How To Test Water Pressure (Expert Guide)

Understanding your water pressure can be vital to the health of your plumbing system.

If this is your first time dealing with a water pressure issue, you may be wondering:

• What should my water pressure be?
• How do I test my water pressure?
• How do I increase or reduce my water pressure?

We’ve put together this easy guide to help you find out and covering all the information you require regarding water, pressure, and flow.

What should my water pressure be?

A water pressure of more than 15 liters per minute is ideal. That water pressure is considered to be good and acceptable.

Anything in the range of 10 to 15 liters per minute will do. Nevertheless, it will get distinctly weaker as you approach 10 liters per minute.

Less than 10 liters is regarded as subpar. This will usually be very apparent when trying to wash the pots, taking a bath, or taking a shower because it will take a long time to fill.

The difficult part now is figuring out when your water pressure is excessively high. A water outlet (tap or shower) will typically only allow a specific volume of water to flow through it at any given moment. That will make using a faucet to measure tricky.

For high water pressure, you will need to refer to a water pressure gauge . Ideally, your home water pressure should not exceed 60psi .

How do I test my water pressure?

Now, how do you test it? Simple, follow the relevant steps below.

Testing Low Water Pressure

 You’ll need a few tools before you begin to finish your test. Among these are:

• A measuring cup, although any capacity will do; a 1-liter cup is preferred.
• Timer (most phone timers work, but use caution while near water when using one)
• A calculator (which is typically found on your phone)

Step 1:

Place a 1-litre measuring jug under the shower or tap.

Step 2:

Turn the problem tap or shower on full.

Step 3:

Time how long it takes to fill the jug.

 Step 4:

If it takes more than 6 seconds to fill the jug, then you have low water pressure.

Help – if don’t have a 1-litre jug!

If you don’t have a 1-liter jug—they can range in capacity from 500 to 800 milliliters—you can figure out the water pressure with some basic math.

To calculate the amount of water in the jug, just multiply the number of liters by 10. Your flow rate in liters per minute will be displayed as a result.

If your jug is 500 ml, for instance, the calculation would be 0.5 liters x 10 = 5 litres every minute.

Easy!.

Recall that you need at least 10 liters per minute of water pressure. For optimal pressure, you want to be over 15, but anywhere between 10 and 15 is good. Anything below need assistance from experts.

Testing High Water Pressure

Before you start, you’ll need one tool to complete your test.

This tool is a Water Pressure Gauge (this can be purchased from any hardware store).

Step 1:

Ensure all taps in and outside of your home are turned off

Step 2:

Secure the pressure gauge to your outside tap

Step 3:

Turn the tap on full. It needs to be operating on full to take an accurate reading.

Step 4:

Review the readings on your gauge. The ideal psi is between 40 to 60 psi, anything over 60 should be looked at by a plumber. Anything below 30 and you likely have a leak.