with breve no foam 180 degrees! My drink of choice.

@tayloriginals999, the first thing to check is the inlet and outlet supply pipes on top of the heater to make sure they are not rusted shut. If you have di-electric unions, they are probably rusted shut. When you turn on the hot water faucets and have a burst of pressure, that tells me you have a blockage at the water heater supply lines. Remove the supply lines and use a screwdriver and hammer to clear the openings in both directions. Check to make sure that the supply valve to the heater is fully open.

Melissa Ellen, Vocal Coach, the pressure regulator is usually located where the water enters the building which could be outside or in the basement, depending on which weather conditions you have. If you’re on a city water system or well system, your pressure might not exceed 55 lbs. so you don’t need it.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber thank you so much!!!

My plumber claimed he couldn’t find it but I think he did not look. What do you think?

Huego Farley, are you on a well system? Do you sprinkle your lawn at night? Do you hear water running at night? If you’re on a municipal water system, I would call them first thing.

Thomas Podesta, you probably have a bad pressure regulator. The pressure regulator is located outside if in warm climate, right near the shut off valve to the house. If not there, it is inside right where the water enters the foundation. If you want to change the pressure regulator yourself, get the same brand name.

lulu Norman, if your water pressure changed dramatically and you’re on a well, you probably have a problem with your pump’s motor. If you have good water pressure on the cold side, then it’s probably the water heater. You could also check all the aerators and shower heads to make sure they are not clogged.

ACoustaDC, one piece toilets made back in the 50’s and 60’s were designed to use the house water pressure. Two piece toilets with a bowl and tank separate, flush the water from the tank. It’s designed to act like a water tower that creates it’s own pressure. Your problem might be in the bowl. There are about 8 holes around the rim of the bowl. You need to clean them out. You need to use a 1/16 to 1/8 tool like an Allen wrench set to clean out the holes. Then, down at the bottom of the bowl, there is a 3/4” hole that also needs to be cleaned out. These holes lime up. There is a test that you can do .....take an 8 oz. glass of water, flush the toilet and when the water starts to swirl, dump in the glass of water. If it flushes really well, the plugged holes are not the problem. Make sure the 2” opening in the tank is not blocked with debris, like a Clorox tablet. Check the flapper chain to make sure it is as tight as possible. Or, change the flapper to a non water saver. Hope these suggestions help. There were some really bad water saver toilets.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber Thank you so much I'm going to get on this right away!

heavensabound, I’ve been thinking about your question for two days now. You can’t have poor flow through the pump system and then have the pressure increase through the softener. The pump motor creates the volume of water. The tank and the motor will work together to create the pressure. If you have a new style bladder tank, you set the pressure on the tank two pounds less than the starting pressure. If you have a 30/50 pressure switch, you set it at 28 lbs. To set the pressure, turn off the pump, open up all the faucets until they stop flowing and add air to the tank. If you have a bad tank, the pump will come on and off on a short cycle. Hope this gives you a little more knowledge on your well.

Susan Santin, first thing you must do is turn off the inlet water on the right side of the heater as you are looking at it. Open up a hot water faucet to let the pressure off the heater. If you still have pressure, turn off the water main to the house. Remove the connection on the hot water side. If it’s a flexible connection, just buy a new one. You need to clean out the pipe nipple on top of the heater. Use a flat bladed screwdriver with a hammer and knock out the rust and don’t worry if a little goes into the tank. If it’s not a flexible pipe, see if you can clean that off. Now put everything back together. Turn the water back on and see if you have water pressure. If you don’t, repeat the process on the cold side of the heater. It’s not as hard as this sounds, but maybe you can find someone to assist you.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber thank you very much ! i will try this today . i dont have to turn the pilot light down or anything like that to do this right ? ( im assuming cause you didnt mention it ) ive watched the few videos that i was able to find and frankly informative as they are they are also confusing. thank you sooo much ! wish me luck lol !

