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

No, I don’t think so. Lime deposits rarely come from the tap water. And if they did, it would probably hurt.

But you can also reduce detergent and dishwashing liquid use.

Take a look into water hardness and the dosing of cleaning agents.

How strong is the water softening set? Have you used a rain shower before? Maybe try using a simple handheld shower from a hardware store as a comparison. The rain shower has a "fine spray" and compensates for that with flow rate...

Have you previously lived in an older building? We often receive complaints about insufficient water pressure during the construction of new apartment buildings. When asked, it frequently turns out that the supply pipes in the older buildings were sized twice as large, whereas nowadays they are designed according to current water quality requirements and actual demand. As a result, the flow rate at the tap is usually much lower.

This is typically noticeable either at the rain shower or when filling the bathtub.

By the way, an inlet pressure of 4 to 4.5 bar (58 to 65 psi) is sufficient for an apartment building with 3 to 4 floors. So, the inlet pressure is very unlikely to be the cause.

Trasher19 schrieb:
An inlet pressure of 4–4.5 bar (58–65 psi) is sufficient for a multi-family building with 3–4 floors. Therefore, the inlet pressure is most likely not the issue.

A static pressure of 4 bar (58 psi) is definitely sufficient. The static pressure is, of course, independent of the pipe size. However, in the original post, the pressure drops by 1.5 bar (22 psi), and this pressure loss is far too high. This indicates that the pipe diameter before the meter is too small, or the valve is not fully open.

toxicmolotow schrieb:
No, I don’t think so. Lime scale rarely comes straight from the tap. And that would definitely cause problems.

But you can also reduce the amount of detergent and dishwashing liquid.

Look into water hardness and the correct dosage of cleaning agents.

I will!

Alex85 schrieb:
How strong is the water softening set?
Have you used a rain shower before? Maybe try a simple handheld shower from a hardware store as a comparison. Rain showers usually have fine droplets and compensate with flow rate...

We actually brought the old showerhead from the rental apartment and connected it – same result. Much lower pressure.

Trasher19 schrieb:
Did you live in an older building before? We often get complaints about low water pressure when new apartment buildings are being constructed. When asked, it often turns out that the connecting pipes used to be twice as large in diameter, but nowadays they are usually sized just to meet demand, especially considering water quality. That naturally results in much less flow at the tap.

You usually notice this either with the rain shower or when filling the bathtub.

An inlet pressure of 4–4.5 bar (58–65 psi) is sufficient for a residential building with 3–4 floors. So it’s probably not an issue with the inlet pressure.

It is an old building – built around 1870 or so... but on the first floor. I still have access to the old apartment and the main water connection point for the building. I’ll check it out. I suppose you can see the larger pipes at first glance, right? The hot water was produced directly on demand in our apartment by a gas boiler (“unit heating”). Like an instantaneous water heater basically...

I had only known rain showers from hotels, where there was always noticeably more pressure behind them. That’s what makes it nice to stand under the pouring rain feeling, in my opinion...

Knallkörper schrieb:
A static pressure of 4 bar (58 psi) should definitely be enough. Static pressure is independent of pipe diameter. But in this case, the pressure drops by about 1.5 bar (22 psi), and that pressure loss is way too high. That indicates a pipe diameter that’s too small before the meter or a valve that isn’t fully open.

I just checked again: all the valves I can see are fully open. The pressure drop during flow is about 1.2 bar (17 psi), I must have misread the gauge last time.