How To Increase Water Pressure Without a Pump (7 Actionable Tips)

A lot of households face the problem of the low water pressure. Generally, such issue affects people that use the well as the water source but it’s not the rule, and people that are supplied by the city can face it as well.

I will answer the question right at the beginning and save you time in case you don’t want to read it all.

If the pressure that comes to your house is good, then the likely issue is the clogged or old piping system of your house. You will need to investigate where exactly pipes are clogged and you need to unclog them.

In this article I provide 7 easy to action tips on how to increase water pressure without a pump.

Identify The Problem

This is quite an important thing you need to do before you start applying all my tips mentioned above.

What is it?

You need to check the water pressure before it reaches into your house.

Why?

Simply, because if the water pressure that comes into your house is low, there is no point of doing any of the tips mentioned later in this article, as none of them are going to work.

This is because the tips below are applicable only if the problem with pressure occurs in your house.

The pressure that comes into your house is controlled by the local water authority.

Normally, it is somewhere between 40 – 75 psi. By default, the pressure is set to 50 psi, but this is adjustable.

I have included a video below that shows, how you can measure the pressure and adjust it as needed.

Note, that all houses are different so the way shown on the video might not be the same for everyone.

Now, you have checked the pressure, and it is lower than the limit mentioned above.

Everything below 25-30 psi can be considered as the low pressure.

Try to adjust the pressure as shown on the video and see whether it helps.

Here is the thing:

If the pressure that comes to your house is alright, then the issue is hidden somewhere in your house, and the following tips are going to help you.

So, here goes my 7 actionable tips you can do to increase your water pressure without the pump.

Tip #1: Inspect Clogged House Pipes

This is probably the most common reason why the pressure is low, although the pressure that comes into your house is good.

Here is the deal:

When your pipe system is old and water contaminated, over time the sediment can build up in pipes and clog them.

Especially, if you have thin pipes, you need to ensure that you inspect them often as those are prone to clog.

How can you identify clogged pipe?

Not gonna lie, it’s is not an easy task to do.

First of all, I would find a print of the house to see the pipeline network of the house, if available. This will save you so much time as you will understand all the connections between the system.

I know that such information might not be available for everyone.

So, you can go through the house and just try to draw it yourself and see roughly how the network looks like.

Second:

I would check all taps in the house and see what is the flow like.

The reason is, to see which taps have normal pressure and which ones are facing a low pressure.

This will help you to focus on the particular area of the house thus, more efficient inspection.

What now?

Once you have identified which parts of the house are affected, you will need to remove the individual bit, inspect it and clean it properly, you can even use the help of chemicals.

When using chemicals always take care of health and safety as those substances are dangerous to your health.

Now:

Because it is quite a difficult task, before you actually start disassembling pipes, check out my tip number #3 as this is the easiest thing you can do.

Note, that water pressure is decreasing with the height, at the approximate rate of 0.43 psi per every foot of the height.

If you experience the lower pressure at the upper floor of your house, it might not be necessary clogged pipes.

In such case, it might be enough just to adjust the entry pressure to increase the supply.

Ensure, that you don’t over adjust the pressure as the house system might not be able to hold such a load.

Tip #2: Check Leaking Pipes

Here is the thing:

Leaking pipes significantly reduce the pressure in the house.

Generally, it is reasonably easy to spot if there is any leakage in the house as there might a wet spot.

But if the leak is tiny, it might not be evident at first sight.

It is not a rocket science.

There are literally just two ways to see whether your house is leaking or not.

If yes then there is a leak somewhere in a house which leads to step #2.

Now:

Leaks are potentially dangerous. I mean, they don’t just lower the pressure.

They also can damage your walls and ceiling.

On top of that, just imagine what could happen if water touches the electricity cables.

It literally can destroy your home appliances or in the worse scenario even set your house on fire.

Sometimes leaks are minor that they could be really tough to spot. In fact, you might not even notice them until there is a mess and your house is damaged.

No worries though, there is a simple solution that could help you to monitor your water usage and detect possible leaks in your house called – smart water sensor.

What smart sensor does, is it measures water consumption and alerts your through the phone whenever there is a suspicious water usage in house. The sensor is simple to install – no plumbing required, and fits over 95% of meters in US.

You can check out the Flume sensor on Amazon – Click here to view.

So, make sure to inspect the house for any leaks and we shift to the tip #3, shall we?

