ᐅ Water Pressure in New Construction – Standards and Possible Improvements?

Good day,

we recently had a single-family house built, and now the shower fittings are installed. Unfortunately, the water pressure is so low that the lady (and I a bit as well) have trouble getting the shampoo properly rinsed out.

The rain shower with massage function is more like a hesitant trickle. It’s not due to the showerhead itself; we tested by connecting the old showerhead from our rental apartment, and the water pressure is clearly lower here as well.

I have several questions:
- Is there a standard regarding water pressure?
- How can water pressure be measured? Possibly without removing the fittings...
- What options are there to increase the water pressure?

Thanks!

Is this only the case there, or is it a general issue?

Fundamentally, it could simply be due to a possible pressure reducer at the main house water connection (isn’t this even mandatory? I have an older building with such a station installed). This pressure reducer might be lowering the pressure too much. In that case, it would be quite simple to increase the pressure there. If the problem occurs only at the shower, it is likely an issue in the supply line to that fixture.

Did I miss it, or was it nowhere to be found?

What is the water pressure?

Do you have a water filter installed directly after the water meter? Sometimes you can read the incoming pressure there.

Normally, it’s about 4-5 bar (58-72 psi) at our filter. The supply network usually provides around 7-8 bar (101-116 psi).

We’re at about 5 bar (72 psi) and are actually quite satisfied with that.

Edit: “House water station” is a nice term for a filter with a pressure reducer.

Well, that’s what it’s called, or at least that’s how our installer sold it to us! According to the internet:

"A domestic water unit is a typical component in our house water supply line, consisting of several individual parts designed to be as space-saving as possible. A domestic water unit includes a backflow preventer with a test valve, usually a backwashable water filter, a shut-off valve, and a pressure reducer."

cschiko schrieb:
Is this only happening there or generally?

Basically, it could simply be due to a pressure reducer at the house connection station (isn’t that even mandatory? I have an older building with such a station retrofitted) that lowers the pressure too much. In that case, you could simply increase the pressure there, which is quite easy to do. If the problem only occurs at the shower, it’s likely an issue in the supply line to that fixture.

It’s hard to judge at the taps because we had installed flow restrictors in the apartment. Admittedly, even in the kitchen, the kettle seems to fill noticeably slower than before...

toxicmolotow schrieb:
Did I miss it, or was it never mentioned?

What is the water pressure?

Do you have a water filter directly after the water meter? Sometimes you can read the inlet pressure from there.

Normally it’s about 4–5 bar at our filter. The network supplies around 7–8 bar.

We have about 5 bar and are quite satisfied with that.

Edit: House water station is a nice term for a filter with a pressure reducer.

Wow, if you climb behind the hot water tank there is a cartridge filter set to 4 bar. Below it is a dial you can freely adjust. How high can you set it? I want PRESSURE!

As toxicmolotow already mentioned, we are also at about 5 bar (72.5 psi). That pressure is acceptable, so try testing it with that first.