If your home is supplied with water from a well, then you
may struggle with consistently low home water pressure or water pressure that
frequently fluctuates.
While you may think that low or fluctuating water pressure
is inevitable when your home is connected to a well, the truth is that most
homeowners can increase the pressure of the well water supplied to their homes,
and there are many easy ways to do it.
Read on to learn four ways to increase your home water
pressure when your home is connected to a water well.
1. Adjust Your Pressure Tank Settings
Most residential wells are equipped with pressure tanks that
control the pressure of the water that flows from the well to a home. While the
average home connected to a city's municipal water supply receives water at
about 60
pounds per square inch (psi), the default setting for most well water
pressure tanks is just 28 psi. You can adjust this tank setting to increase
home water pressure greatly.
Additional pressure settings on most tanks include 20/40,
30/50, and 40/60 psi. The first number designates how low the pressure in the
tank must drop before the well pump begins filling it with more water and the
second number indicates how high the water pressure in the tank can get before
the pump shuts off.
Increase your tank pressure setting to 40/60 psi, and you
may be surprised when your home water pressure increases greatly after this
simple adjustment.
2. Consider a Pump with a Higher Flow Capacity
If your pressure tank is already adjusted to its highest
setting, then your water pressure problem may be caused by your current well
pump. Different well pumps have different flow rate, or flow capacity, ratings,
and if the flow rate of your current pump is too low, then it may not be able
to pump enough water into your home to meet your family's water demands.
The flow rate of a well pump is measured in gallons per
minute (GPM). If you currently have a well pump with a GPM rating of 8,
you may notice that your home water pressure improves greatly after you upgrade
to a pump with a 12 GPM rating.
3. Upgrade to a Constant Pressure System
If your home water pressure problem is not consistently low
water pressure, but instead frequent water pressure fluctuations, then you
should consider upgrading your well tank and pump system from a traditional
system to a constant pressure system.
As mentioned, even when adjusted to the highest pressure
setting, a traditional well pressure tank will allow water pressure to
fluctuate by about 20 psi. However, a constant pressure system does not allow
the water pressure in the tank to drop by more than 2 psi before it triggers
the pump to increase tank water pressure again. This consistent tank water
pressure leads to consistent home water pressure.
While constant pressure systems can vary in design, most are
equipped with special electronic water pressure sensors located in their tanks
that send a signal to the well pump to begin filling the tank as soon as water
psi begins to drop even slightly to keep water pressure more
consistent.
4. Install a Water Pressure Booster Pump
Another way to increase water pressure in your home is to
add a water pressure booster pump to your home plumbing system.
This pump can be especially useful if your water pressure
seems much lower on the top floor of your home than on the ground floor since
many standard well pumps have difficulty competing with gravity when they
supply water to a home's top floor. Booster pumps are electrical and use motors
and impellers to increase the speed of the water that flows into your
home. This helps it reach fixtures on your top floor more easily.
If you live in a home connected to a water well, don't feel
that you have to struggle with low or fluctuating water pressure in your home.
This problem can be easily fixed by trying one of the solutions above. Contact
the well experts at McCall Brothers Inc. for all of your residential water well
needs.
