When I check water flow at the kitchen and bathroom fixtures, sometime I see low water pressure. And typically I will put that in the report.
However, I’m wondering if there is a good way to measure the water pressure at the kitchen and bathroom faucets. So, it’s not just a visual guess, but a specific number (psi) that I can point out as low water pressure.
I have a water pressure gauge that screws on to an outside faucet, but I’m wondering if there is a way to do a similar test inside on the faucets that don’t have the treads to screw the gauge onto.
My question is why? You go into a home and find that a faucet has low water pressure or flow. You can remove the aerator and clean it. If the flow is still low, mark it down and move on.
Remember that the home inspection is supposed to be easy to read and not technically exhaustive.
What you see when you turn on a faucet is water flow not pressure. You measure static pressure typically at the outside faucet with all the faucets turned off (no flow). I discussed this subject in more detain in post #14 at the following link http://www.nachi.org/forum/f22/water-pressure-test-99592/
Use your eyes. Unless you are evaluating the flow rate of a water well system, you don’t need to measure with a gauge (we are required to measure static pressure in TX). Open each fixture an observe whether the flow is adequate at that fixture. Open two fixtures at once and see if the pressure drops excessively. Document observed deficiencies.
In a bathroom, you turn on a vanity faucet , a shower faucet and flush the toilet. If the showerhead almost stops flowing when the toilet is flushed, the pressure is too low.
You can search the web for water flow meters, but there is no universal connection to all faucets or shower heads without removing the aerator or shower head. Removing the aerator or shower head will change the flow rate. So the simple solution is get a small calibrated bucket and a stop watch. Flow rate is a moving target so I don’t recommend making any comment other than something like this: The apparent flow rate of the shower head while running the bathroom faucet and simultaneously flushing the toilet (dropped dramatically, had no apparent affected, etc.)
If you comment on flow rate I would include a generic statement that flow rate is a function of many variables including pipe size, number of bends, gravity, number of fixtures running, type of fixture, etc.
I don’t think we need any particular device to calculate the water pressure. Before I had began the inspection job I had worked with Brothers Plumbing in Etobicoke. Their serviceman never used any kind of flow meter, they used find out about the water issues just by looking at the way the water flows. But if you want records then it’s good to use a flow meter or any similar device.
