Finally getting water pressure!

Received a lovely letter from LCSA today that we are finally going to get increased water pressure up on the hill here. Thanks Cliff for starting this effort 4 years ago

 

You're welcome. One of the accomplishments I am most proud of. I just hope everything works out alright.
I haven't received the letter yet. Maybe it came today.

 

I too received the letter on Saturday. Its funny how excited I am about getting high water pressure. Im tired of running around in circles in the shower hoping to have a drop of water fall on me. It takes over an hour for me to spray the dirt/chalk off of the driveway cause there just isnt any water pressure at all. Dont even get me started with watering my lawn, or I should say, sprinkling the lawn.
there is one thing Im concerned about once they turn up the pressure. Im worried about water leaks. To my knowledge or pipes were never tested at the standard 80psi that we should be recieving. Pinholes that may not be piping out water at our standard 25-40psi we have now, may leak when the pressure reaches about 80. I shut off all the water today before I left the house in case this happens. Ill turn it on when Iget home and listen for any water dripping, wet drywall or that hissing sound you get when leaks erupt.
In any case, I thank whomever was able to persuade the county to get them to add this additional pump. Im not sure if Bramblethon and the new high school had anything to do with it. I thought they were having low water pressure as well, if I recall.

DwArFlOrD

 

Although, I wasn't initially happy with only having 3 days notice of the water pressure increasing, today is an amazing day. It's working and what a difference, now I just hope that the pipes holdup (VM specials).

I wonder what will happen to those homes were the homeowners are on vacation and have not been able to adjust the valves? I know of a few people that are away, I hope there will be no surprises when they get back in town.

 

Hi folks-
I was the one that persuaded LCSA to fix the problem. The Brambleton tanks didn't have anything to do with this.
Although I am glad the situation is finally fixed, I was less than pleased at how LCSA announced the change.

First of all, the pipes within your house were required to be pressure checked regardless of the incoming water pressure. The best LCSA expected the pressure to get to was 50-60 pounds, with 80 pounds being the outside limit. This is still well less than what would be necessary for a Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) to be needed at the inlet to the house. They usually don't regulate the pressure unless it exceeds 100 pounds. Regardless of that, LCSA advises that PRV's should have been installed with the house. They did not issue a waiver to this requirement because of our low water pressure situation.

My pressure is now between 55-65 psi, which is still well within the parameters of the tanks. There should be no problem with the tanks leaking unless there was already a problem. I wold highly recommend that you have the tanks removed/bypassed because the stagnant water in them will become a prime breeding ground for bacteria. If there was a power failure and your pump kicked on, it would spread the bacteria throughout your water lines.

I have already put a call in to NV about getting them to put a PRV in. The potential problem if you don't put one in is that if you have a leak in your lines someday, your insurance may not cover the loss because your plumbing is not up to code.
Cliff

 

I for one thank you for getting LCSA to do what they did. I think we agree it should have been done before we even moved in, but I think Loudoun didnt see it that way for whatever reason.
I was seeing 60psi and then it dropped to 50psi when I was watering front and back yards, but still better than the 25-40psi my tank would get me.... My shower this morning was pleasurable and I can now "rinse" the dishes off in less than 3 minutes per plate...
I already turned off the breaker to the pressure tank so it shouldnt kick on, but I want to sever the tank from the water line because it will grow some nasty stuff, even in the dark and I dont want that to get into our drinking water so Ill be removing that tank from the lines. When I do that I may put in a prv on my own since ill be doing plumbing on that anyways.
Thx again cliff...

DwArFlOrD