Why is my water pressure so high and what to do about it?

Post date: 2025-02-18 09:46:25

About two months ago I noticed a very slow drip from a pvc pipe attached to a valve on my water heater. The heater is about 4 years old. I called a plumber and in the meantime put a bucket underneath the pipe. By the time the plumber came out 2 weeks later, i had filled about a quarter of the bucket. It was not a constant drip, just intermittent as to when it would drip and I couldn't identify if something was causing it.

The plumber was having a hard time identifying what the issue might be - they suspected something to do with the water pressure and replaced the pressure regulation valve where the water comes into my house. However, I noticed the drip continued (although probably even less water this time). We put a gauge on a spigot connected to the water heater and the reading over 24 hours was a general constant of 70 with a high of 140psi. The plumber had me connect the same gauge to a hose spigot outside my house, and it had the reading of a generally constant 100 but a high of 140 after I looked at it 24 hours later.

The plumber says this is way too high and indicates the water coming from the street is too high and so the most likely fix is to add a second pressure regulation valve into the chain. I had my neighbor in our cul de sac try the valve on his hose spigot and he had the same readings as me. (100 and 140 as the high).

A few pictures for reference of the PRV in my basement, the water heater, the spigot on the heater and the gauge hooked up to the outdoor hose spigot.

So - what might be happening here and what would you recommend the solution be? Is this an issue for the county to fix for us where the water pressure is coming in at the street level? Is our plumber on the wrong track here? We already spent $450 to replace the pressure regulation valve.

Thanks!

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