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Little to no water pressure.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:09 pm
by Urial
Hi all I am looking for some assistance. I have a mobile home that has little to no water pressure. When I turn the water on outside using the spout right next to the well pump I get rust colored water for a bit before turning clear. However in the home we are not getting any rust colored water. The few mobile home repair place and park Maintenance all say we need to replace all of our pipes. Does anyone know if there is a way to flush out the pipes to clean them or if there might be and in line filter that just needs to be cleaned.


Edit Some areas have Pex piping for instance going in to the kitchen sink. That is connected to what looks like copper piping. The outside line going from the well to the house is copper it was replaced about 4-5 years ago when the pipe froze and split. I do not believe that we have galvanized pipes.

RE: Little to no water pressure.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:58 pm
by Teresa73
Hi Urial,

I had the same problem when we moved into our new home.
The rusty water was a sign (in our case) that we would surely
also have rust deposit build up inside our homes pipes.

My husband turned off the water to the house, drained the water heater, discovered we needed a new water heater since ours was so full of all sorts of 'rock' like build up from hard water (and rust).

Then he took apart the pipes where they were attached right before the water comes out (like in the shower he took apart the pipe where the filter spot is or right before where the water comes out of the shower head).. it was all plugged up with this little pebble / rocky stuff. More hard water, lime, calcium, rust build up.

Same thing with the tubs, the sinks, and so forth. He had to take apart the pipes (like where you take it apart to pull out hair clogs and stuff) and hand clean out all this rocky build up that was blocking the pipes up. Plus my dad brought over this huge 'air blower' thing, and blew air through the pipes once hubby had cleaned out the rocks/debris. The air went through fine, and helped to blow out anything we missed.

We didn't have to replace any actual pipe or pipe lines beneath our mobile home. We just had to clean out the pipes under all the cabinets, and in some spots in the walls (but they had access doors to those pipes, like the shower one and tubs).

He also used a slender but strong metal tool (like a screwdriver), a pocket knife, and other odd things to break up the rocky buildup, scrape at it, and clean it all out. You wouldn't think a small handful of tiny rock looking things could cause so much water pressure losee, but they did. Sometimes there wasn't even enough to fill a pop bottle cap, but it made a huge difference cleaning it out.

So, clean out the pipes where they let the water into the house areas you use for water.. blow air through the pipes if you can, check out your water heater (flush it out) or replace it if it's to full of gunk and debris, and then invest in something to give you soft or clean water so it won't be hard or rusty anymore.

Just my 2 cents worth, and what we went through to figure out who stole our water pressure.

- Teresa

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:27 pm
by Greg
Hi & welcome. The best way that I can think of is to start where the line enters the home. Make sure you have pressure & flow there. If you do move into the home one connection to the next untill you find the blockage.
If the pressure & flow is low coming into the home, work towards the pump. Greg

RE: Little to no water pressure.

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:07 am
by shadow745
First thing I'd do is look for an inline filter. Most of them aren't replaced often enough and clog and cause problems. Especially if a home has been sitting for awhile..... ANY well system should have an inline filter.

Next thing.... do you have a private well or is it a shared well such as what you'd find in a mobile home park? If it is private I'd take a look at the pressure tank. If the pressure switch,air pressure in tank, etc. isn't correct you will have serious pressure problems and can damage the well pump because of constant on/off operation.

The rusty looking water can also be from iron deposits. Some iron is suspended and the water will look OK until it is oxygenated than you have orange juice right before your eyes. Some of it can be ferrous and will look orange at first, then will usually settle out. Just a few thoughts until we hear more. Later!

RE: Little to no water pressure.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:54 am
by oldfart
Urial..did you have good pressure at the outside faucet? The one right next to the pump. Here's why I'm asking. As simple a solution as it seems..quite often when the water is turned off and on or not run for some time...junk breaks free and clogs up the "areators" on the faucets inside the home. Yup..look on each faucet and unscrew that little cap where the water runs out of the faucet spigot. Now turn on the faucet. Got pressure? Clean the little filter-screen on the "areator" (yes my spelling is horrible..) and/or replace it. Sometimes it's that simple. Now showerheads...same problem. Lime/scale/iron build up in them shower-heads and impedes the water flow. Soak the head in LimeAway or C.L.R. or just chuck it and buy a new shower-head. Now most new shower-heads will be the "Low-Flow-Watersaving-Rated for Calif." types. ARRRGHH! Look close at the end where the water goes into them...won't take long to figger out how to make them Max-Flow shower-heads..eh! I hate them things. When I jump in the shower I want enough pressure to scale fish! Take that goofy rubber washer with the tiny hole out'a there. Next up...check the rubber lines to yer washing machine. If it takes 2 days to fill the washer most likely the screnns there are plugged as well. They have 'em on both ends so pull the machine out and clear 'em or replace 'em. Now...got pressure yet? :) Audie..the Oldfart..