I recently had my personal home re-piped with PEX and replaced all shower faucets. Originally only water going into the water heater was under the control of the pressure reducing valve. All cold water for whatever reason bypassed the PRV. Now the PRV is in its own box by the meter so everything is going through it.

Originally the PRV was set too low and we had very little water pressure in the house. A different plumber ended up adjusting it up (I can't remember the number and can't find my gauge but I want to say it was around 80). He also though told me that when he installs new shower kits that he removes the flow restrictors.

When the water pressure was too low we would have water accumulate in our washing machine when it was not running. Since the adjustment about a month ago when all of this work was done that leaking stopped. The increase in pressure has been dramatically noticeable but one of the apparent effects of that is that you can only take about a 5-7 minute shower before the temperature gets too cold.

Yesterday I lowered the pressure to see if it would extend shower lengths and it did. The problem now though is that when I tried to take a shower last night I could hear water running inside the wall that my shower faucet is on and sure enough there is a pretty good leak when that shower is running. In addition, I opened the washing machine this morning to see if any water accumulated and there was enough that it spilled over the door area (front loading).

My question is where to go from here. If my pressure is low enough for decent shower length it leads to leaks but if it is higher it leads short showers. Is it possible that the real culprit is in the plumber removing the flow restrictors in the shower heads? Do those help slow the rate at which the hot water gets used up? If I could have those replaced and increased my pressure back up to 80 could I have no leaks but decent shower time? Any help is obviously appreciated. Thanks.

When the supplied incoming pressure from you utility company is 80 pounds or less, no pressure reducing valve is necessary. But if you have over 80 pounds of pressure, then the installation of a reducing valve is required under the plumbing code.

However, most City water pressure will rise during the night when everyone is asleep and not using water. So during the day your pressure can be under 80 pounds, the over during the night.

You should have a water pressure gauge to read the incoming pressure and outgoing pressure after your regulator.

It does not make sense to have a pressure valve for part of your home. But you need to remember you hot water heater is a mini boiler. That it is a closed system and the pressure build up in your tank can reach 150 pounds or more of pressure, causing water to back flow into the cold water pipes. Do you have a Check (one way flow valve) on your water heater?

If you think you have a water leak, then look at your City Water Meter. It should have a flow arrow showing water use. This will tell you if you have a leak.

When the supplied incoming pressure from you utility company is 80 pounds or less, no pressure reducing valve is necessary. But if you have over 80 pounds of pressure, then the installation of a reducing valve is required under the plumbing code.

However, most City water pressure will rise during the night when everyone is asleep and not using water. So during the day your pressure can be under 80 pounds, the over during the night.

You should have a water pressure gauge to read the incoming pressure and outgoing pressure after your regulator.

It does not make sense to have a pressure valve for part of your home. But you need to remember you hot water heater is a mini boiler. That it is a closed system and the pressure build up in your tank can reach 150 pounds or more of pressure, causing water to back flow into the cold water pipes. Do you have a Check (one way flow valve) on your water heater?

If you think you have a water leak, then look at your City Water Meter. It should have a flow arrow showing water use. This will tell you if you have a leak.

It sounds to me as though you should give your plumber a call & see what he has to say about this.

Did they open all of the walls to install the new piping or just open up at the fixtures & snake the new water lines?

FYI shower heads with flow restrictors limit the amount of all water, both hot & cold that passes through it. If you're running out of HW too soon then it's possible that the WH isn't working correctly, the mixing valve is out of balance or the HW is somehow getting diverted to another fixture. You might check to be sure that the supply line to the WH is fully opened.

If the water running in the shower wall only happens when the shower is on there is most likely a bad connection between the mixing valve & the shower head. If the water also runs when just the tub is used then there is a problem with the mixing valve connections.

It sounds like something is somehow back feeding your washing machine when there isn't enough water pressure to keep the fill valve closed. Try shutting off the washer's water supply lines to isolate the problem.

Not that it matters for your problem but I'm curious as to which type of Pex system was used the clamp style or the expansion style like Wisbro? We only use the Wisbro system & have never had a leak.

A few things to remember. Before setting pressure make sure the system is tight. When the system is u and running -- no leaks.

Second at least on faucet on the home should be street pressure and that's usually the front water spicket.

Need more info on the new PRV-- are you saying you now have 2 PRV's-- one on only the hot and one ONLY on cold? If you put the PRV on the cold line only-- sounds good. To me you have two PRV's on the hot side. Putting two on one line is tricky.

PRV's have a small hole between the 2 sides of the valve. That hole is to balance pressure in the internal portion of the valve.

Street pressure can be as high as 120lbs-- it's unregulated. The regulator will have street pressure on one side and regulator pressure on the outlet side. We set ours to 65 PSI.