Tip #3: Low Pressure At The Faucet? Do This!

Sometimes you can only experience the low pressure at the certain faucets.

The solution is fairly simple!

Again, it could be either clogged pipe as said earlier or it might be the clogged faucet itself.

As I said earlier before you actually start removing pipes and inspect them try to check the faucet itself.

So what you can do?

I would suggest you do it anyway as it is a good place for bacteria to breed.

So, once you have removed aerator, open the faucet and see how good is the water flow.

If the pressure is still low, then you can do step #2.

Over time the sedimentation could have built up in a faucet and clogged it.

Remove it and clean the faucet from the inside.

Before you install it back try to run water through it and see if it helped.

Now, once you have cleaned the tap and aerator see if the water pressure is back to normal.

If you still experience the issue the problem is likely to be in clogged pipe as mentioned in tip #1.

Tip #4: Low Pressure In The Shower

Low pressure at the shower is quite a common issue. I mean the most obvious thing you can do is to inspect the shower head.

Again it depends on the type of the shower head, but make sure to check the shower hose as well.

So here is the video that will help you out.

You can experience the low pressure if you are using a separate water heater for shower.

This is a case with the place where I live now.

Basically, you need to understand that it takes some time to heat water inside the heater.

So this is the reason why you have low pressure if you are using a small separate heater for shower.

Another solution:

There are special low pressure shower head available on the market. It is specially designed to perform better with lower pressure.

Tip #5: Low Pressure at Hot Water Only

Here is the deal:

Everything is excellent, and pressure is good, but for some reason, you experience low pressure when using hot water.

If that is the case and you are using a water heater at your house, then it is likely that sediment had built up in the tank and on the heating element.

This clogged the water output, and you experience low pressure.

What can you do?

First of all, check the age of the heater.

Usually, they are made to last about 10-15 years. So, if yours is old, maybe it is not even worth doing the following steps and just get a new one.

If you don’t want to replace the heater you need to clean it.

I was talking more in detail about the cleaning in my other article about water odor.

Note:

That it is essential to clean your heater regularly anyway.

Apart from the clogged appliances, the warm environment makes an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.

As we all know…

Bacteria can cause not only a bad odour of water, but in a first place they can be dangerous to our health.

Tip #6: Replace Old Pipe System

Unfortunately, if the pipeline system in your house is old, you will have to replace it at some point.

When you decide to replace pipes, it is vital to understand the difference between the flow rate and pressure.

The pressure is the how powerfully is water going out of the tap. This is measured in pounds per square inch, in other words, PSI.

Meanwhile, the water flow is the amount of water that is coming out of the tap and is measured in gallons per minute or GPM.

Essentially, if you have two different hoses one with the higher pressure and second with the bigger flow rate.

The one with the higher pressure will force water out faster and further, but it doesn’t mean that there will be more water. So it might take more time to fill the tank for example.

On the other hand, the hose with the higher flow rate can have less pressure, but it can fill the tank faster because the output flow is higher.

Bottom line:

When you select new pipes, the diameter size plays a significant role in the flow rate and pressure.

Basically, the bigger the diameter, the bigger the flow rate you get, but the pressure is lower.

It is exactly the same with the other way around.

So, the smaller the diameter, the more pressure you get but at the cost of the flow rate.

Personally:

I would select pipes with a bigger diameter, because the chances are, that they will last longer before they clog.

But this is just my preference.

Bear, with me as now we jump onto the last tip #7.

Tip #7: Consider a Water Softener

Here is the situation:

You have changed pipes in your house, or maybe you have unclogged all of them, and now you are happy and have good pressure again.

Now, you think how can you prevent yourself in the future, so you don’t have to do this tedious task again.

Simple solution for you:

I would suggest you to consider the water softener.

Why?

The excessive amount of minerals in water is responsible for the sediment that clogs the pipes.

Water softeners remove these minerals, therefore, protect your home plumbing and appliances from minerals.

On top of that, hard water can damage your skin and hair.

Bottom line:

Water softeners will not unclog your pipes, but prevent them from being clogged again in the future.

So, if you considering to get a softener to unclog pipes forget about it, as it’s not going to help you.

Final Words

So, this is it.

That was my list of 7 actionable tips on how to increase water pressure without the pump.

Now, it’s your turn to share your experiences in the comment section below.

Respond in a comment section, and don’t forget to share this article because…

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