Low water pressure · diagnosed first
Low Water Pressure? Start Here
Weak water pressure is one of about eight things. This site helps you work out which, before you pay anyone.
Free to homeowners — the contractor pays us for the introduction, you never do.
The short answer
Weak water pressure comes down to about eight causes, and one measurement separates most of them: whether every tap in the house is weak or only one. Normal residential supply is 45 to 80 psi, and a gauge on an outside tap settles the question in about a minute.
- You are never chargedContractors pay us when we route them a call. There is no cost to the homeowner, ever.
- Every figure names its sourceThe numbers on this site come from public data and the page says which, so you can check them.
- We say where we coverCalls are routed by ZIP code to independent contractors.See the coverage
- We say when not to callIf the fix is a few minutes of your own time, this site tells you that instead of selling you a visit.
What this site is
PressureTrace is a referral service, not a plumbing contractor. We connect homeowners with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands. Every state page sets out who licenses plumbers there and where to check, so you can confirm before work begins. We do not perform plumbing work, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call.The first question is whether every tap is weak or just one. Normal supply is 45–80 psi and under 40 psi is low — test it in a minute. Whole house is a supply problem worth a call; one tap is usually a job you can do yourself.
Work out what is causing it
- Low Water Pressure Through the Whole HouseEvery tap weak, not just one?
- Low Water Pressure at One Tap OnlyOne weak tap while the rest of the house is fine is nearly always a five-minute job you can do yourself.
- How to Test Your Water Pressure in About a MinuteA hose-bib gauge turns a guess into a number.
- Cleaning a Blocked AeratorThe most common cause of one weak tap, and the simplest fix in plumbing.
- When the Pressure-Reducing Valve Is the ProblemA PRV that has drifted low is an adjustment.
- Galvanized Supply Pipe and Weak Water PressureGalvanized steel corrodes from the inside and narrows the bore over decades.
- When the Main Shut-Off Is the Whole ProblemThe cause worth eliminating before any other.
- Why Pressure Is Worse UpstairsSome loss on an upper floor is physics and cannot be fixed.
- Low Pressure on the Hot Side OnlyCold strong, hot weak, at every tap?
- Polybutylene Supply PipeGray plastic pipe fitted in homes from the late 1970s until 1995.
- Pressure Drops as Soon as Two Fixtures RunFine alone, hopeless together.
- What This Work Costs, and Why Nobody Will Quote You OnlineLabor is the biggest variable in any plumbing bill.
- Where We Route Calls
What your build era predicts
Supply pipe by era, from pre-1940 to today.
Where we route calls
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Iowa
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this site is public and attributed. You can go and check any of them.
- HousingUS Census BureauAmerican Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25035 — the median year a town’s homes were built, which is what predicts the supply pipe.
- PressureGrundfosIts homeowner guide to low water pressure is where the 45–80 psi normal range and the 40 psi threshold come from.
- WagesUS Bureau of Labor StatisticsOccupational Employment and Wage Statistics for plumbers, 47-2152, behind every figure on the cost page.
- PipeworkUS Environmental Protection AgencyThe Lead and Copper Rule Improvements fact sheet, for what a service line inventory does and does not record.
What happens when you call
No form, no quote tool, no waiting for an email.
- You tell us what the water is doingOne short conversation. If it turns out to be something you can fix in five minutes, we will say so.
- We route the callWe match your ZIP code to an independent contractor who already covers your area — not a call center three states away.
- They quote, you decideWe do not set prices and we never charge you. The contractor pays us for the introduction.
- 4,387towns with a page of their own
- 38states we route calls in
- $0what a homeowner ever pays us
What to do first
Four things worth doing first. They cost nothing and they can keep a small problem small.
- Shut off the water closest to the problemUnder a sink or behind a toilet there is usually a small valve on the supply line. Turning it clockwise stops that fixture without shutting off the rest of the house.
- If you cannot find it, use the mainUsually where the supply enters the building — a basement wall, a crawl space, or a covered box near the street. Then open the lowest tap in the house, which drains the standing water out of the pipes instead of out of the leak.
- Water and electricity: stay out of the roomIf water has reached an outlet, a panel or an appliance, switch that circuit off at the breaker before going near it. If you cannot do that safely, do not go in, and say so when you call.
- Photograph it before anything is movedInsurers ask for it, and a contractor can tell more from a photograph of the leak than from a description of it.
And one case where the answer is not to call us. If the water is surfacing on the street side of your meter, that is the utility's line and not yours. Report it to your water utility — they do not charge a homeowner to repair their own main.
Still not sure whether it is the whole house or one fixture?That distinction decides who you need and what it costs, and it takes one conversation. We route you to a contractor who covers your ZIP code, you are never charged, and if the answer turns out to be an aerator we will say so. And it need not be pressure — this number takes any plumbing problem.
Call (866) 838-2750