How Much Water Pressure Should I Have?

If you are a landlord or property manager in New York City with water pressure problems, you shouldn’t ignore them. Too much or too little pressure can be a danger. It can also predispose you to complaints from tenants. The wrong pressure can also mean your property isn’t adhering to the New York building code. Antler Pumps is here to help you figure out how much water pressure your building should have, whether it’s a single-family home or an apartment building that takes up an entire city block.

How Much Water Pressure Should You Have?

New York statewide regulations

The New York State Department of Health says that your water pressure should ideally be between 60 to 80 psi. It should not be less than 35 psi, and the absolute minimum must be 20 psi under all flow conditions. Water pressure exceeding 80 psi should be managed with a pressure reducing valve (PRV), which we discuss below.

Water Pressure Too High

The dangers of too much pressure

Too much water pressure may seem at first like it’s a boon for property owners. They never have to worry about enough pressure in the shower or when running a garden hose. The bathtub fills quickly, as does the clothes washing machine.

However, too much water pressure can wreak havoc on your property. Over time, all that pressure can put excess wear and tear on pipes and other plumbing components. Appliances that use water can take a beating too. This can cause leaks and even burst pipes that result in extensive water damage to your interior, as well as unexpected costs to repair.

If you have a larger property, high water pressure can become even more expensive. It can cause breakdowns with your boiler system and its elements, like your boiler feeder pump.

What causes water pressure that is higher than it should be? Usually, it’s a case of the municipal pressure entering the building being quite high. If pressure is only high in certain parts of your building, and if you are using a pump or multiple pumps to distribute water, it could mean the pumps need servicing or the pressure settings on the pump need to be adjusted.

Signs of excessively high water pressure

How do you know your water pressure is too high before it does any damage? We can measure it for you to get an exact pressure reading, but you can also look for these signs:

• Constant or repeat leaks in fixtures (e.g., having to frequently replace the washers in your faucets)
• Appliance malfunctions and failures, including hose line bursts
• Leaks in your pipes, especially around connectors
• Water hammer (banging or knocking sounds in your pipes)
• Problems with your boiler system that can’t be traced to other causes
• Malfunctioning pumps or unusually heavy wear and tear on pumps

How to reduce water pressure

Reducing water pressure is, fortunately, a relatively easy problem. A pressure reducing valve sets your property’s washer pressure to a predetermined level. Continuous high pressure or spikes in pressure will be reduced by the valve, so the water entering your home or apartment building is consistent and reasonable.

If your water pressure is greater than 80 psi, the New York State Uniform Building Code says that in most cases, you are required to have a pressure reducing valve. If you need to add one to your property, Sanitary Plumbing can install it easily for you.

Not Enough Water Pressure

The multiple consequences of low pressure

Some properties have the opposite problem: extremely low water pressure. This would be technically characterized by a psi under 20, but you or tenants may notice it in other ways, especially in the shower.

If it takes forever to rinse off because the water is barely flowing, you’ll hear about it quickly. Other signs of low pressure include dishes not getting clean in the dishwasher, clothes washers taking forever to fill or not rinsing detergent thoroughly, or outside hoses not irrigating properly.

Low pressure can result in tenant complaints, citations from the city or state, and legal consequences for not providing adequate water. Even worse, low pressure can mean your fire suppression system is in danger of not working because there isn’t enough pressure to reach sprinkler heads.

Causes of low water pressure

If you only have sporadic low water pressure, it’s usually due to one of three causes:

• Variable flow from the municipal water supply, such as when hydrants are in use or water main breaks during nearby construction
• Periodic high demand from building occupants, such as everyone showering at the same time of day (often noticed on the hottest summer days)
• Malfunctioning water valves in your home or apartment complex

If your pressure is constantly too low, it’s our experience that it’s caused by either clogged or leaking pipes or the height of the building, where water going upward to taps must fight the force of gravity pushing it downward. In the former case, typically this only affects certain rooms or apartment units. When building height is involved, you’ll see entire floors complaining of too little pressure, and this will get worse the higher you go in the property.

Increasing water pressure in your property

While you can’t control occasional drops in water pressure due to accidents or fire department use, you can fix water valves on their way out and 24/7 water pressure problems. If a leaking pipe, a broken valve, or clogged pipe is the issue, a licensed master plumber can solve the issue for you by repairing or replacing them. If sediment or mineral scale is the culprit, placing a filtration system further upstream should stop the clogs.

When building height is causing your pressure problems, which can happen even with rooftop tanks, we go to booster pumps as a solution. These are quite common in high-rise buildings, but you can also utilize them in shorter structures of multiple stories that are still experiencing pressure issues.

Booster pumps do what their name implies: they boost the water pressure coming from ground level. We look at the entire configuration of the building when installing these pumps, making sure we examine where the water is coming from, whether multiple boosters are needed for the total dynamic head, and how they integrate with any fire suppression systems. Factors we consider in our calculations also include:

• Flow rates for all fixtures at peak usage times
• Whether public washrooms are present
• Pressure potentially lost to friction
• Not exceeding pressure limits, as described above

We usually suggest booster pumps for our clients that employ the latest technology, such as pump controllers, variable speeds, soft start and stop, and small footprint pumps that fit into tight places.

Call Antler Pumps for Problems with Water Pressure

New York City’s hyper-local blue-chip experts

Whether you’re having trouble with too much or too little water pressure in your property, Antler Pumps are the experts to call, given our experience with buildings of all sizes and our long history serving New York City.

Call us at 212-534-2500 or use our online form to schedule an appointment at a time that works for you.