"This kind of pressure I can handle" by Editor's Note

This kind of pressure I can handle

August 10, 2010

Tired of yelling, "Turn off the washer, honey — I need to take a shower"? If so, chances are you live in Weymouth Heights in Southern Pines, or in some other elevated area that has municipal water but is cursed with anemic water pressure. My wife and I put up with that for years. But no more. Belatedly following the lead of some of our neighbors, we finally broke down and had my plumber friend Matthew Mills come out and install a booster pump in the garage. He did it last week, and it took less than a day for him and his guys to hook it up to our plumbing system. It consists of an electric pump not much bigger than a loaf of bread that feeds a pressure tank much smaller than your average water heater. OMG, what a difference! The pressure at the street is about 36 pounds per square inch, as I recall. But it was less than that by the time it went through our old pipes, which no doubt suffer from a degree of arteriosclerosis. Now it's 60 psi. (You can adjust it.) The shower suddenly feels like a fire hose blasting you. The washer and the toilet tanks fill up in a fraction of the time. My lawn sprinkler goes "whirr" instead of a lazy "whoosh, whoosh." We're in heaven, Matthew. Thank you. Sure, it cost a few bucks. But it's worth it, and it's bound to increase the resale value of any house. Why the heck didn't we do this sooner?

vicw 2 years, 9 months ago

Aha! So that's why my sprinklers starting making that lazy whoosh, whoosh sound last week. Steve Bouser is draining away my precious Southern Pines water pressure. I think we need something like the Colorado River agreement between states, to assure that some SP residents don't get more than their fair share of water pressure.