Fuzzie
20th June 2024, 09:47 AM
We moved into a house built in 2020 and have been somewhat underwhelmed by the household water pressure. I recently bought a water pressure meter from Bunnings and have been surprised by the readings.
I measured the pressure at the first tap in our house as 310kPa. The first tap in our neighbour's property measured 510kPa. Our water meters are side by side at the property boundary, same distance to the front taps.
This appears to be the PRV installed in our home https://www.wattsau.com.au/products/plumbing-flow-control-solutions/pressure-reducing-valves/prvb-500#jl_cd06c94a-fea9-481c-81eb-68d589135760
(https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/go?https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wattsau.com.au%2Fproducts%2Fplumbing-flow-control-solutions%2Fpressure-reducing-valves%2Fprvb-500%23jl_cd06c94a-fea9-481c-81eb-68d589135760)
As far as I can see the pressure reducing valve is supposed to limit the household side pressure to 500kPa, so I would have expected to see 500kPa also measured in my house while the street pressure is above 500kPa. However it is not.
Reading the PRV description it says "Set pressure is 500kPa, at 1600kPa inlet pressure". Is it to be expected the house side pressure of 500kPa would only be realized if the inlet pressure is actually at 1600kPa? At lower inlet pressures should lower house pressures be expected?
What PRV would not reduce internal house pressure unless the inlet pressure actually goes above 500kPa? The street pressure does vary, another near neighbour had a leak recently and the plumber measured their street pressure as 610kPa while repairing at the time.
I measured the pressure at the first tap in our house as 310kPa. The first tap in our neighbour's property measured 510kPa. Our water meters are side by side at the property boundary, same distance to the front taps.
This appears to be the PRV installed in our home https://www.wattsau.com.au/products/plumbing-flow-control-solutions/pressure-reducing-valves/prvb-500#jl_cd06c94a-fea9-481c-81eb-68d589135760
(https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/go?https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wattsau.com.au%2Fproducts%2Fplumbing-flow-control-solutions%2Fpressure-reducing-valves%2Fprvb-500%23jl_cd06c94a-fea9-481c-81eb-68d589135760)
As far as I can see the pressure reducing valve is supposed to limit the household side pressure to 500kPa, so I would have expected to see 500kPa also measured in my house while the street pressure is above 500kPa. However it is not.
Reading the PRV description it says "Set pressure is 500kPa, at 1600kPa inlet pressure". Is it to be expected the house side pressure of 500kPa would only be realized if the inlet pressure is actually at 1600kPa? At lower inlet pressures should lower house pressures be expected?
What PRV would not reduce internal house pressure unless the inlet pressure actually goes above 500kPa? The street pressure does vary, another near neighbour had a leak recently and the plumber measured their street pressure as 610kPa while repairing at the time.