High water pressure for a few seconds (tank, plumbing, faucet)

[Bill Angelo]

I have a problem of ‘water pressure build up’ in my new home which I bought a year ago. The water comes rushing out about twice the normal pressure when I turn on any faucet in my home. It will last only for 2-3 seconds and then drop back to normal pressure in most cases. Sometimes, the pressure will not come down until I turn off the faucet and then turn it back on. The pressure seems to build up only when the water hasn’t been used for a while. I am quite concerned about this issue. I tried turning the screw on the top of my pressure regulator to down the pressure, but the water still comes out way too high when the faucets are first turned on. For the time being, I have decided to seek the help of a plumbing service in Markham to fix this. But I want to know whether is there anything I can do myself to fix this. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[TrapperL]

Looks like you'll be replacing the PRV and soon. They don't last forever, usually less than 10 years. If you're good at mechanics and can get to it, you might be able to replace it yourself. Only warning I'd give you is avoid the part at the box stores. Get one a plumbing supply house for a better quality unit.

[harry chickpea]

You need the addition of an expansion tank near your water heater. Older hookups to mains did not have backflow prevention. Now that they do, the plumbing is like a sealed soda bottle. As the water in your water heater is heated, it expands. That increases the pressure on the piping and gets distributed throughout the closed system.

When you open a tap, you release the excess pressure. An expansion tank uses a bladder of air as a cushion to minimize the pressure fluctuations and keep things from failing. Until then, leave one tap open for a tiny drip. It is better than nothing.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Sounds like a typical PRV scenario to me...


Replace the PRV and you should have good regulated pressure.