Life can be a beotch

[turd]

Well. we are trying to live on SS as much as we can...... This year we had the $ to repaint the house, then decided to have the deck re-done. Cool. Then, our water heater went to he** and guess what? Because of all the new home building, etc. we just got hooked for $2,000 for a new water heater. Woohoo. Come to find out, because of all the new construction in our area, the city has been raising the water pressure. Our home is 7 years old, and a pressure regulator valve was not installed. The reason the water heater failed was because the city keeps raising the pressure to keep up with construction which blew the seals out of our water heater. We just got screwed because of all the new construction. The city now requires a pressure regulator valve. Plumber told us to expect all the near neighbors would need new water heaters soon.....

 

[hittman]

And dont forget your property taxes will probably go up too ….. the gov just keeps on “giving”

 

[Watertender]

$2K for a water heater! Wow.... A Watts pressure reducing valve is just over $100 and is well worth the investment. You should clean the strainer yearly or if there is any work done on the water lines in your area. Is your water heater a tankless on demand unit? I put one in my house years ago and we really like it.

 

[Mobuck]

Yes sir, I feel your frustration. Not so much with the housing affects on appliances but with the water pressure issues.
Rural water came in here in the late 80's/early 90's and we happened to be on the end of a dead end spur line. A new water tower was built a mile up the road and we began having water leak issues. A leak here and there may be expected with 40 year old construction and I dealt with it as needed. Then one day while I was at work, there was a total blow out of a valve in the main line coming into the basement. The valve assembly was blown 10' and hit the front of the electric fuse box hard enough to dent the metal cover. In minutes, there was 3-4 inches of water in the basement.
I got the mess cleaned up and repairs made but began investigating the possible problems. Apparently another home owner on a similar dead end line had similar problems. He had a pressure gauge tapped into the line and on the day my waterline blew out, he'd seen line pressures exceeding 150 psi. I installed pressure regulators right away and several of us began climbing the water district board's keister about the problems. After some time, it was decided to install regulators on ALL meters on these dead end spur lines and the problems stopped.
In the end, it was found that when pumps 15 miles away were filling the standpipe up the road there was a 'water hammer' effect when the standpipe reached the full level. This surged down the dead end spurs causing the over pressure.
The waterlines have been extended so I'm no longer on a dead end line .

 

[contender]

As I've aged,, and studied life,, I realized long ago,, that everybody has "ups & downs."
Life can be wonderful at times, and crappy at other times.
Without heartache, we can't appreciate love.
Without pain, we can't appreciate feeling good.
Without stress, we can't appreciate relaxation.
Without war, we can't appreciate peace.

Yes,, life can be rough at times,, but it can also be wonderful.

Apparently,, you are experiencing a rough time. We've all had our own times like that. What keeps our sanity, it knowing & appreciating the good things we do have, and knowing that somewhere out there,, someone else has it a lot worse than we do.

Too bad you can't go after the city for the fact they keep raising the water pressure & make them responsible for the repairs.

 

[Cholo]

Well, turd, there always comes something to rip the money right out of our wallets

My house was built at the end of '80 and we moved in in Jan. Pressure regulator valves were mandatory in GA back then. I'm glad they were, and it still works like a charm.

You might want to tell your neighbors about it, the ones you like, anyway LOL

 

[Jeepnik]

Well. we are trying to live on SS as much as we can...... This year we had the $ to repaint the house, then decided to have the deck re-done. Cool. Then, our water heater went to he** and guess what? Because of all the new home building, etc. we just got hooked for $2,000 for a new water heater. Woohoo. Come to find out, because of all the new construction in our area, the city has been raising the water pressure. Our home is 7 years old, and a pressure regulator valve was not installed. The reason the water heater failed was because the city keeps raising the pressure to keep up with construction which blew the seals out of our water heater. We just got screwed because of all the new construction. The city now requires a pressure regulator valve. Plumber told us to expect all the near neighbors would need new water heaters soon.....

Intereestingly, the local water department recently replaced the main water line (it's only 93 ears old) and the individual feederlines to each property (in my case only 74 years old). When they did they sent out notices that our flow and pressure would be increased and this could cause issues with older water systems downstream of the new meters that were part of the process.

I did notice an definite increase in flow and pressure. Since my house has a newer all copper system (well sometime before 1979 anyway) and I've changed to a tankless water heater I only saw one effect. My water usage and correspondingly my bill went up. Turns out I an now getting the rated flow from all of the water saving devices on the various taps. I've had to replace those with newer ones and my bill has dropped to about previous levels.

You'd think a guy that worked on industrial water systems for over 40 years woud have seen that coming. Nope, "missed it by that much". Thanks for the quote Agen Smart.