Susan Santin, good luck to you! You can do it! You can turn the burner down to pilot if you like but it is not necessary.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber thank you i really appreciate the advice ! you must answer so many people ! very nice to get a reply !!! again thx !!!

i should add not the whole valve is loose just the top part . the part that you would lift to release the pressure. thank you

Jeremiah, you might have smaller pipe that is not giving you enough volume of water and not enough pressure. Do you have a newer bathroom with water saver shower heads and water saver aerators? You might look for valves that are not completely open. Check to see if you have connections that go from copper to galvanized pipe that would cause electrolysis and close off the pipe size. Check your water supply lines at your faucet and toilet and if old, replace with new stainless steel. I’m giving you some homework. Let me know what you discovered.

Have you checked the gallons per minute on your incoming water main? Is there a water softener? Has it been hooked up properly? Was the water piping system sized properly? Are the tub and shower valves pressure balanced? Have they checked the gate valves or ball valves on the main line? They should have used only ball valves. If there is a pressure regulator, make sure the water flow it is going in the right direction. If you have a pressure regulator, bypass it and see if you have more volume of water. You have pressure and volume. Without a large enough pipe size supplying the house, pressure means nothing. Check the water heater inlet and outlet pipes to make sure they are not clogged. That’s all I can do for you.

Usually the first problem is that your pipe size is too small. The main thing you can do is to change your shower valve to a pressure balance shower valve. With a pressure balance valve, when someone flushes a toilet or turns on a faucet, it balances the water flow so you don’t get a cold or hot shot of water. We’ve been using pressure balance valves for about 30 years. I believe new shower valves would be the solution to your problem.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber we'll try that, but it happens if we flush and then turn on sink. Or sink and another sink. There are pvc piping under sinks and we have hard water. I'm hoping pipes through house are copper. Corrosion is probably the problem? My washer is going right now and kitchen sink will only provide a trickle. We didn't have that problem 10 years ago when we moved in. Thanks in advance for advice!

Is there a water softener or any water filters in the house? If there is a softener, bypass it and see if water pressure gets better. Bypass is located on top of softener. If you have a filter, remove the cartridge and see if pressure improves. If you are on a municipal water system, ask them to come and check your flow rate( gallons per minute). That will tell you if it’s the incoming water problem or a house problem.

Adrian Santibanez, you have two things, water pressure and water volume. The water pressure comes from the municipality. The water volume is created by the size of the water piping. If you have old galvanized pipe, they can rust closed and decrease the volume. The shower leak is not causing your low volume. Sometimes you have more volume on the cold water and less volume on the hot. Check the inlet and outlet on the top of the water heater and make sure they are not rusting shut. If they are, take a screwdriver and open up the pipe. A lot of times you just have to repipe. Replacing the service water line coming from the street to the house will increase your volume if you have galvanized. Replace with either copper or the new plastic pipe. (Black PE pipe).

@@TheGrumpyPlumber thank you so much !! So you want me to check the water heater first if it’s not rusted shut and if that’s not the case I’ll have to repipe just the service water line or the entire house ?

Adrian Santibanez, if the service line is galvanized pipe, the first thing I would do is replace that with either copper or black PE pipe.

Kathy, you can’t get the crud out of the hot water lines. Do you have galvanized water lines? If you do, I would recommend you repipe with Pex tubing. If you have copper, you do get some buildup of lime but not enough to have a problem with pressure and water flow. A lot of times, they don’t correctly size the water piping in the house. But the big question is, if on city water supply lines, do you have large enough water supply pipe? The larger the pipe, the more volume and hopefully you have more pressure that goes with it. If on a well, it depends on the size of your pump and the well tank that can give you more volume and pressure. These are things to look for before repiping the house. If you have immediate pressure when you turn on the hot water, and then the pressure drops, you might w@nt to check the cold water inlet and hot water outlet on the water heater.

@@TheGrumpyPlumber at this point my pressure is ok. I’m replacing the vanity in a rental and I also replaced the kitchen faucet. The new faucet came with new hoses. When I went to install the vanity I noticed that the two hot water hoses were heavily built up so I used both of the cold hoses on the new vanity. Just wondered if there was something more preventative I could do.

Kathy, I recommend the braided stainless steel supply lines.

etr4039, if you have a blockage in the water heater, when you turn on the hot water and get a burst of pressure and then it goes away, that means you have a blockage at the cold water inlet or the hot water outlet. Check here for the blockage. If that’s not it, then you might have a piping size problem. You might clean the aerators and shower heads. However, if you turn on the cold water and get good pressure, that’s not your problem.