Water Pressure & Valves

This section covers pressure diagnosis and the valve hardware that controls your water: pressure-reducing valves, the main shutoff, fixture stops and thermal expansion control.

• Main Water Shutoff Valve
• Fixture Stop Valve Replacement
• Low Water Pressure Diagnosis
• Shutoff Valve Repair
• Shutoff Valve Replacement
• Thermal Expansion Tanks
• High Water Pressure Repair
• Pressure Reducing Valve Replacement
• Water Pressure Regulator Repair

Pressure symptoms and what they point to:

• Weak flow everywhere. A failing PRV, a partially closed or failing main valve, a supply-side restriction. The whole-house pattern points at the entry path.
• Weak flow at one fixture. That fixture's aerator, cartridge or stop valve, not a house problem.
• Pressure drops when anything else runs. Classic undersized or restricted supply: flow, not static pressure, is the limit.
• Pressure spikes or steady overpressure. A failed PRV passing street pressure into the house, which is hard on every appliance, hose and seal downstream.
• Banging pipes (water hammer). Valves closing against momentum without arrestors, or overpressure making the whole system slam.
• Relief valve dripping at the water heater. Often thermal expansion with no working expansion tank: a pressure-system fault wearing a water-heater costume.

The usual mechanical culprits:

• PRV wear. Pressure-reducing valves drift and fail with age, both toward too little pressure and too much.
• Seized or failing shutoff valves. Main valves and fixture stops that have not moved in years seize open, weep, or will not close when it matters.
• Restriction in the line. Corroded galvanized pipe, fouled cartridges and clogged screens narrow the path regardless of street pressure.
• Thermal expansion without control. Heated water expands; in a closed system without a working expansion tank, pressure climbs until something relieves it.
• A hidden leak. Escaping water reads as pressure loss. When diagnosis smells a leak, it routes to leak detection.

The work this section covers:

• Pressure diagnosis. Static and dynamic measurements at multiple points bracket the loss: street, PRV, distribution or fixture.
• PRV repair and replacement. Adjustment where the valve allows it; replacement when internals are done. Target pressure is set to code-sane levels, protecting appliances and warranties.
• Main shutoff and fixture stops. Repair and replacement of the valves you need in the worst minute of your plumbing life, including upgrading rusted gate valves to quarter-turn ball valves.
• Thermal expansion tanks. Sizing, installation and replacement of expansion control on closed systems.
• Water hammer arrest. Arrestors at offending fixtures and appliances, and pressure correction when overpressure is the real driver.

• Leak Detection & Repair
• Water Lines
• Pumps
• Well Water Systems
• Backflow Prevention