water pressure, or lack thereof

[low_delta]

Our water pressure is very low. Before we called in a professional, to see if anything can be done, I thought I'd try turning up the pressure on the pressure tank. There's a pressure gauge. There's a box with an electrical block and a screw. That's it. Do I turn the screw? Which way?

Anyone have any idea what's up with pressure tanks?

EDIT:
There are instructions printed on the underside of the the cover. I turned a screw, and raised teh pressure. But I should have done a little more investigation ahead of time, to determine what it was to start with. The gauge read 45, but there's a 15 or 20 psi differential.

Comments

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

Does this help at all? http://homerepair.about.com/od/plumbing/qt/pipesize.htm?terms=water+pressure

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

No, not really. That was talking about the size of the pipes being important to the amount of flow. I'm pretty sure that everything is sized adequately.

Thanks anyway.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

Oh, well!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Don't see anything like that. Thanks.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Here's the tank: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v59/Cynnerth/Houses/waterpump.jpg

In the small blue box at its upper left are a couple of screws. Turning one changes the pressure. the other changes the pressure differential (the difference between the pressures at which the pump turns on and shuts off). When I posted, I didn't realize the instructions were printed on the underside of the cover.

Now that I know that, I need to find what pressure it is actually set at. Right now it's about 60, but I just adjusted it - without knowing what it was in the first place.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

It is house-wide. If there's an obstruction (which is quite possible) it could only be between the tank and the split for the water softener.

Thanks for the tips.

[kingseyeland.livejournal.com]

I had no idea there were so many plumbers on LJ.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

When I get stumped, I ask here. It's rare that I don't get help. Not that I'm always able to solve my problem, but I at least learn more about what's going on.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I tried that. Plus, both the soften and hard "circuits" have the same drop in pressure, so I know the problem is upstream of there.

What was you restriction? Was it the softener itself, or something else on the line?

[kingseyeland.livejournal.com]

See my LJ soon for plumbing questions. No kidding.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Is it still bypassed, or do you suffer with the low pressure?