Unless you’re a plumber, a water pressure test gauge probably isn’t something you’d ever use — unless you had suspicions that the water pressure in your house was too high or too low. It sure wasn’t on the list of tools I thought I’d ever need, that is until I started looking into replacing our kitchen faucet.
Our kitchen faucet is getting pretty dated. I know it’s not the original from the 70’s, because the cabinets have been replaced, but I suspect it’s probably from the 80’s. That’s why I was a little concerned that I only was getting 1.7 gpm flowing out of the tap. Modern kitchen faucets are usually 1.5 to 1.8 gpm (with an occasional 2.0 or even 2.2 gpm). These gpm ratings are usually spec’d at a water pressure of 60 psi.
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Because I figured a faucet that old would surely have a higher flow rate, I was afraid that my water pressure was much less than 60 psi and that instead of getting 1.8 gpm out of a new faucet, I’d get something much less. Buying a new faucet and having it be less useful than my old one would be disappointing
I know they have started restricting flow from faucets to conserve water, but the one area where I think it makes the least amount of sense is the kitchen sink. If you fill the sink for dishes, or a pot to put on the stove, having to wait substantially longer can be frustrating.
While in Home Depot the other day, I found the Watts Water Pressure Test Gauge, model IWTG. This pressure gauge attaches to a standard 3/4″ hose fitting and reads from 0 to 200 psi.
Watts says you can attach the gauge to either a hose bib or your water heater drain, but a more useful place may be your washing machine hookups.
It features a 2-1/2″ dial with 2 indicators: a black one to show actual pressure, and red for max pressure.
The sensing element is a copper alloy Bourdon tube with ASME, Type B40.100 accuracy. Unfortunately, if you want to know what that officially means, you need to shell out $125. But after a little free research, I found it just means the accuracy is somewhere in the range of ±2% to ±3% of the span.
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This little gauge will run you $10 at Amazon and Home Depot. You should be able to find it at plenty of other places too.
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Further Analysis
At first I found the max pressure indicator to be utterly useless. Turning on the faucet normally pegged it all the way around. If I very slowly and carefully turned on the faucet it matched the real-time house water pressure, but then I thought, “wait, I wonder what happens if I turn a faucet on and off somewhere else in the house?”
Viola, you get the surge pressure. This could be handy for figuring out if you need to install a water hammer suppressor or just secure your pipes if they bang when turning on the washing machine. The description of the product also says you can use it to detect thermal expansion pressure surges.
If you are curious how to measure the flow rate, it’s pretty simple. You don’t need any special equipment, just a vessel with a known volume and a stopwatch. For instance I used a gallon milk jug to make the calculations easy.
To measure the flow rate, turn the tap on full, start the timer when you start filling the container. Then stop the stopwatch when the container is full. In my case I was filling the gallon milk jug in 35 seconds. To find my flow rate, I just divided the time into 60 seconds (60/35) to get 1.7 gpm.
SteveR
Your photos tell an interesting story, too. Whenever I see that much green, brown and white staining on the pipes and fixtures, that alerts me to leakage issues. You may have several points that need attention.
Your braided S.S. supply lines are a good idea, but how old are they? A plumber at the house told me they’re good for about ten (10) years, tops. And, do you turn them off after each washing cycle? If not, that leaves the house pressure on all the time, which degrades them faster. It’s cheap insurance to change them out periodically.
Two other things we did was (1) put in ball valves for turning the water on and off, and (2) installing water hammer arrestors. The former is a positive means to turn the water on and off, while reducing pressure on the system when not in use. Many homes use outdoor-type hose bibbs, which have internal parts that degrade/leak.
The latter will prevent or reduce water hammer to your pipes and hoses, providing a quieter wash cycle while prolonging their working life. It’s a good idea to put pipe dope on the threads at each connection to prevent leakage, too. The stuff doesn’t set up, so it’s easy to remove hoses and mechanical connections later on.
Mike
I don’t see anything unusual. It’s a utility sink. Water is going to get sprayed everywhere and chemicals (especially laundry detergents and bleach) are going to get splashed all over causing corrosion to copper and bronze.
