AboutLeo Luczak Expertise I am a Certified Building Official, and I am certified by the International Conference of of Building Officials as a plans examiner and as a commercial and residential building and plumbing inspector.
Experience I have been the Building Official for a small town in Alaska for the last 14 years. I also spent 20 years working in construction. I don't know that much about wells and septic systems.
Question QUESTION: Today I had a leak fixed by a plumber. The leak was outside the house where the supply line transitioned to the house PVC pipes. After fixing the leak, the plumber said that the line to the house was at 125psi and that is likely what caused the break. I was not home at time of repair, but he told my son that we needed to have a pressure reducer installed and a homeowners shut off valve.
I now question if he knows what he is doing as I know there is a separate shutoff valve within feet of the street shutoff that he says he used. He was going to charge $400 to install both. When I talked to his boss later, he said that if there is already a shutoff valve then it would be $300 for just the install of the regulator. What should I do?
ANSWER: As long as it meets local codes I don't know why you back to back shut off valves. Pocket the $100 and go for it.
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QUESTION: I guess I didn't word my questions clearly.
My "homeowners" shutoff is about 2' towards the house from the meter and street shut off, and is about 18" underground with a 6" diameter cast iron lid. The house is 20' from street. The house is in Texas and is 17 years old, but I just bought it a few months ago. All houses in neighborhood are the same setup and age. My street shutoff also shuts off my next door neighbors water, he also has a shutoff a few feet down stream fom street shutoff.
Questions:
Is it likely that with 125 psi supply line there was no regulator ever installed?
Does it seem like $300 is a lot to install a pressure reducer?
Should the reducer be placed between the two shutoffs?
Maybe I could dig between the shutoffs and see if there is an existing regulator/reducer?
If an existing reducer failed, could the pressure go high?
If it failed can I repair or replace parts to fix it?
Should I trust a plumber that didn't know where the homeowners shut off was, and then tried to sell me a shutoff valve and install.
He told me that the $300 was mostly for the cost of the reducer, but I see online that 3/4" adjustable regulators are only $50.
Answer Thanks for the info another few questions come to mind...
Does the neighbor you share the water line feed with have a regulator? if so where is his located? as you share a service it is quite possible that both lines were installed in a similar manner.
If you find your failed reducer it might be rather simple to just replace it yourself.
