# Blowing out My water lines



## DougC (Feb 10, 2011)

I have city water and the water pressure in my house is low. I have recently bought it and would like to know how to blow out my lines to increase the water pressure.


----------



## Jackofall1 (Dec 5, 2010)

If you have city water, and the pressure is low, then you have low city water pressure, blowing out the lines won't accomplish anything.

Do you have a pressure regulator on the incoming city water line?

Do you have a pressure gauge on the incoming city water line?


----------



## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

Ayuh,... Put a gauge on it where it enters the house, 'n see what's available....
That way you can see if it's just Low, or there's a problem in the house's plumbin'...


----------



## Know It ALL (Nov 13, 2010)

Is it low pressure or low flow? Normally I tell people that complain of low pressure, if you can't stop the flow by placing your thumb on a spigot then it is low pressure. For example, you have can low flow from a from a pipe with high pressure simply because it's corroded. Might want to use a gauge to see whats what.
How long has this problem being going on. Could be a broke water main close by reducing the pressure.


----------



## DougC (Feb 10, 2011)

The city came out and gauged the pressure at the meter and said the pressure was fine. He then told me that i might have blockage in my lines and suggested I blow them out.


----------



## DougC (Feb 10, 2011)

The house was built in the 50's . We just bought it a year ago and am not sure of the piping.


----------



## iamrfixit (Jan 30, 2011)

Blowing it out is probably not going to help. 

Very likely you have at least some galvanized pipe, your house it the right vintage. It corrodes badly inside, especially the hot water lines. It will corrode to the point that if taken apart you won't even be able to see through a very short piece. Nothing will fix it except to replace it. You need to figure out what you have or post some pics of the plumbing lines. Galvanized pipe is a dull silvery gray color and all the joints are threaded together. Usually another sign is your water will sometimes come out rusty.

I have a friend that totally replaced his plumbing system, only to find out he still had low flow. His problem was a short piece of galvanized between his meter and the shut-off valve. I know another guy that tore his plumbing apart trying to find the restriction and found the valve in the yard was only half open.


----------



## DougC (Feb 10, 2011)

It is galvanized pipe as i have seen a few pieces laying on the ground under the house as if someone had replaced sections in the past.


----------



## Know It ALL (Nov 13, 2010)

iamrfixit is correct. It would serve you best to replace the plumbing. Normally a house has a spigot right where the service line first enters the foundation. If you have that spigot does it have good flow? If so you might not have to replace the service line right now. Does your bath tub (not showers) have good flow. Reason I ask is that your strainers/aerators might need cleaning. 
About ten years ago I was doing some plumbing in my Grandmothers 1960s house and found some of the galvanized 90s were full of large rust particles. I removed and rodded out about 15 feet of pipe and fittings. It did help the flow and did not cost anything except some teflon tape. 
Remember that anytime you connect copper to galvanized the corrosion rate increases. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion


----------



## iamrfixit (Jan 30, 2011)

http://www.westmanplumbing.com/plumbing-evaluation.html

This is a link I just found with google to show you what you are up against. No matter what the pipe looks like on the outside, this is what you are facing on the inside. I have seen piping that looks very good on the outside still plugged up inside. The corrosion is very hard and the only way to remove it is completely replace the pipes and fittings. 

With the price of copper these days pex has become a very popular plumbing choice. It is very DIY friendly and the tools required are not that expensive. With a bit of research the average handy person can easily do it. There are a variety of threaded adapters available making it very easy to replace your system in stages rather than having to tear it all out and start over. 

They also make a variety of fittings known as sharkbites that you simply push the tubing into. They are great for quick repairs and can easily be separated later with a simple ring tool. Not sure how they will stand the test of time but they are incredibly simple and almost foolproof to use. They also make plastic fittings but I avoid them. While the pipe is extremely tough, the plastic fittings seem inferior, I prefer the brass fittings.


----------



## Homerepairguy (Aug 1, 2010)

DougC said:


> The city came out and gauged the pressure at the meter and said the pressure was fine. He then told me that i might have blockage in my lines and suggested I blow them out.


The city water pressure at the meter is a good indicator since they know the flow rate of their water lines. But static pressure readings around your house is not an indicator of the water flow capability. A pipe can be 70% clogged but the static water pressure at the output end will read the same as the input end. To find which lines on your property are clogged, you will have to do flow rate tests.

HRG


----------