Benjamen
The white (and yellow) staining is from paint. Usually I have an aerator attached to the faucet or otherwise the water comes out at pretty much full flow and splashes everywhere. Most of the corrosion has always been there, I assume it was because the previous owners.
I actually have water hammer arrestors on the hot and cold lines to the washing machines, I put them on the same time I put the hoses on, maybe about 10 years ago. The arrestors have pretty much stopped working, good point though it’s probably time to think about replacing the hoses.
I used a special anti-leak type hose when I replaced my bathroom faucets. supposedly it shuts off when the flow is really low like there’s a leak, but lets normal flow proceed. I need to look into those again.
As for turning off the water after every load, I know it’s recommended by some people, but it’s a real pain in the ass.
The hot valve for the washing machine does leak slightly, I’d like to replace both gate valves with one of those knife type dual valves that you can shut off both lines at once,
pete
You never said what you decided on with your kitchen faucet. By your pictures you have nearly 60psi so i’m assuming you are planning on replacing your faucet. Inquiring minds need to know!
Benjamen
I replaced it with a Delta Debonair. I was getting about 1.7 to 1.8 gal/min out of it, then I pulled the flow restrictor (Shhh, don’t tell anybody) and now I get about 2 gal/min. So I’m pretty satisfied.
If I pull off aerator, it doesn’t improve the flow, but at hose without the wand I can get over 3.5 gallons per minute. There’s some built in flow restriction I can’t get to. The wand is basically designed to be thrown away and replaced, but trying to order a new wand cost as much as the faucet did.
The installation went way easier than I thought. I didn’t need a basin wrench but I used one of these: http://www.toolup.com/ridgid-66807-Faucet-and-Sink-Installer-Model-2006
That big plastic wrench has come in real handy.
Chris Pyfer
Like you mentioned this and all pull-out faucets have a built in resrictor. If you take the wand off the hose you will see a white plastic piece in the bottom of the wand. The resrictor has a pinhole that allows water through and doubles to collect the tiniest piece of sediment. This was probably your flow issue. You can soak in vinegar overnight to clear most debris. As a plumber I would never buy a pullout faucet no matter how convenient because of this fact.
fred
This is one of the essential gauges in a plumbers kit – along with a backflow test set (we used Mid-West 845-5) and a hydrostatic test pump set (we used Wheeler Rex.)
As you suggest – buying one at Home Depot is probably a good idea – since you can look at it to see if the arm is at zero (not below or above). We went over to Winters brand a few years ago – because a few of the new Watt’s gauges had to be junked after a few uses – but I’m not sure the Winters lasted any longer.
Mike
Any home that utilizes a pressure regulator at the service entrance really needs one of these available. Unless you have absolutely perfect water, the regulator will eventually clog with debris, calcium, and lime and fail. Better to check the pressure two or three times a year than to wait for the inevitable screeching and howling that occurs when the regulator is dying.
James Pelletier
The way my plumber told me to use this guage is find a hose bib that is before the PRV and see what the pressure is coming into the house. Then check one after the PRV. This will tell you if the reducer is working and if you need to change it.
Hang Fire
For a permanent install, install it facing up (upside down for this gauge, so find another with an opposite orientation). That way gravity is less likely to fill it with debris, and it will last longer.
Bob Hass
Use these every day
http://ahouseonarockhomeinspections.com
ktash
I just found something out about those low flow faucets and on-demand water heaters (as your main water heater, not the under-sink kind). The on-demand heater doesn’t work well, if at all, with them. There needs to be enough pressure to make the on-demand unit heat the water.
I haven’t tested this theory, but a hvac guy told me that when I complained about the kitchen hot water never working right. It’s a vacation home, so won’t know until next summer when the kitchen faucet can be replaced. it does make sense, since the bathroom (not low flow) worked just fine with it.
Thanks for the info on the testers.
Jim
I bought this same meter a while ago. Hugely helpful when trying to measure the pressure rather than “guess”. I can never find it when I want to use it – but it’s absolutely very useful! I think that everyone should own one, at least to verify their pressure if something seems awry. I was surprised to learn that my pressure changes during the day, especially during summer when everyone has sprinklers running.