Posted on Thursday, 17th June 2010 by Anna Kulbinski

Michael Blagg, Senior Inspector
Desert State Home Inspections
Email: mblagg@cox.net

Office:  480-585-6456
Cell:  623-221-4319

This time of year we can be thankful it’s a dry heat. One thing that comes to mind when thinking about the heat, no, I don’t mean the pool or spa- but plumbing. Thought I would discuss some of the things that as home inspectors we are concerned with.

What should the water pressure be? Standard is between 45 to 65 PSI. We don’t have a concern until the water pressure exceeds 80 PSI, at that point we would recommend having a pressure reducer valve be installed above the water main. Why is too much pressure a bad thing? First of all it could affect the fixtures in the home such as the washers in the faucets, showers etc. Long term it could affect the plumbing system overall.

Who controls the water pressure? The city you live in will control the pressure- they have to keep the pressure as consistent as they can for the customer first in line and last in line- typically the closer to the source the higher the pressure will be. It is very common when inspecting homes in the same area, they will always have excessive pressure unless a pressure reducer has been installed.

What are the preferred plumbing lines? The most common is of course copper. Many new homes have a plastic type of tubing commonly referred to as “Pex” or Wirsbo. Sometimes they combine copper at stub outs and have Pex in walls and attics- sometimes the plumbing is all Pex. We do see a PVC type of product called flowguard-it looks like PVC but has a yellow stripe on side of plumbing lines. There are 2 types of plumbing that we do not feel comfortable with- the first is called Polybutelyne. It is grey in color- sometimes has Vanguard or Qest imprinted on side. There has been lots of known product defects with this style of plumbing and in most cases will need to be replaced. The problems are related to the fittings- originally they were acetate and leaked, then they changed out to copper fittings and there were also issues with that product. It came down to the way the installers crimped the fittings on the system- the crimpers had to be constantly calibrated and many times were not. Another older style plumbing that is not preferable is galvanized. This older style plumbing corrodes and rusts from inside the pipe. It can look perfect on exterior but becomes damaged from inside. I’ve seen samples where it was so rusted and corroded out that water would not flow through the plumbing lines.

Have a great summer and keep telling yourself it’s a dry heat.

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